A private nursing home in Ranchi staged an ugly row on Wednesday after relatives of a dead patient sought his treatment papers and the authorities refused to oblige.

The protest quelled after police, acting on a complaint from the bereaved family, intervened and compelled the nursing home to honour transparency.

Bhanu Gope (30), a resident of Kokar and the father of a six-month-old child, was admitted to Alam Nursing Home in Bariatu on July 2 with acute abdominal pain. He was operated on the same night, but allegedly went into "coma" the day after. He died on Tuesday night, triggering claims of medical negligence.

According to elder brother Manoj Gope, even when Bhanu's condition went from bad to worse, the nursing home kept them in the dark. "They would never tell us clearly how he was doing. After the surgery, doctors said he would be alright, but next day we learnt he had gone into coma. My brother came walking to the hospital and now he is dead. We demanded papers this (Wednesday) morning because we are sure that the line of treatment was wrong," Manoj said.

He added that they were poor farmers and had borrowed more than Rs 1 lakh for Bhanu's treatment. "We deserved to know what was wrong with him and how a person who did not seem so unwell die suddenly," Manoj demanded.

After the nursing home spurned the family's requests on transparency, Manoj lodged a formal complaint at Bariatu thana on Wednesday. Treatment papers were handed over in police presence in the evening.

Dr Majid Alam, the founder-director of the nursing home, defended their stand saying medical records were never handed over to any patient or relative anywhere in the country. "The norm is to issue a treatment summary, which we did. However, when police intervened, we consulted IMA officials in Delhi. Later, we provided the papers, which were counter-signed with date and page numbers to avoid future row."

On how Bhanu died, Alam said, "He was brought with septicaemia and obstructive jaundice. We had to operate on him immediately. There was gangrene in his abdomen. Yesterday, we put him on dialysis and hoped he would make it, but he didn't."

Manoj, however, insisted that Bhanu went into coma and was on life support, and they were not told about his deteriorating condition. "This is a case of wrong treatment and miscommunication. We will seek (legal) help."