FATAL FLAWS: Srijana with husband Rajesh Idnani. Srijana died at age 25 a-year-and-a-half ago, allegedly due to medical negligence

Two city doctors are to be chargesheeted because their alleged negligence had caused the death of a 25-year-old housewife, Srijana Idnani, a year-and-a-half ago.

During the four-month-long investigation, police have come across ?evidence of gross medical negligence? in the treatment of Srijana, who died after two failed abortions and a series of wrong diagnostic tests.

?Our investigation is over and we have been able to establish medical negligence. We are now sorting out the nitty-gritty,? said deputy commissioner (detective department) Gyanwant Singh.

Gargi Banerjee, one of the accused doctors, refused to comment when contacted by Metro.

?When the appropriate time comes, I will definitely give my side of the story,? was all she would say.

On October 25, 2003, Srijana had felt an excruciating pain in the abdomen.

Along with her husband, she visited Banerjee, a gynaecologist. ?The doctor suggested an ultra-sonography and also prescribed some painkillers,? recalled Rajesh.

The sonography report showed that Srijana was pregnant. But since she had given birth to a boy about 10 months earlier, the doctor and the Idnanis agreed that Srijana should undergo a medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) at the earliest.

Two days later, Srijana underwent an abortion, which took just 10 minutes.

?The doctor told me my wife was fine and that the abortion was successful,? Rajesh said.

On November 3, the pain relapsed and the couple rushed to the doctor who had carried out the sonography. A second test was conducted and it revealed that Srijana was still pregnant.

The bewildered couple then rushed to Banerjee, who volunteered to perform another MTP, this time with her father M.S. Banerjee.

The abortion was conducted two days later and the doctors produced before Rajesh a piece of tissue, claiming it was part of the foetus.

But a test on the tissue proved that it was not of any foetus, which, a third ultra-sonography revealed, was still within Srijana.

The woman lost her cool when she next met the doctors. ?Are you trying to kill me? Why don?t you refund my money?? she asked the Banerjees.

During the altercation, she fell ill and returned home after being administered some injections.

On November 13, 2003, her condition worsened and she was admitted to Woodlands Hospital, where doctors came to know after an ?emergency surgery? that the pregnancy had developed in the Fallopian tube.

The revelation established that both MTPs were wrongly carried out and the sonography reports, too, were misleading.

Srijana?s condition kept deteriorating and she died of various complications two weeks later. ?I will not rest till the guilty doctors are punished. I hope the law will take its course,? Rajesh asserted.

Apart from lodging a police complaint, he has moved the state human rights commission.