Woman alleges docs left gauze in her during Cesarean section

The husband of a 24-year-old woman, who delivered a baby through a Caesarian section at Safdarjung Hospital on January 15, made a PCR call from the hospital premises on Thursday morning, claiming doctors had left pieces of cloth inside her body after the surgery.

The patient, Farzana, was discharged on January 20, five days after her delivery. She said she had to rush back to the hospital on Thursday morning, after she passed out a cloth on Wednesday night. Speaking to Newsline, Farzana said, "I was feeling fine when I was discharged. But after I returned home, I started having severe abdominal pain and was not able to urinate. I felt like something was obstructing the urine. When I kept trying to pass urine, despite the pain, a blood-stained cloth, nearly four inches in size, came out," she alleged.

She immediately told her husband, and, the next morning, they rushed back to the hospital. Her husband made the PCR call at 9.45 am.

Doctors denied any gauze had been inserted during her surgery, but said, retrospectively, that "vaginal pads or swabs", that are inserted to control bleeding after surgery, may have "accidentally gone higher up".

Dr Aruna Batra, HoD of Gynaecology at the hospital, said, "Sometimes, such swabs or pads are used, but we either remove them before discharging the patient, or the patient is asked to return to the hospital so that doctors can remove them. In this case, maybe such a piece accidentally went up and was passed out later. We did not intentionally leave any cloth inside her during the procedure."

Farzana's husband Mohammad Siddiqui said, "We are not following up with police for registering a case in the matter, because we do not have the resources to fight legal battles."

ALSO READ

Ghalib returns home, his haveli opens today as public memorial

Cross at your own risk

Verdict in Dec 16 rape case expected by month-end: Neeraj Kumar

Read and Digest