Denied hubby’s death docu, woman, 65, left in lurch

Times of India: Trichy: Sunday, September 15, 2019.

A dispute over obtaining the death certificate of a 73-year-old man from a government hospital in Thiruverumbur in Trichy has been driving a widow from pillar to post.

Sivaguru, of Arunapuri Nagar near Valavandhankottai in Trichy fainted at his house on December 15, 2018. His wife Girija, 65, with the help of neighbours called up a ‘108 ambulance’, and took him to the government hospital at Thiruverumbur.

While the woman claimed that her husband died at the hospital on the day, the hospital administration has rejected it saying he was brought dead.

General secretary of youth wing of the South India Consumer People Rights Protection Organisation K Paramasivam took up the issue and approached the hospital to get the death certificate. After failing to get it, he called a press meet on Saturday attended by Girija too.

In an RTI reply to S Balasubramaniam, son of Sivaguru, the appellate authority RTI of Tamil Nadu health systems project (TNHSP) in Chennai said on March 5 that the pulse of the patient was 40 when he was taken to the ambulance and the it touched 50 when he was admitted to the government hospital in Thiruverumbur.

Paramasivam also filed an RTI query with the medical officer of government hospital in Thriuverumbur. In the reply, the medical officer maintained that Sivaguru was brought dead. It also said that the body was handed over to his wife after his eyes were donated at the hospital with the consent of his wife. On the other hand, the hospital issued a certificate mentioning the cause of death as pulmonary oedema, but they refused to issue a death certificate.

Paramasivam said that the medical officer disputed the report of the emergency medical technician of 108 ambulance with his report. “The report from 108 ambulance service is very much clear that Sivaguru was alive when he was admitted to the hospital. It is a mystery why the hospital is refusing the death certificate,” he said.

Girija expressed her inability to lead her life without the financial support after the death of her husband. “If I get the death certificate, as a widow I can apply for pension as my father had worked in the police department. Both my father and mother passed away. Now, I appeal to the state government to help me get my husband’s death certificate,” she said.