Sion Hospital resident doctor found dead in PG hostel bathroom; anaesthesia drugs suspected

A first-year postgraduate surgery resident at Sion Hospital in Mumbai, Dr Shivcharan Appa Patil, was found dead in the bathroom attached to his room in the hospital's PG hostel on Saturday evening. The discovery has left the campus shaken, and police have begun an investigation.

According to police, Patil did not report for duty in his ward on Saturday. Since he stayed in the hostel, a fellow resident who shared his room was asked to look in on him. The colleague did not find Patil in the room, but when he rang Patil's phone, it began ringing from inside the bathroom. Suspicious, he alerted others, and police were summoned.

Officers opened the bathroom door and found Patil dead. An intravenous saline line was still attached to his hand, and two bottles of anaesthesia drugs were lying in the commode. Investigators believe, on the basis of preliminary findings, that he may have injected the drug himself. Police have stressed that this is early information and that the cause of death has not been established.

Some reports have described the death as a suicide, and there has also been talk of whether it could be foul play. Police say the preliminary view leans towards suicide but that they are examining the matter from every angle. The reason, they said, is not yet clear and is expected to emerge as the inquiry proceeds.

A post-mortem will follow once an accidental death report (ADR) is registered, so that the exact cause can be determined. The family has been given the choice of having it done at Sion Hospital or at another facility of their choosing.

The death has unsettled resident doctors at the hospital. It comes after an earlier death by suicide of a doctor at J.J. Hospital, and a resident doctor dying in this manner within a hospital is being treated as a serious worry.

Hospital dean Dr Pramod Ingale described Patil as a hardworking doctor who would have gone on to become a surgeon, and said the institution had lost a capable physician. He said the real reason would become clear only through the police investigation. The hospital will also hold an internal inquiry, he said, and will pay closer attention to the mental health of students and try to provide them the psychological support they need.