Rifat Mohidin
SRINAGAR: Hope for the survival of a dementia patient — on life support at the Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital (SMHS) for the past four months — is sinking among her family members who accuse doctors of showing little interest in treating her further.
They say doctors instead want the woman shifted back to her home and have also asked the family to buy a ‘personal ventilator’ for her.
“They have been forcing my sons and me to remove her from the ventilator and take her home. They want me to buy a ventilator that costs more than Rs 4 lakh. It is not about the price…but it has to be operated professionally. Who will do that?,” said a troubled Rashid Ahmed, the woman’s husband.
But doctors say they want the woman shifted only to prevent her from acquiring an infection.
“The patient is 99 per cent dead and we have kept her on humanitarian grounds. We are asking him to take her home because she may get infection in the hospital,” says Dr Pervez Shah, Head of Department, Neurology, SMHS.
Can’t let her die
The woman, Sameena, 52, is perhaps the first patient of her kind to have been admitted ever at the SMHS, doctors said.
She was diagnosed with dementia months ago and was shifted to the hospital soon after her condition worsened. She is on ventilator support ever since.
“She lost her speech, stopped swallowing and grew weak. The only signs of life are her tears whenever she sees me. Perhaps she recognises me and wants to say something,” her husband, Rashid says.
But now, he says, the hospital wants them out only to vacate the bed and the ventilator in the 600-bed facility, where there are only 11 life support systems.
“They are continuously asking me to vacate the hospital bed. How will I face my children if I take her home and she dies? They (doctors) even told me to get a fatwa (Islamic decree) in support of removing her from the ventilator. They want me to kill her.”
“How can I let her die?” he says, wiping his tears.
However, Dr Rafiq Ahmad, Principal of Government Medical College and allied hospitals said: “We are not forcing them, but only suggesting that we can’t keep her for life.”
“We have done our job. Now it is for the civil society to come forward to help them or they (family) should buy a low-end ventilator and keep her at home,” he added.
(The author is a trainee, Indian Express)
