A doctor of Patna Medical College and Hospital allegedly picked the "wrong'un" and plastered the right leg instead of the left of a middle-aged woman, leaving her in excruciating pain.

Darab Devi (55) of Chhapra was at the receiving end at the state's biggest government hospital on Wednesday. When her relatives questioned the doctor concerned, he said he had put the plaster on the wrong leg because he was trying to strike a balance between both the legs before starting the actual procedure.

In cricket, "wrong'un" is a delivery which looks like a normal leg-spinner but actually turns towards the batsmen, like an off-break, rather than away from the bat. Batsmen often fail to pick the delivery like the doctor concerned plastered the wrong leg of Darab.

Darab's son Dharmendra Kumar said his mother could not say anything when it happened because she was in pain. "She was unable to explain things at that time. Also, she is illiterate and don't know what should be done. When she was taken to the ward after the procedure, we found what had happened. When we asked the hospital employees about it, they immediately took my mother to the doctor. When she was brought back, the plaster was removed from the wrong foot. When we again objected to it, the doctor shooed us away," he said.

Dharmendra said the plaster from the wrong foot of his mother was removed in a hurry. The doctor used knife to cut the plaster, leaving a scar on Darab's right foot. "You can find the scar even now on my mother's right foot. You can also find limestone on it, proving that the plaster cast was placed on her right leg earlier," said Dharmendra.

The superintendent of Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH), Lakhendra Parasad, expressed ignorance about the issue and said he would get the matter probed. Principal secretary, health, Brajesh Mehrotra said the superintendent of the hospital should inquire the matter.

Head of the orthopaedics department of PMCH Vishwendra Kumar Sinha refused to acknowledge any such incident. "You people are unnecessarily dragging the whole issue. You don't know anything about treatment but you act as if you know everything. What the patient's attendants are claiming are all false," said Sinha.

Senior doctors of the hospital said they had never heard of such an incident in the hospital in the recent past but recalled similar incidents elsewhere.

"A few years ago, a former orthopaedic surgeon of PMCH had amputated the wrong foot of a patient while working at a hospital in a Gulf country. As the doctor happened to be a relative of a Union minister, he was let off after he paid fine according to the rule of that country," said a senior doctor of PMCH preferring anonymity.

A source said an eye surgeon of Karnataka had brought out the wrong eye of a patient 15 years ago. The doctor had to remove the eye in which cancer had spread but he removed the other one.

IMA secretary Sanjiv Ranjan Kumar Singh said doctors should be vigilant during the treatment of patients to avoid these kinds of incidents. "Doctors are human beings and can also make mistake. But an error on their part could be dangerous for their patients. So they should be careful all the time."

Senior doctors of PMCH unanimously said the Wednesday's incident was gross negligence on the doctor's part but they refused to be quoted. "This can't be tolerated at all. The medical profession does not allow us do these kind of mistakes. This is like an attendant of a patient undergoing surgery. When plaster is being placed on the wrong foot, then this might also happen," said a doctor of the orthopaedics department of PMCH, who did not wish to be quoted.

Talking about what can happen if a plaster is placed on the wrong foot, the former head of the orthopaedics department of PMCH, Arjun Singh, said: "The blood circulation in the particular foot could get disturbed. The patient might also suffer from gangrene and the leg might need to be amputated later."

Standard Operating Procedure

What is done before putting plaster on affected part?

The skin is sterilised. Anti-fungal powder is put on the area. Then the body is covered with cotton and plaster is placed. Doctors never put plaster cast directly on affected part. They first cover fractured part with cotton and then place plaster because if plaster comes in direct contact with body, blood circulation in that area would be disturbed and further complication could arise

Protocol not followed

According to orthopaedic surgeon Amulya Kumar Singh, there was a protocol for this procedure, which was followed by doctors before putting plaster but nowadays most doctors tend to avoid it

“Earlier, nurses used to put an ink mark on fractured part or would tie a cloth around it. Later the operation theatre assistant and resident doctors used to re-check if it had been done or not. However, most doctors don’t follow this protocol, which can save them from making this kind of mistakes. Usually one such mistake occurs in around 100 procedures.” Amulya Kumar Singh Orthopaedic surgeon