A 40-year-old Indian man has tragically lost his life after his visiting family allegedly unplugged the ventilator he was placed on in order to plug in an air cooler.
The astonishing incident took place last Monday in Maharao Bhimsingh Hospital in the North Indian state of Rajasthan.
The man was suspected to be suffering from COVID-19 got admitted to the ICU at the hospital on June 13.
Two days later, after another patient in the hospital tested positive for the virus, the man was moved to an isolation ward as a safety precaution.
That same day, he died at the isolation ward after his visiting family unwittingly switched off his ventilator in order to plug in their own air cooler to combat the high temperature.
The hospital’s air conditioning system had been turned off to stop the spread of the virus but the air cooler was needed to reduce the high temperature which was at 41 degrees Celsius.
When the man’s family tried to plug in the air cooler, they noticed that there were no available power outlets, except for the ones being used for medical equipment, including the mechanical ventilator the man was placed on.
Without bothering to consult with hospital staff, they unplugged the ventilator and plugged in the air cooler.
Unknowingly, the mechanical ventilator ran on its own backup battery for about 30 minutes before it stopped working, leaving the patient unable to breathe, according to VICE News.
When an alarm went off, hospital staff tried to save the man by giving him CPR, but he did not survived it and was declared dead afterwards.
Despite complaining of breathing difficulties when he was admitted to the hospital, the patient tested negative for COVID-19 after his death.
India has the fourth-highest number of coronavirus cases in the world at 444,948, with 14,030 deaths.
