Consent to kill

Six-year-old girl dies during MRI scan at a posh south Delhi clinic. Parents allege foul play. MiD DAY catches doc on video accepting that parents were made to sign 'consent form' after the victim's death

Consent to kill

Fight for justice begins here: Parents and relatives of Neha Tamang (top) waiting for her body in New Delhi on Tuesday. Meanwhile, (above) a policeman making enquires about the mysterious death at the Aashlok Hospital.
Pics/SUBHASH BAROLIA

The medical superintendent of Aashlok Hospital said that her hospital had not made the parents sign any document.

While Dr Javed had already left the hospital by the time the parents made the allegations, he later confessed on phone that he had made the victim's parents sign the papers after the girl's death. "It (paper) was some consent. I took two signs. There were two consent forms," said Dr Javed, speaking to a senior official from Aashlok.

Javed also accepted in his conversation that he had forgotten to take the signatures of Neha's parents before the scan was conducted. But then retracted, saying that there were two sets of consent forms, one of which was signed at the GMR clinic before the scan.

Meanwhile, Neha's parents alleged that they had not signed any papers at the GMR clinic.

Later, when MiD DAY called up Dr Javed for clarifications, he refuted all allegations made against him. "I did not force them. It was a death certificate form for which I needed their signatures," he said.

He also said that Neha's death had been caused because of the anesthetic effect of a medicine Thio Pentone which had an adverse effect on her body and caused a cardiac arrest.

However, senior doctors and legal experts are not buying Dr Javed's death certificate theory. They said that a death certificate does not require the signature of the victim's relatives and nor could Dr Javed obtain the certificate from Aashlok Hospital, where the patient was brought dead.
Neha's parents and relatives have lodged a complaint at the Sarojini Nagar police station against GMR clinic. "We can only conduct our investigations after getting the post mortem report," said a cop at the police station.

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