Woman Who Went To Dentist For Tooth Extraction Dies After Being Given Anesthesia

A woman who went to a dentist for a tooth extraction has been reported dead after she was allegedly given local anesthesia in Chandigarh, India on Wednesday, Sept. 21.

The patient, identified only as 30-year-old Shrimati, reportedly went to Panjab University’s Dr. Harvansh Singh Judge Institute of Dental Sciences and Hospital with her husband for a tooth extraction on Wednesday, Sept. 21. At the hospital, she was administered local anesthesia while being readied for the procedure.

However, soon after she was administered the anesthesia, she felt uneasy and immediately complained of discomfort and breathlessness to hospital authorities. Following this, senior doctors were immediately called in to take over the procedure. However, by then, the patient became unresponsive, and doctors tried CPR for more than an hour to save her, Hindustan Times reported,

An anesthetist, a medicine consultant, along with senior dental surgeons were present on duty when the incident happened. However, despite their best efforts to save her, the patient could not be revived.

“It looks like the case of acute pulmonary edema. The cause of death is a cardiopulmonary arrest,” said Professor Hemant Batra, director-principal of the Dental College.

Pulmonary edema is a condition caused by excess fluid in the lungs. The condition leads to shortness of breath in a patient. Meanwhile, cardiopulmonary arrest refers to the cessation of adequate heart function and respiration, which further results in death in a patient.

Following the patient's death, police officers were called to the dental college and the body was taken to Government Multi-specialty Hospital, Sector 16. The officers are awaiting the autopsy result to ascertain the patient's exact cause of death, the Times Of India reported.

“Further action will be taken on the basis of the autopsy report," officers said.

Following the tragic incident, the patient's family has not lodged any official complaint so far.

Two weeks before the incident, there was speculation that five patients died at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) after Propofol, an anesthetic drug was given to them before a major surgery. However, it was not immediately clear which anesthetic drug was administered to Shrimati at the dental hospital.