Switched off machines, allowed Jaya's life to end naturally: Apollo to HC
- J Jayalalithaa was allowed a “natural cessation of life“ on December 5
- “Her heart was not yet beating. So we conveyed this to family and decision was taken to switch off ECMO. A Medical decision was taken as we felt it was futile.”
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Explaining the treatment details of Jayalalithaa, the Apollo Hospitals answering a PIL filed by PA Joseph in the Madras High Court, said that J Jayalalithaa was allowed a “natural cessation of life“ on December 5, a day after she was readmitted to the hospital following a cardiac arrest. A report in the Times of India states that the doctors, however failed to mention who gave the consent for the medical decision.
Previously, Dr. Babu, Critical Care Consultant, Apollo Hospitals had revealed how the death occurred in a press conference with Dr. Richard Beale, a U.K.-based intensivist, who was treating the late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister: "She had cardiac arrest at about 5 pm. It was a witnessed cardiac arrest. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was started immediately. CPR went on for 20 minutes. We did not get a heart rhythm. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) team was immediately informed. They came down immediately. We needed to give the patient time of about 24 hours after being put on
"Twenty-four hours later, it was just the machine that was working. Her heart was not yet beating. So we conveyed this to family and decision was taken to switch off ECMO. A Medical decision was taken as we felt it was futile.”
This ‘family’ is what is not being revealed. Was Sasikala involved in this decision?
It was also disclosed that the team of doctors from AIIMS, Delhi was deputed by the government of India and that all the treatment was done according to the wishes of the former Chief Minister as they said, they were instructed by her not to release any photographs of her from the hospital.
The state government also said, for the first time, that on September 22, 2016, when she was admitted to hospital, she had `underlying co-morbidities', along with fever and dehydration. In medicine, comorbidity is the presence of one or more additional diseases or disorders co-occurring with a primary disease or disorder; in the countable sense of the term, a comorbidity is each additional disorder or disease.
Citing ethics and moral obligation on maintaining Jayalalithaa's privacy, the Apollo Hospitals chairman, Pratap C Reddy, told a bench of acting chief Justice Huluvadi G Ramesh and Justice R Mahadevan that the hospital released statements during the 75-day hospitalisation “only on request of the state government in the interests of maintaining public order and minimising speculation and rumour mongering.“ The hospital complied with MCI Code of Ethics and the Joint Commission International norms.
