Family fatally unplugs COVID ventilator to plug-in air cooler
A man who was suspected of having coronavirus has died after family members allegedly unplugged the ventilator he was connected to so they could plug in an air cooler.
The 40-year-old man was admitted to the intensive care unit of Maharao Bhim Singh Hospital in Kota, Rajasthan in India on 13th June.
According to The Indian Express, he was shifted into an isolation ward on 15th June after another patient in the ICU tested positive for coronavirus.
His family members visited and brought along an air cooler with them, but were unable to find an extra socket to plug it into.
It's alleged that they unplugged the man's ventilator which ran out of power half an hour later.
The family members alerted medical staff who performed CPR, but the man died.
Hospital superintendent Dr Naveen Sazena said that a three-member hospital committee would investigate the incident and report on the patient's cause of death.
It is currently unclear why family members were able to visit a patient in the isolation ward.
The family had brought the air cooler as the hospital's air conditioning had been turned off to limit the spread of coronavirus.
Temperatures inside the hospital reportedly were around the 40-degree mark as a result, but the family members did not ask medical staff for permission to use the air cooling unit.