Please apologize for taking real names of the people involved. I do not intend to hurt anyone personally, but want to state what happened. First, let me please explain the case in details. My Mother was admitted to Sterling Hospital in the morning of Monday Aug 18, 2008 with acute stomach ache. Dr. Debashish Chatterjee admitted her. After initial medication, she was sent to a diagnostic center for Ultra Sonography(USG) test wriggling in pain.
The USG report came back on Tuesday and it was found that she had stones in her kidney. We repeatedly requested the nursing home to consult some Urologist, but Dr. Chatterjee assured us that he will take care of everything. We had no reason to doubt him, but all on a sudden, Dr. Chatterjee left the town putting Dr. Dheeraj Das in charge of her. Again, we were assured that there will be no problem at all. My mother was getting better till Friday Aug 22, 2008 night. After having some injection on that night, her suddenly hands became puffed up, she had dried mouth and started vomiting. We came to know about all these in the next morning, since none from the hospital informed us(they had our contact details, and it is just 5 minutes walk from our home.).
Anyway, we came to know about this next day morning, during our viviting hours and I was very surprised to know from her that there were two cancer patients in the same room with her. I tried talking to Dr. Debashish Chatterjee, but he was unavailable(the nursing home people told me that he had gone out of India, and phones will be unreachable). So, I called Dr. Dheeraj Das - he said that there might have been some fungal infection, and asked me to meet next morning. Next morning(Sunday Aug 24, 2008), the doctor sent my Mother for another USG. After talking to Dr. Das later that day, I realized that he was a CARDIOLOGIST and not a kidney specialist. However, he was very co-operative and explained the whole treatment plan. He also told me that Sterling would not be able to perform laser surgery if needed. He added that he would not be able to discharge her since she was not admitted under him, and only Dr. Chatterjee can release her.
Obviously I was not happy with the treatment and decided to contact a Urologist immediately(privately). Since it was Sunday and his chamber was closed, I met him at his residence at 8:00 pm on Aug 24, 2008 with the photocopies of the USG/ X-ray reports. Checking the reports he mentioned that my Mother WAS NOT in any serious condition to keep in nursing home. The stone sizes were too small and he did not think that she will need any surgery either. He asked me to relax and take her to his chamber whenever we have time next week(and also advised us on her diet). I came back to Sterling Hospital at about 9:00 pm and requested Mr. Partha Pain at the reception to release my Mother.
He claimed to be Head Administrative Officer and mentioned that since we have medical insurance, it was NOT POSSIBLE TO RELEASE HER AFTER 6 pm. Meanwhile, I kept calling Dr. Chatterjee, but he did not receive my call. I argued with Mr. Pain for about 10 minutes, and convinced him to call Dr. Chatterjee. I was surprised to see that Dr. Chatterjee received the call from the hospital without any delay. After talking to Dr. Chatterjee, Mr. Pain told us that they can release my mother ONLY IF we pay the whole due IN CASH. It was not acceptable to me, since we have CASHLESS facility and about rupees 8200 was already sanctioned for the treatment. Then I called Mr. Jahangeer Alam, who handles the insurance claims on behalf of Sterling Hospital. He agreed to help. After getting assurance from him, Mr. Partha Pain agreed to release my Mother. It was already about 10 o’clock. He added all the bills and asked us to PAY THE REMAINING AMOUNT IN CASH.
He was not ready to listen to me when I tried to explain the about our CASHLESS facility. We had no other option but to pay to release my mother. The final bill was about Rs. 17, 000 - out of which Rs. 7100 was for PHYSICAL CONSULTATION(I have the bills). Well, by that time I had made some rapport with Mr. Partha Pain. He "unofficially" told me that they would not have charged us that Rs. 7100 if we had paid the whole amount in cash at the first place. Imagine that. No, I do not have any proof of this statement. So, at about 10:15 pm, we finally released my Mother paying cash, but they DID NOT GIVE US ANY DISCHARGE CERTIFICATE. They did give us one "Advice" paper, which was NOT SIGNED BY ANY DOCTOR.
When I asked the nurse about the writer of those advices, she said that signature was NOT NECESSARY. One week later, we took my Mother to the Urologist again, and it was found that there were no stones in her kidney anymore. Some special diet and blood tests were advised. Well, this is not over yet. When we contacted the insurance and tried to claim the remaining amount(total bill - amount already sanctioned), we came to know that they cannot meet our claim TILL THEY GET THE INITIAL CLAIM FROM THE NURSING HOME(I have checked the rules, this is there in the rule book)! So, we are now depending on the same people to get the insured money back.
One would wonder. if ever. you know! And yes, after everything was over, I did some googling and sound some interesting stories about Dr. Debasish Chatterjee(Please go to https://google.com, search with "debasish chatterjee sterling hospital" and check the first result). I also contacted some of my friends in that area - and came to know that there was a police arrest warrant against him and that’s why HE LEFT THE COUNTRY that week. Awesome! Now, I would ask the Indian Medical Board or something similar the following:
How can a cardiologist treat a Kidney stone patient? And if my Mother’s case was trivial enough to be treated by any physician, why was she kept in nursing home?
The room where my mother was in(bed number 119, first floor) would be about 20ft*12ft and there were 7 beds with 2 cancer patients, one pregnant lady and one kidney stone patient. There were no windows, no exhaust fan. My Mother also mentioned that she would have breathing trouble(not serious) in the morning when the hospital would cook the food. Is it allowable?
My Mother mentioned that the ladies toilets were not in usable condition. I would not explain about that in details, but please feel free to talk to my Mother for that.
The nurses had to make 4 channels on my Mother’s for IV injections. I also personally talked to one of them(Ms. S K - she denied to tell me her full name). I seriously doubt their educational background. Is it possible to check if the really have nursing certificates?