A 26-year-old man weighing 150 kg died after administration of anesthesia before his weight loss surgery at a private hospital in Chennai.
The deceased was identified as 26-year-old S Hemachandran, an IT employee, who used to work from home. On Monday, he was admitted to a private hospital at Pammal, a suburb of Chennai for metabolic and bariatric (weight loss) surgery. However, he developed complications after the administration of anesthesia before his surgery and died on Tuesday night.
After Hemachandran's demise, his father, D Selvanathan (52) from Thiruvalluvar Nagar in Puducherry filed a complaint at Shankar Nagar police against Dr. Perungo, his assistant, and BP Jain Hospital in Pammal.
According to the complaint, Selvanathan said that he and his son visited Dr. Perungo at Rela Hospital for weight loss surgery after watching the doctor's YouTube videos on weight loss surgery in April last year. Dr. Perungo recommended his son, a diabetic, undergo a series of tests before the surgery.
Selvanathan said that he again visited the doctor in February this year and explained that they couldn't afford the cost of the surgery. The doctor told him that his personal assistant would contact him. The doctor's personal assistant called him and informed him that the surgery would cost Rs. 8 lakhs at Rela Hospital and it cost Rs. 4 lakhs at BP Jain Hospital.
His son underwent all the necessary tests at Rela Hospital on April 3 but his son's surgery was postponed due to his high blood sugar levels. The doctors at the hospital decided to perform the surgery after normalization of his son's blood sugar levels. On April 21, at 11 am Hemachandran was admitted to BP Jain Hospital and was taken to the operation theater on April 21 at 9:30 am. Selvanathan said that Dr. Perungo informed him that his son developed complications soon after administration of anesthesia to him and the doctor also told him that Hemachandran was shifted to Rela Hospital at Chrompet through an ambulance. However, due to the intensity of complications, Hemachandran died on Tuesday night.
Selvanathan stated that he followed all the necessary precautions instructed by the doctor. He insisted the police to take stringent action against the doctor, his assistant, and BP Jain Hospital. The inquiry is in progress to find the cause of Hemachandran’s complications and following death.
(Input from various sources)
(Rehash/Lavanya Beeraboina/MSM)