Newborn dies after row between doctors inside operation theatre delays surgery

In an unfortunate incident, a pregnant woman awaiting an emergency C-section lost her newborn as the doctors scheduled to perform the surgery kept arguing with each other while she lay sedated on the operation table.

The surgery was reportedly scheduled because of the feeble heartbeat of the foetus, but the row between the doctors delayed the procedure, claiming the life of the baby.

The incident took place at Umaid hospital in Jodhpur — a city in the western Indian state of Rajasthan — on Tuesday (29 August). Both the doctors involved in the row, Dr Ashok Nainwal and Dr ML Tak, were suspended by the hospital, local media reports said.

A video recorded by one of the hospital staffers present inside the operation theatre at the time of the row showed the obstetrician and the anaesthetist arguing with each other over whether the patient had eaten before the surgery.

Tak is heard telling Nainwal that he had performed certain tests on the patient before the surgery, but the latter does not approve of them and begins threatening him with dire consequences. "You stay within your limits," Nainwal, in green scrubs and surgery gear, is seen telling the anaesthetist.

Tak then responds to Nainwal in an equally heated tone, fuelling the argument. The others present inside the operation theatre can be heard urging the two to stop their quarrel and focus on the surgery, but neither pays heed.