CHAI NAT: The management of Jainad Narendra Hospital insisted on concealing the name of a doctor whose 11-year-old girl patient died suspiciously to protect the morale of hospital staff.
Dr Thaworn Saisawan and Dr Tanongsak Homsap, deputy directors of the well-known hospital in Chai Nat, told the press that the death certificate of the girl did not mention the doctor's name due to a mistake. Although the hospital management apologised, the family of the girl had doubts.
However, the hospital management later decided to withhold the doctor's name in order to protect the morale of hospital staff, the deputy directors said.
They also said that the death certificate did not reveal the cause of death because the doctor had not found from a blood test a disease that could cause the death and the hospital was waiting for the results of blood and tissue examinations in Bangkok. The results should be known in two weeks.
Pakaporn "View" Luepak, 11, had a stomachache and a cough and sought treatment at the hospital on Wednesday morning, said her grandmother Dusadee Nimpuang.
The grandmother quoted the girl's doctor as saying that the girl was not seriously ill and he prescribed her medication and allowed her to return home.
Later, the girl's conditions worsened and the grandmother brought her back to the hospital in the evening. Her doctor admitted her and gave her intravenous saline solution.
At about 2pm last Thursday the girl had a seizure and died. The grandmother said an autopsy in Nakhon Sawan province showed that the girl died of lung infection. She demanded responsibility from the hospital.