Andhra Pradesh: Doctors amputate elderly woman's leg in Chittoor in the name of surgery

The family said that the doctors took the woman into the operation theater on Wednesday but amputated her entire leg and advised them to take her to another hospital.

Chittoor: The family of an elderly woman who fractured her thigh bone have alleged medical negligence by the doctors at the Chittoor Government Hospital in Andhra Pradesh saying the doctors “unnecessarily” amputated her leg in the name of surgery. The family have demanded action against the doctors and the hospital administration.

Police have launched a probe into the allegations. It is learnt that Pushpamma (62) from Dalavaipalli of Yadamari Mandal slipped at home on December 31 last year and could not move. The family members took her to the Chittoor Government Hospital on the January 4 this month as she had suffered a femur injury. After preliminary investigation, doctors at the Chittoor Government Hospital confirmed that the femur bone was broken.

They also conducted blood pressure and sugar tests of the woman and advised her to stay under the doctor's supervision for a few days. An X-ray was also done at a private diagnostic centre to find out the nature of the fracture. The family members said that when the doctors saw the X-ray, they decided to perform a surgery right away a surgery to treat the fracture.

The doctors scheduled the surgery for Wednesday. The family members were shocked when the doctors on Wednesday amputated the entire leg of the woman instead of fixing the fracture. “They stopped the surgery in the middle citing various reasons and then amputated the leg,” a family member said.

They further alleged that after stitching her leg post-amputation, the doctors advised them to take the woman to another hospital, which rubbed salt on their wounds. The victims complained to the superintendent of the hospital, Arun Kumar after the incident. The superintendent assured the family that he will talk to the concerned doctors in this regard.

The victim has been kept under the supervision of doctors in the hospital ward. An official statement by the hospital administration into the incident is awaited.