A 25-year-old pregnant woman died after post-delivery complications that were allegedly precipitated by the mishandling of her medical complications. Her husband, Farooq Khan, has alleged that a series of medical lapses, lack of informed consent, missing records and poor ICU supervision across two Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) hospitals led to the tragedy.
The case spans two civic facilities—the Hinduhridaya Balasaheb Thackeray (HBT) Trauma Care Centre, where the delivery was conducted, and Dr RN Cooper Hospital, where Sumaiya Khan spent her final days in intensive care.
According to Farooq, his wife’s pregnancy had been medically uneventful. “For nine months, all her reports were normal. No blood pressure, no diabetes, no complications,” he said. Doctors had reportedly marked December 31 as the expected date of delivery.
What followed, Khan alleges, was never clearly explained. Around midnight on December 31, doctors at the trauma hospital abruptly announced an emergency, citing a sudden spike in her blood pressure. “No reports were shown to us. There was no written explanation. We were not told how serious it was,” Khan said. The family claims they were asked to go home, believing the situation was under control.
Hours later, they received a WhatsApp message congratulating them on the birth of a baby boy. “The surgery had already happened while we were sent home,” Farooq said. “No one informed us that a C-section would be performed in our absence.” After the delivery, the family alleges they were not allowed to see the woman and were repeatedly told she was “fine”. No briefings were given, and no case summary or consent documentation was shared.
By early afternoon, the narrative changed dramatically. “Around 1 pm, we were suddenly told her condition had worsened, and she needed to be shifted immediately,” Farooq said. When the family requested a transfer to a private hospital, they were allegedly refused. Instead, she was shifted to Dr RN Cooper Hospital.
Farooq alleges the transfer occurred without complete medical records. “Doctors at Cooper told us key documents were missing – delivery notes, early treatment records and more,” he claimed.
At Cooper Hospital, Sumaiya remained unconscious for nearly 10 days. Doctors later told the family that brain scans showed severe neurological damage allegedly caused by extremely high blood pressure. She was diagnosed with Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome (PRES), a rare condition associated with pregnancy-related hypertension, complicated by brain bleeding.
The family claims the diagnosis came late and was poorly explained. “For days, we were just told she was critical. No one sat us down and explained what had gone wrong,” Farooq said.