Anaesthesia overdose causes another brain-death

MULTAN - The alleged negligence of doctors of Nishtar Hospital has brought another young man, Muhammad Asif, 28, to the deathbed, as the anaesthesia overdose administered to him during an operation allegedly caused his brain-death.
The ill-fated patient was taken to Nishtar Hospitals emergency ward on September 12 by his parents on complaint of severe pain in stomach. However, the doctors diagnosed the pain as appendicitis and decided to carry out his operation.
'A phone call received by the anaesthetist Dr Jawwad Alvi has cost us the life of our young brother. He (doctor) received a call on his mobile phone and came out of operation theatre while the anaesthesia was being administered to my brother, claimed Hasnain Malik, the elder brother of Asif. He alleged that the negligence of the anaesthetist resulted into anaesthesia overdose, leading to cardiac arrest and subsequent brain-death of his brother.
It is the third incident of anaesthetists alleged negligence in a row that has come to the light during the last few days. The first two incidents, one that of Imanae Malik and the other of Fakhra, have been taken up by the Chief Justice of Pakistan under suo moto action.
The initial CT Scan report compiled by the radiology department of Nishtar Hospital on September 19 described the condition of the brain of the patient as 'Hypoxic ischemic injury with cerebral edema. 'The report states a particular state of brain in which oxygen and blood supply to it is suspended and it gets severely hurt, explained a doctor on condition of anonymity after going through the report.
The body of Asif, a to-be-father after three months, has started deforming. 'His hands and feet have deformed during the last couple of days while multiple infections have also started growing in his body, disclosed Hasnian Malik.
The anesthetist Dr. Jawwad Alvi, however, refuted all allegations, claiming there was no negligence on his part. 'Every one in 10 patients can suffer cardiac arrest during the operation as all medicines directly affect the heart of the patient, he claimed, adding that the said patient was recovering and he would soon be on his feet. He said that he was shifted to his home because the infectious environment of ICU was causing complications in his body.
'Normally the appendicitis operation takes just 30 minutes while the doctors kept my brother inside operation theatre for over two hours, claimed Hasnain Malik while describing the situation on the operation day.
He added that the doctors asked him to rush to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and bring bed availability report from there as Asif had suffered a cardiac arrest during the operation and now he had to be shifted to the ICU.
'When he was taken to the operation theatre, his pulse and blood pressure were normal. Except to the stomachache, he had no other problem. But now they tell a new story. Theyve killed my brother, said Hasnian Malik, while trying to stop tears coming out of his eyes.
The patient was put on ventilator in the ICU for three months and then the hospital administration asked the relatives to take him back home. The head of the ICU asked us to take Asif home as there was no use in keeping the bed occupied now. He told us that medically he is dead and only a miracle can bring him back, he added.
Though the hospital administration has constituted an inquiry committee comprising ICU head Dr Salman Warris and Dr Zafar Alvi, on complaint of the brother and father of Asif, the findings of the committee have not come as yet. 'I was summoned for hearing by the committee just once. I submitted another application, but the hospital administration is silent, said Haq Nawaz, the father of Asif while talking to this scribe.
He demanded of the Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and Chief Minister Punjab Mian Shahbaz Sharif to take notice of negligence of doctors and issue orders for launching of action against those doctors, who were responsible for bringing his brother to the death bed.
When contacted, the Medical Superintendent of Nishtar Hospital Dr Zafar Niazi said that he could not comment on the issue, as the committee constituted to investigate into the matter was yet to submit its report.
On the other hand, Nishtar sources disclosed that the inquiry report had been finalised and it would be submitted within a day or two. But there are no chances of action against any one as no one was ready to testify against the anaesthetist, sources added.