Couple blames doctor for newborn’s death at Spring Maternity Hospital

Hyderabad: A couple from the city has alleged serious medical negligence by a gynaecologist from Life Spring Maternity Hospital, leading to the death of their child. The couple, Shyam Prakash Gupta and his wife Tanya Gupta, have alleged that the gross negligence by the gynaecologist Dr Priyadarshini had led to the death of their child. Gupta said that their first visit to the hospital was on 25 August, and since then tests, scans, and treatment were done in the hospital by Dr Priyadarshini, and the Estimated Date of Delivery (EDD) of the baby was 24 November 2025. All the reports and scans were completely normal, and no complications were highlighted by the doctor, said Shyam Gupta.

Gupta said that their visit to the hospital on 20 November for the Non-Stress Test (NST) was absolutely normal. “I got my wife admitted on 22 November at 12 noon. Till 4 pm everything was normal and from 4.30 onwards, the heartbeat of the baby started decreasing (NST report was not normal).

The head nurse did multiple NST until 6.30 pm and sent screenshots to the doctor on WhatsApp. Even after knowing that the patient was in critical condition, Dr Priyadarshini did not visit my wife. At 7.30 pm they took her to the operation theatre and said the condition was critical.

The umbilical cord was surrounded in his neck and was checked by a paediatrician from a children’s hospital,” said Shyam Gupta. He further said that it was clearly proved by the hospital management that the doctor did not visit his wife after checking CCTV footage. The claims made by Dr Priyadarshini that she visited the hospital at 5.30 pm on 22 November were proved false by the CCTV footage.

The hospital management, however, said that there was no mistake on the part of the doctor who treated the patient. The review report said, “It is understood that Dr Priyadarshini was available in the hospital premises from 4.45 pm onwards. As the patient was not in labour and was just for observation for elective LSCS the next day, Dr Priyadarshini was getting updates by interacting with the staff and checking the NSTs regularly. At the time of regular rounds by Dr Priyadarshini, it is learnt that the patient was not on bed as she went up to have her meal (soft diet). The situation as presented does not call for the obstetrician to visit the patient repeatedly. While such repeated visits are not clinically required, a visit to the patient for comforting the patient & her attendants could have been considered.”

The decision of Dr Priyadarshini in taking up the case for emergency Lower Segment Caesarean Section (LSCS) in view of a pathological NST is also as per the protocols. There was no delay in deciding on the LSCS in this case.