Four Suhrawardy hospital doctors face negligent death charges

A man files a case alleging that his mother died due to wrong treatment

Four doctors of Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital in Dhaka are facing charges of causing ‘negligent death’ of a patient with wrong treatment.

The patient’s son Ahmed Rafi brought the charges at the Chief Metropolitan Magistrates’ Court in Dhaka on Thursday.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Ahmed Humayun Kabir recorded the statement of the plaintiff and asked the chief of Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station to record the allegation as a first information report, said Helal Uddin, bench assistant of the court.

The accused doctors are Professor Mostafizur Rahman, Nadeem Ahmed, ‘Tania’ and ‘Arafat’ of the surgery unit-1 of the hospital.

According to the case documents, Rafi’s mother Marufa Begum Meri was admitted to the hospital for treatment under Mostafizur’s supervision for the removal of gallstones on Dec 3.

After tests, including an ultrasonogram, the doctors decided to go for a gallstone removal operation.

She underwent a surgery on Dec 18 but half an hour after the operation, Nadeem said that the patient had a hernia and they decided to operate on that too.

The doctors created a hole in her gut, but hid the matter completely, according to the case documents. Complications related to intestinal perforation caused fever, diarrhoea and abdominal swelling when the infection spread to her body.

The accused doctors confessed to their mistake after six days and took her for a second surgery on Jan 2, at their own expense.

Marufa was shifted to the cabin from the ICU after another 24 hours.

However, she was taken to the ICU again as her condition deteriorated and she succumbed on Jan 4.

Her family members went to Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station to file a case but police advised them to go to court.

No comments from the doctors were available.