Doctor denies knowledge of Saha case

kolkata: deposing before the chief judicial magistrate's court on friday, physician abani roy choudhury submitted that he had no knowledge of the case of anuradha saha till the case was filed in court. roy choudhury made the submission during a court examination in the case filed by anuradha's husband, the us-based child specialist kunal saha, alleging that medical negligence by roy choudhury, along with doctors baidyanath haldar and sukumar mukherjee, led to the death of his wife in may 1998."if any consultant wishes to refer a patient to another, the following must be obeyed. it should be documented in writing that such a doctor is to be referred to and also that the referred doctor has been informed and agreed to come and see the patient," submitted roy choudhury, adding that while mukherjee made such a reference in his prescription, he was not intimated. claiming that he came to know about anuradha's death after the case was filed, roy choudhury said, "dr kunal saha was my student at nrs while i was working there as a professor of medicine. being a student of mine, he expected my participation in the treatment of his wife. since this did not happen, this might have provoked him to file a false case against me." it was difficult to prove that anuradha's death was caused by septicaemia, which itself was a reaction to immunosuppression from an overdose of steroids. "in toxic epidermal necrolysis (the disease which anuradha had contracted) septicaemia is a major cause of death due to ten itself. this has to be kept in mind before one can say that a particular drug is responsible for septicaemia," said roy choudhury. denying any knowledge of the dosage of depomedrol, a cortico-steroid used for treatment, roy choudhury claimed, "i do not treat patients of ten and have never used depomedrol." the physician concerned is the best judge to determine the dose, he added.