The family of a patient in a Sion hospital, who was allegedly declared dead, discovered on Wednesday that he was breathing hours after his ventilator was removed. The family registered a complaint with the local police, who immediately arrested a doctor.

Chandrakant Gangurde, 59, a Dharavi resident, was admitted to Atharva hospital and research centre on December 5 after he fell unconscious at home.

Atul Gangurde, his son, said, “My father was unconscious when we admitted him to Atharva hospital. MRI and CT Scans showed that he had a brain haemorrhage due to which his left side was paralysed.”

“On Tuesday night, Dr Atul Chirmude called us to his room where he told us there is no chance of my father’s condition improving and that he was 95 % dead. He also told us that the moment we remove the ventilator, he would be officially dead.”

According to Gangurde, the hospital requested him to take away the ‘body’ at night. “We requested the hospital to not to remove the ventilator in the night as we had to inform our relatives,” said Gangurde.

On Wednesday morning, hospital authorities removed the ventilator and the family was shocked to see that Chandrakant was breathing by himself. “We were taken aback when we saw him breathing on his own and decided to shift him to another hospital. We later registered a police complaint against the hospital for negligence,” said Gangurde.

Gangurde said that the hospital had declared him dead and that’s why they agreed to remove the ventilator. “If the hospital had told us that he was alive, we would have never allowed them to remove the ventilator,” said Gangurde, commenting on why a letter of consent was signed.

A resident medical officer from the hospital, however, claimed that Chandrakant was not declared dead and his family had wanted to shift him to Kohinoor hospital in Kurla.

“Based on the family’s complaint, we have registered a case under section 336 (Act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 287 (negligent conduct with respect to machinery) of the Indian Penal Code.

We arrested Dr Chirmude immediately after the case was registered,” said Baburao Gavit, senior inspector of the Sion police station.