<i>Death at the dentist Woman dies soon after doctor pulls out her tooth</i>
Halima Khatun, who went to BSMMU yesterday to get her ailing tooth cured, was brought home dead.
Halima, 45, was suffering from severe toothache and gum swelling. She went to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) from Postogola in the capital around 11:00am.
Soon after the medical officer of the Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics, Dr Rokon, pulled out her tooth, the condition of the lady deteriorated.
Doctors sent the lady to the emergency section of the Cardiology department, where on-duty doctors said she was brought dead.
Relatives of Halima Khatun blame doctors' negligence for the death. They alleged the doctors did not take any precaution, though she was a patient of diabetes and had hypertension.
The doctors even left the hospital locking the gate of the department around 1:45pm, said Farook Ahmed, brother-in-law of Halima Khatun. The body was taken home from the hospital around 6:15pm.
Halima Khatun's husband Afzal Hossain is the Senior Vice President of Louhajang upazila Awami League.
Preferring anonymity, a group of doctors of the Dentistry department said if they had acute emergency management service in the department, the situation could be averted.
Contacted, the director of the hospital, Brig Gen Mohammad Abdul Majid Bhuiya said her blood pressure was quite normal and so the doctors pulled out her tooth. Perhaps she then suffered a cardiac arrest, which is very rare.
"But without an autopsy the reason behind her death cannot be affirmed," he said.
He added, the patient's relatives expressed unwillingness in autopsy and gave him a written statement in this regard. So it is still unknown what caused the death.
The director also said a four-member committee has already been formed to investigate the death with Prof Abu Shafi Ahmed Amin, chairman of the department of ENT, as its head.
The other members are Prof Mohammad Shamsul Alam, chairman, department of dentistry and Dr AKM Salek, associate professor of Physical Medicine. And the member-secretary of the probe body is Dr Mohammad Nazmul Karim, deputy director of the hospital.
The director however said immediate resuscitation was given to the lady and at every department there is emergency management system.
The officer-in-charge of Shahbagh Police Station, Rezaul Karim said that no case was filed in this regard. But they were informed and went to the spot.
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