The errant gynaecologist Dr. Vaishnavy Laxman under whose watch an unborn child was decapitated inside its mother’s womb was cleared by The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MTPS) panel stating that the infant was already dead before it was delivered. After being absolved, Dr. Laxman will return to her medical practice and will continue her work in maternity wards. The tribunal held that Dr. Laxman’s error of judgement doesn’t make her an unfit doctor and that she may continue to practice medicine. In the judgement released today, the tribunal papers said that “it did not find that Dr. Vaishnavy Laxman's fitness to practise is impaired by reason of misconduct."

The verdict has not been received well by the citizens who are appalled how easily the doctor was let off. In 2014, at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, Scotlandthe gynaecologist’s error of judgement cost a 30-year-old woman her child as Dr. Laxman attempted a natural childbirth, despite knowing that the infant was in breech position. The mother’s water had broken early. Medical tests showed that the child had a prolapsed cord and was in a breech position, where the child is in an upside down position.

She ignored the standard protocol that had to be followed for breech births, which caused the child’s get to get entrapped in the vaginal canal, leading to the gory decapitation. The doctors had to stitch the infant’s head back on its body so that the grieving mother could hold her child one last time and say her goodbyes. During the tribunal, the mother lashed out at the doctor: “I don’t forgive you – I don’t forgive you.”

In the doctor’s defence, she was that she was at the end of a gruelling 24-hour shift and was stressed out when she was told of the woman’s water breaking. According to Dr. Laxman, she went against protocol to save the mother from a certain death since C-sections are not performed at 25 weeks. She was left remorseful and disturbed in the aftermath of the incident. She has maintained that her actions was in the best interest of the baby and the mother.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 06, 2018 06:19 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).