Keonjhar: An FIR was filed at Keonjhar Town Police Station against a doctor for conducting tubectomy surgery without consent at District Headquarters Hospital (DHH) in Keonjhar.
The FIR was filed Tuesday by Sushant Kumar Barik – husband of the victim Pabitrani Behera.
According to a source, Sushant and Pabitrani had gone to the hospital after the latter experienced labour pain.
However, following the C-section delivery of the baby, sterilisation was performed on Pabitrani sans consent of the couple, the FIR read.
Sushant said, “They (The doctor and other staff) have done family planning procedure without my consent. My wife was also unaware of this. Later, when I asked the doctor about it, he started to verbally abuse me. He also threatened me about my wife and daughter’s discharge from the hospital. Afterwards, I filed an FIR at the Town Police Station.”
“Before I was taken to the operation theatre (OT) for C-section, the doctor took a signature from me on a piece of paper. They later performed the family planning procedure on me without our consent following childbirth. When I came out of the OT, my husband was asked to sign a document related to the family planning procedure done on me,” Pabitrani alleged.
“My husband resented and asked the doctor why he performed the family planning process without consent. However, the doctor threatened my husband and said that if he does not sign the document, they will not release me and my child,” Pabitrani added.
On the other hand, Abhijit Mohapatra – the gynaecologist who performed the operation on Pabitrani – brushed aside all the accusations and said, “I asked the husband to sign on the document. I explained to him that we did the family planning procedure after his wife said so. Later he started to abuse me. As per his behaviour at that time, I suspect that he was drunk. He refused to sign the document even after my repeated requests.”
When asked, chief of Keonjhar DHH Gynaecology Department SM Soren said that it is mandatory to take consent before performing any surgical procedure.
Soren informed that consent for both C-section and family planning procedures was taken by the doctor in this case.
Notably, the tubectomy procedure, also called tubal sterilisation, is a permanent method of contraception for women. It involves surgically blocking the fallopian tubes so that the egg released by the ovary cannot reach the uterus.
Cesarean section or C-section is the surgical delivery of a baby through a cut (incision) made in the mother’s abdomen and uterus. Healthcare providers use it when they believe it is safer for the mother, the baby, or both.
PNN