What killed my son?

– At Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital I’m beginning to get the chills as I begin to write the story of the horrific night followed by even worst a day at Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital. “What happened to my son?” is the question that still haunts me (Archana Jawalkar- mother) & my family; it is also the reason for sleepless nights till date. On 26th Feb 2015 at around 2:30am we were informed of a sudden unpredicted demise of my 3year old son (Arnav Jawalkar) by the hospital authorities, what followed was a nightmare for any parents. I’m writing this to get answers, from the hospital, from the nurses and the doctors who were present at the time (so far the answers I have got don’t make any sense and contradict one another).

Arnav was admitted to KDAH on 3rd Feb 2015 as he suffered from what was diagnosed as sever pneumonia at “Children’s Hospital” (later confirmed by KDAH as H1N1) and was critical hence admitted to the PICU unit on the 8th floor of the building. We were at the hospital 24/7 waiting to hear something positive from the doctors. Over a few days the doctors informed that his condition is getting better as the blood and x-ray reports were satisfactory (compared to day of admission) and doctor confirmed the pressure on the ventilator too was decreasing (Which means he was able to then breath on his own). On the night of 25th Feb, my husband Arjun Jawalkar was with him in PICU watching TV (Chota Bheem) and left to go to the washroom.

Upon his return he was shocked to see our son lying unconscious on the bed (half turned) and without the non-invasive mask and a nurse standing in a corner of the room. Arjun: “Ventilator mask was not there, I ran to inform the doctor Dr. Saleha who was on shift but not available to attend, I then got to know that she was sleeping in the bunker room. So I ran towards doctors’ room (Bunker room) where I found her and told her about Arnav’s condition. Doctor and some nurse then went to attend Arnav and in some time the doctor came up to me to inform we couldn’t save him. Dr. Preetha Joshi said it was unexpected.” Doctors used to put Arnav on sedation at night so that he can sleep well.

On the night of 25th Feb, they did not give him the sedation, sister was trying to get Arnav to sleep but he wasn’t getting any sleep so sister decided to get him to sleep on his stomach (not good for an asthmatic child) and started patting on his back (Even more dangerous for him) I even asked sister to put him on sedation instead which she did not. The reports that were handed over to us state the reason for demise as ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome) & sever pneumonia however it was shocking to read the article in newspaper after few days which read the reason for demise was H1N1 (swine flu).

Base of suspicion of negligence- When my husband (Arjun) returned from the washroom to see Arnav lying unconscious on the bed there was also a nurse standing in the corner of the room and did not move at all to call the doctor (looked in shock) Why wasn’t there a doctor available in PICU? Why isn’t there a CCTV camera in PICU? Why are doctors lying to us now- Archana (mother) asked Dr. Saleha why was Arnav made to sleep on his stomach to which Dr. Saleha responded saying it’s impossible to do that however Arjun was present when this happened. Why is hospital not allowing the parents to meet the sister to confront her of her actions Did I lose my son to a sister’s negligence or is it because the doctor was not available at the right time or is it the hospital authorities who did not have enough staff to attend to patients in PICU?

Surprisingly there are no cameras in the PICU and the sister who last attended my son has been acting very suspicious as she openly denied the fact that she did turn Arnav on his stomach and pat on his back to get him to sleep. I don’t know what happened to my son or what killed my son but definitely see a whole lot of mess at Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital which needs an immediate fix.

Yours truly, Archana Jawalkar (Mother of late Arnav Jawalkar).

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