Sunday, September 21, 2014

Mandolin Shrinivas

It is very unfortunate that the mandolin maestro has passed away at the young age of 45. The Carnatic music has suffered an irreparable loss. May his soul rest in eternal peace !

According to media reports, he died a week after a liver transplant. " Early this month (September, 2014), Shrinivas went to Apollo Hospitals with complaints of general weakness and loss of appetite. "He said he was traveling on a concert and maybe because of eating out, he felt unwell," said the doctor. "A detailed diagnosis revealed multiple problems: pneumonia, failing kidneys and acute liver failure. The problems were long-existing, but somehow he didn't realize it till it was too late." 

Through dialysis and antibiotics, doctors stabilized the lungs and kidneys and did a liver transplant. He appeared to be on his way to recovery when another bout of infection led to multiple organ failure. " (Times of India)

The transplant was performed on 12th September and he breathed his last on the 19th.

The following report is disquieting. "In a statement, Apollo Hospital said "the transplant procedure was uneventful, and his liver function showed signs of recovering. After initial improvement of five days, he developed a secondary lung infection leading to shock and multi organ failure." (The Hindu)

The uneventfulness of a transplant is not proven simply because the patient comes out alive from the operation theatre. It is only discharge from the hospital in a satisfactory state of health that would vouchsafe that the transplant was uneventful.

This is not to say that the hospital was in any way responsible for the untimely demise of a doyen of music. The chain of events however lays bare the lack of our mastery over the transplant imponderables.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Its extremely sad. But why could the artiste not get better medical facilities? Flown abroad? Was a transplant at the hands of such perhaps inexperienced doctors really necessary? Why not a second opinion? This is rather very strange. Nobody dies at 45 for general debility.

K.R.Srivarahan said...


Yes, it is extremely sad. In the absence of details, we cannot know if medical negligence was the culprit. This is an apt case for suo moto enquiry by Medical Council of India / Health Ministry atleast to streamline medico-legal guidelines for organ transplants. We desperately need a regulator for medical profession.