Four Doctors Booked in Body-Swap Case at Orison Super Specialty Hospital

Incident Overview

Ludhiana: Four senior doctors from Orison Super Specialty Hospital in Barewal have been implicated in a body-swap incident involving two women that occurred two weeks ago. The police investigation has led to the doctors’ names being included in the First Information Report (FIR) following evidence of their involvement.

Details of the Case

Among those accused are a senior gastroenterologist and three directors of the hospital. The case centers around the death of 73-year-old Jasvir Kaur Sandhu, a resident of Moga, who was admitted to the hospital for treatment of a stomach ailment. According to her husband, Jasvir was under the care of the senior gastroenterologist and passed away on December 19.

Family’s Request and Discovery

As the couple’s two sons resided abroad, the family requested that the hospital retain Jasvir’s body in the mortuary until they could return for the final rites. However, when the family arrived on December 22 to collect the body, they discovered that the mortuary fridge was empty.

Hospital authorities then attempted to hand over the body of another woman to the family. Upon inspection, the family realized that the deceased was not Jasvir. Subsequently, the hospital acknowledged that Jasvir’s body had mistakenly been given to the family of another deceased woman, Manju Diwan, from Ludhiana. Unfortunately, by the time this error was identified, Manju’s family had already cremated Jasvir’s body, believing it to be their relative’s.

Legal Proceedings

Following the incident, a complaint was filed, leading to the registration of an FIR at the Sarabha Nagar police station on December 22 against the hospital management and staff. Initially, the doctors were not named in the report. However, on Saturday, prompted by the Ludhiana Police Commissioner, the police officially named the four doctors as accused in the case, as reported by The Indian Express.

The FIR has been filed under Sections 305, 314, and 316(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which pertain to criminal breach of trust and associated offenses. An investigation into the matter is ongoing.