Indian doctor performs leg surgery on man admitted to hospital with head injury

NEW DELHI: A man India arrived at a hospital in Delhi to get treated for injuries on his head and face following an accident was instead operated upon on his leg.

According to Indian news agency, ANI, A senior hospital official said that the patient could not “realise or object” as he was sedated for the operation procedure. Man named Vijendra had come to get treated for head injuries, but the doctor instead started operating on his leg by making a hole on it, thinking him to be another patient, Virendra, who had a fractured leg.

“As the senior resident performed the procedure on the patient after putting him on anaesthesia, the patient could not realise or object to it,” said Ajay Bahl, medical superintendent at the Sushruta Trauma Centre in Delhi.

#Delhi: Doctors perform leg surgery on a man who was admitted with a head injury at Sushruta Trauma centre. The man whose name is Vijendra, was confused with another man named Virendra, by hospital authorities, as the latter was admitted with a fractured leg. pic.twitter.com/UB6x0vg3Oo

— ANI (@ANI) April 23, 2018

Hospital authorities have said that when the negligence on the part of the doctor came to light, a procedure to correct the operation was performed on the patient

The doctor also allegedly tampered with the patient’s case documents to cover up his mistake, reported PTI.

Mr Bahl said that a hospital committee had found the doctor to be at fault.

He said the doctor has been barred from performing more surgeries without any form of supervision as well.

It is not clear as to whether any action will be taken against the doctor for tampering with the documents.

In 2012, four patients died at the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit after it emerged that the oxygen supply had stopped. The then Delhi government had dismissed two doctors, suspended one doctor and transferred another after the inciden