B’luru: Woman who spent 7 years in hospital in vegetative state dies

Team Udayavani, May 27, 2022, 10:58 AM IST

In October 2015, when Poonam Rana walked into a hospital for abdominal pain no one in her family had any idea of what was in store for them. Seven years later, with a hospital bill that ran into Rs 9.5 crore, the family bade farewell to Poonam on May 24, 2022.

Poonam’s case is the second case of longest hospital admissions in the country. Aruna Shanbaug, a nurse had spent 42 years in a vegetative state in a Mumbai hospital until her death in 2015.

Hailing from Delhi, Poonam was married to Rejish Nair, a native of Kerala. The couple resided in Bengaluru where Poonam worked for software major Accenture.

As per Rejish, Poonam had slipped into a coma soon after undergoing surgery for abdominal pain in 2015. She has been in an Irreversible Deep Coma ever since.

Rejish said that the hospital billed the family Rs 9.5 crore for his wife’s treatment, of which the family has managed to pay Rs 2 crore.

The reputed hospital where she was undergoing treatment issued a statement saying: “She was admitted on October 2, 2015, to MICU (Medical Intensive Care Unit). She has been taken care of since then and the best possible care has been provided to her all these years. She succumbed to the illness on May 24, 2022, at 12 pm despite the best of efforts.”