Man knocks CoP’s door over ‘botched up’ surgery

The complainant D Raja, a cab driver from Vyasarpadi, had approached Dr D R Sankar, a neuro surgeon, with back pain in 2016 at the latter’s clinic in Perambur. After a scan, the doctor had advised him to undergo a surgery for lumbar canal stenosis in the spine (a degeneration of the vertebrae, discs, muscles and ligaments that together make up the spinal column). 

After the surgery was performed at Kumaran Hospital, Raja experienced severe numbness in his right leg and had difficulty in passing urine and stool. After another scan, he was told to undergo another surgery at Government Stanley Medical College within a month. “But the pain, the urine and stool problems did not abate,” said Raja, who filed a complaint on Monday with the city police. He sought action against the doctor and his team who operated on him and the hospital. He added that he had spent close to Rs 75,000 for the first procedure and several thousands for medicines. 

However, Dr D R Sankar, who is also assistant professor at Stanley, maintained that the procedure was as per the rule book. “He is poorly motivated, as the procedure requires a few months of healing time. He was operated the second time for infections. But he hasn’t come back for follow up,” he maintained.