Tika Devi Lamichhane, 73, of Parasnagar, Gitanagar-9, Chitwan, who had come to the hospital for treatment of cyst in her stomach and appendix ended up losing the organs. She is still under observation and treatment. Tika Devi´s health is improving even though she lost a kidney, doctors claim.[break]
Earlier, she was admitted to Bharatpur Hospital where doctors had said that though there was a cyst in her kidney, there was no need to remove the kidney. But doctors had advised immediate surgery, the patient´s relatives said. She had been admitted to Bharatpur Hospital after complaining of pain on September 6.
After the advice from doctors at Bharatpur Hospital, Tika Devi was admitted to Chitwan Medical College on September 26. She underwent surgery the day after and was discharged on October 2, according to hospital records.
“We brought her here as she would have to wait for a long time to receive the surgery at Bharatpur Hospital,” said Shailesh Lamichane, the patient´s grandson. “They threw away her kidney without informing us,” he added.
Her relatives have accused the hospital of not taking responsibility even after throwing away the patient´s kidney and spleen. Shailesh claimed his grandmother has become weak after the surgery.
Tika Devi was readmitted to the hospital a few days after being discharged after she developed complications. Medical tests then revealed that she did not have a kidney. Doctors involved in the re-examination admitted that re-tests and a biopsy revealed that she had lost her kidney and spleen.
On Monday, doctors admitted that they were not aware that the cyst that was extracted contained the patient´s kidney as well.
“It has been revealed that the kidney had swollen up becoming a huge cyst,” said Dr Jageshwar Gautam, a senior surgeon. “During surgery, a lump covered with water was extracted. Only later tests revealed what the lump contained,” he added.
Dr Gautam further said that it was a mistake to extract the kidney without informing the patient´s relatives. Tension arose because the relatives were not explained in time, according to Dr Gautam.
Dr Rajeev Shah and Dr Kishor Tamrakar, among others, had conducted the operation.
“It is not necessary that a doctor knows everything beforehand,” said Dr Tamrakar. “We extracted the kidney with the water thinking that the whole thing was a cyst. We did not know that it was her kidney. We realized that it was a kidney only after re-tests. But we extracted what should have been extracted,” he added.
The patient´s family members have made four demands with the hospital, which include an apology, waiver of all costs involved in the patient´s treatment, and a commitment not to repeat the mistake.
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