AIIMS shocker: Private hospitals often refer dead bodies for treatment

September 5, 2014

New Delhi, Sep 5: A year-long analysis of cases referred to AIIMS has led to a shocking revelation — private hospitals often send dead patients to the institute after fleecing their families in a bid to escape blame for botching up cases. In some cases, the patients were so ill that they died while being transported or during admission in the casualty section.

AIIMS director Dr M C Misra said the malpractice came to their notice last year when they found a private hospital based in Noida referring three patients on the same day and all three dying even before arrival. "They had been intubated to make it appear as if they were critical; but when the doctors checked their pulse, all of them were found dead. The families of the deceased had no clue," Misra said.

The AIIMS chief said an analysis of all such referrals showed that a majority of private hospitals and some government hospitals indulged in this malpractice. "On an average, we get eight to 10 such patients every week," he added.

Dr Sanjeev Bhoi, medical superintendent of AIIMS Trauma Center, said that most patients who become victims of such malpractices often come from financially unsound background. "We do not have direct evidence but it is possible that these patients are referred when the hospitals find the families cannot afford treatment," he said.

The AIIMS director said they have adopted a new policy under which no critically-ill patient referred from another hospital can be admitted without prior information and discussion with specialists concerned. "Also, we are writing letters to those referring centres about the irregularity and sending a copy of the same to the directorate of health services for necessary action," said a senior AIIMS official.

"My brother suffered from blood cancer. When we approached AIIMS, the doctors told us there was little hope and suggested palliative care. But one of the private hospitals said the disease could be controlled with bone marrow transplant. We spent all our savings, and even sold our ancestral land to get the procedure done but his condition did not improve. Finally, they asked us to take him to AIIMS. He died a few days later," said Praveen Kumar, who lives in Sadiq Nagar in south Delhi.

Comments

Add new comment

Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.

‘Pay the worker before his sweat dries’: Madras High Court cites Prophet Muhammad’s teaching while ordering settlement of dues

News Network

December 21,2025

Invoking the teachings of Prophet Muhammad—“pay the worker before his sweat dries”—the Madras High Court has directed a municipal corporation to settle long-pending legal dues owed to a former counsel. The court observed that this principle reflects basic fairness and applies equally to labour and service-related disputes.

Justice G. R. Swaminathan made the observation while hearing a petition filed by advocate P. Thirumalai, who claimed that the Madurai City Municipal Corporation failed to pay him legal fees amounting to ₹13.05 lakh. Earlier, the High Court had asked the corporation to consider his representation. However, a later order rejected a major portion of his claim, prompting the present petition.

The court allowed Thirumalai to approach the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) and submit a list of cases in which he had appeared. It also directed the corporation to settle the verified fee bills within two months, without interest. The court noted that the petitioner had waited nearly 18 years before challenging the non-payment and that the corporation could not be fully blamed, as the fee bills were not submitted properly.

‘A Matter of Embarrassment’

Justice Swaminathan described it as a “matter of embarrassment” that the State has nearly a dozen Additional Advocate Generals. He observed that appointing too many law officers often leads to unnecessary allocation of work and frequent adjournments, as government counsel claim that senior officers are engaged elsewhere.

He expressed hope that such practices would end at least in the Madurai Bench of the High Court and added that Additional Advocate Generals should “turn a new leaf” from 2026 onwards.

‘Scandalously High Amounts’

While stating that the court cannot examine the exact fees paid to senior counsel or law officers, Justice Swaminathan stressed that good governance requires public funds to be used prudently. He expressed concern over the “scandalously high amounts” paid by government and quasi-government bodies to a few favoured law officers.

In contrast, the court noted that Thirumalai’s total claim was “a pittance” considering the large number of cases he had handled.

Background

Thirumalai served as the standing counsel for the Madurai City Municipal Corporation for more than 14 years, from 1992 to 2006. During this period, he represented the corporation in about 818 cases before the Madurai District Courts.

As the former counsel was unable to hire a clerk to obtain certified copies of judgments in all 818 cases, the court directed the District Legal Services Authority to collect the certified copies within two months. The court further ordered the corporation to bear the cost incurred by the DLSA and deduct that amount from the final settlement payable to the petitioner.

Comments