Jayalalithaa's medical records made public; former Tamil Nadu CM needed 'prolonged' life support, suffered heart attack

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government on Monday made public records of Apollo Hospitals here and AIIMS in New Delhi to show that J Jayalalithaa got the best medical treatment till she died.

It said Jayalalithaa suffered a massive cardiac arrest on December 4 while an intensivist was present at the ICU in Apollo Hospitals in Chennai.

"It is clear that the best possible medical care was afforded to her," the government stated.

The press statement quoting the report said Jayalalithaa was administered resuscitation and provided ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrance Oxygenation) support within an hour.

"Every possible clinical attempt was made to sustain her revival as per prescribed medical protocols," the statement said, quoting Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan.

He said a team of doctors, including experts from Apollo and AIIMS, assessed the situation. It was clinically concluded that there was no heart function and also no neurological improvement, denoting futility of life support.

Hence, after following all procedures, the position was conveyed to senior ministers and political leaders - O Panneerselvam (former Chief Minister), Health Minister Vijayabhaskar, Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai, and AIADMK General Secretary V K Sasikala. It was also conveyed to the chief secretary, the health secretary and other top government officials, the statement quoted him as saying.

All of them understood the situation and asked the medical team to act as per the standard protocol.

Radhakrishnan said medical practitioners are bound to not reveal details related to patients.

However, "given the need to put at rest needless speculation relating to the circumstances surrounding the hospitalisation, treatment and sad demise of the late Tamil Nadu CM, the government decided to make public the discharge summary received from Apollo Hospitals and the medical report received from AIIMS, New Delhi." 

On the condition in which Jayalalithaa was admitted to the hospital, it said that at around 10 PM on September 22, 2016, Apollo Hospitals received a call from the residence of the then chief minister.

When the ambulance reached there, they found her breathless with low oxygen saturation, resulting in drowsiness.

"She was immediately admitted to Apollo Hospital, Greams Road, Chennai. On evaluation, she was diagnosed to be suffering from infection and dehydration, accompanied by respiratory distress," Radhakrishnan said in the statement.

There were pre-existing co-morbidities like diabetes, hypertension, asthmatic bronchitis and hypothyroidism, but clearly the "treatment report of Apollo Hospital, as well as that of AIIMS do not mention any evidence of trauma or any other event as alleged by certain political leaders," he said. 

Radhakrishnan said in the report that during treatment Jayalalithaa had responded well to the multi-disciplinary care in the Critical Care Unit of the Apollo Hospitals.

He said "certain insinuations" have been made that the administration had used "wrong drugs" over a period of time prior to Jayalalithaa's hospitalisation that had led to "health complications" for her and denied it.

"The medical reports indicate that except for corticosteroids administered for atopic dermatitis, the late CM was only taking oral hypoglycemic and anti-hypertensive drugs to control pre-existing diabetes mellitus and hyper tension," he said.

"Jayalalithaa interacted with family and government officials on some important issues, including the Cauvery issue. Her clinical course deteriorated later and subsequently recovered substantially to being able to take food orally," Radhakrishnan said.

She was then shifted from the advanced Critical Care Unit to the High Dependency Unit of the Apollo Hospitals where her health and vitals "continued to improve under the close monitoring by the panel of experts," he said.

"This improvement in the late Chief Minister's health condition was brought out in the reports of the AIIMS teams which visited between October 13, 2016 and October 15, 2016 and again on December 3, 2016."

On doubts by "some quarters" on the quality of treatment, he said the AIIMS reports have "consistently concurred" with the line of treatment of Apollo and had commended the "meticulous medical management imparted by the treating team," in their visit reports for October 5 to 7 last year.

"Thereafter on December 3, 2016, the AIIMS team had appreciated the high quality care imparted by the treating doctors. Hence, it is clear that the best possible medical care was afforded to the late Chief Minister," he said.

On the initial treatment, he said after she was evaluated following her admission and was continuously under the care and treatment of a team of experts from Apollo Hospitals.

"The nutrition and the essential nutrient intake was attended to by senior consultants from the dietary team. Physiotherapy was provided by the physiotherapists from the Apollo and a special team of physiotherapists from Mount Elizabeth Hospital, Singapore," he said.

Apollo Hospitals also obtained an expert opinion from Dr Richard Beale, an international specialist and consultant from the Guy's and St Thomas Hospital London.

The government of Tamil Nadu also had constituted (on September 30, 2016) a five-member team of government specialist doctors to be stationed at Apollo Hospitals to provide required assistance and co-ordinate with the hospital for Jayalalithaa's treatment.

At the government's request, AIIMS, New Delhi, had deputed a team of specialists headed by Dr GC Khilnani, Professor, Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Radhakrishnan said in the report.

Press Release on the medical report of Amma . pic.twitter.com/MovFbiWC1o

— AIADMK (@AIADMKOfficial) March 6, 2017

Press release on the medical report of Amma pic.twitter.com/ZkMtB5LaFA — AIADMK (@AIADMKOfficial) March 6, 2017

Earlier today, AIIMS Deputy Director (Administration) V Srinivas had said that the state government had yesterday sought the visit notes of the delegation for its official records.

Srinivas handed over the papers to Radhakrishnan today.

"On the request of the Tamil Nadu government for expert medical advise, AIIMS had deployed a team of senior specialists to visit Chennai five times between October 5 and December 6, 2016. The team was led by Dr GC Khilnani, Professor in the department of pulmonology," Srinivas said, as per PTI.

The Tamil Nadu government had on Sunday rejected former CM and rebel AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam's claims of foul play in the treatment of Jayalalithaa, an allegation which has been dismissed by state Health Minister C Vijayabaskar.

The Opposition DMK too has approached the Madras High Court seeking a comprehensive probe into the death of Jalalalithaa.

Twelve AIADMK MPs, belonging to the Panneerselvam group, had met President Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi on February 28 and handed over a petition seeking a probe into the medical treatment provided to Jayalalithaa. 

(With PTI inputs)