Two doctors get 10-yr jail term for culpable homicide
The order was issued by additional sessions judge VR Jagdale. Eight doctors were examined during the trial
Two doctors were convicted while one was acquitted on Tuesday by a court in Pune in a case of death caused by medical negligence at a hospital in Dehuroad in 2012.
The deceased woman was identified as Rajashree Jagtap who was 22 years old at the time of her death.
The convicted doctors were identified as Dr Jitendra Suresh Shimpi and Dr Sachin Hari Deshpande while the acquitted doctor was identified as Dr Vijay Agarwal.
The order was issued by additional sessions judge VR Jagdale. Eight doctors were examined during the trial.
The two doctors were sentenced to 10 years of simple imprisonment with ₹2.5 lakh fine each to be paid to Anil Jagannath Jagtap, husband of the deceased woman.
He works as an ambulance driver at a private hospital in Lonavala and lives on Sinhagad road.
“In 2012, Dr Shimpi was in jail for 10 days and Dr Deshpande and Dr Agarwal were never in jail as they had an anticipatory from court. Dr Deshpande has an MS in general surgery but he had no specialisation and had no qualification. He was using that as the defence. However, a report from a three-member committee of BMS faculty at Indian Medical Association, Mumbai (January 20, 2014) and a report from a five-member committee at Sassoon Hospital (December 11, 2012) declared that the doctors had no qualification to perform the surgery,” said advocate Rajesh Kavediya, assistant public prosecutor, Pune.
A case was registered at Dehuroad police station against the three men on January 12, 2013 under Sections 304 and 34 of Indian Penal Code.
The Jagtap couple had a 2.5-year-old daughter when the 22-year-old fell pregnant again. She was consulting with doctors at Athashri Hospital in Adarshnagar in Kiwale run by the doctor couple Jitendra Suresh Shimpi and Anupama Jitendra Shimpi.
On June 1, 2012, she was taken for a caesarean operation conducted by surgeon Dr Sachin Hari Deshpande in presence of Dr Jitendra Shimpi and anaesthesia specialist Dr Vijay Agarwal. She underwent C-section and family planning procedures and was brought out of the operation room by 4:30pm. However, she was taken to Adhar Hospital in Dehuroad that night in Dr Deshpande’s car after she started bleeding heavily, according to the complainant’s husband.
On the morning of June 2, 2012, she was declared dead. The case of the doctors was sent to Sassoon hospital and a case of accidental death was registered at Dehuroad police station. After inquiry, Sassoon General Hospital report claimed that among the doctors who performed the faulty procedure, none were qualified to perform the surgery. It also claimed that the ignorance of the doctors in the procedure led to the death of the mother.
Eventually, a case was registered at Dehuroad police station and the doctors were arrested.