The demise of one Dr Anoop Krishna, allegedly after receiving flak on social media, has startled the medical community in Kerala. On Thursday, Dr Krishna committed suicide at his residence in the Kollam district. He was a well-known orthopaedic surgeon and had appeared on several TV shows. The doctor specialised in Sports Medicine, Arthroscopy and Arthroplasty.
His suicide has now been attributed to the backlash he faced after the untimely death of a 6-year-old child, Adhya Lakshmi, at his clinic, Anoop Orthocare hospital, a week ago. Dr Anoop had decided to carry out the operation on the child after several doctors refused to conduct surgery, amidst the pandemic. Reportedly, the child was born with a heart defect and eventually developed ventricular fibrillation, resulting in erratic heartbeats and eventual death. The child had a heart attack after she was administered anaesthesia at the clinic. She was then admitted to the Kollam Medical College but couldn’t be saved.
While alleging medical negligence, the parents of the deceased child had filed a complaint against Dr Anoop and his hospital. They had claimed that administering anaesthesia resulted in the death of the child. The family also protested outside the hospital. When the news of the child’s death spread on social media, Dr Anoop was subjected to an online backlash.
Deceased doctor wrote ‘sorry’ prior to committing suicide
Dr Anoop was reportedly under mental stress, which forced him to take his own life. He had written ‘sorry’ on a wall, prior to committing suicide. The Station House Officer (Kollam East) stated, “We had taken a case against the hospital for unnatural death. The child was under treatment in the hospital. We are not sure whether the two incidents are connected. The reason for his suicide is not yet known.” He added, “Further details will be known only after the postmortem report.”
Fellow doctors blame ‘social media trials
The medical community in Kerala has come out in support of the deceased doctor and blamed ‘media trials’ for his untimely demise. Fellow doctors emphasised that Dr Anoop had conducted surgeries successfully in the past and that a patient could not be saved every time.
Dr Sulphi Noohu, Indian Medical Association (Thiruvananthapuram chapter) condemned the social media campaign and wrote, “Despite all the attempts to save her including taking her to another hospital, the child passed away. And there comes a bunch of social media warriors to do a trial. They wrote a verdict that the doctor was guilty. They even wrote that the doctor killed the child for a little money.”
Another ortho-surgeon, Dr Sunil stated, “Doctors could not save every life. They don’t have the magic to defeat death every time. A doctor grieves with the family every time a patient dies, despite their best efforts to save them. I hope it won’t cost their own lives anymore.”
