Needle inside patient: 2 physicians acquitted

A Chittagong court has acquitted two physicians from the charge of keeping needle inside a patient’s body during a surgery at a private hospital of Chittagong.

The court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Moshiur Rahman Chowdhury passed the order on Wednesday.

In its order, the court said criminal case could not be run against the two physicians adding that a compensation suit could be run against them, said plaintiffs counsel Advocate Rana Das Gupta.

The acquitted physicians are Dr Shurman Ali, a doctor of Chittagong Medical College Hospital, and Dr GM Zakir Hossain, a doctor of a private clinic.

According to the case statement, Amirul Islam, 21, student of Journalism department of Asian University, was admitted at a private clinic on May 30, 2012, needing surgery for hemorrhoids.

During the surgery, Dr Shurman left a needle inside Amirul, causing him further health complications.

Later, Dr Zakir again operated Amirul but failed to recover the needle.

The victim later went to India for better treatment where Consultant Dr Debashish Dutta of Apollo Hospital in Calcutta of India succeeded to recover the needle from Aminul’s body on June 30, 2012.

Following the needle recovery, victim’s mother Delwara Begum filed a case with the court of Chittagong metropolitan magistrate on January 28, 2013 accusing the two physicians under sections 269, 270, 326, 420 and 34 of Criminal Procedure Code.

Sub-Inspector (SI) Ruhul Amin of Panchlaish police station, also the investigation officer of the case, on May 30, 2013 submitted the charge sheet against two doctors for negligence in surgery.

The two physicians were on bail since March 14, 2013.

Source: Dhaka Tribune