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She died at 6.45 in the morning of 31st October, 1996 in the TB Hospital. She was four years old when she was severely exposed to Carbide's toxic gases. In the interview her mother gave she recalled "That night my little daughter was vomiting all over the place and soiling her clothes over and over. She was coughing and gasping for breath and crying that her eyes were on fire.. She was very ill for over a week and we thought the worst was over. A few months later her problems worsened and she would get acutely breathless and bring out sputum when she coughed. She continued to have burning sensation in the eyes. She got weaker and weaker and was wheezing all the time. She lost her appetite for food and stayed depressed all the time. Then we spotted streaks of blood in her sputum. We took her to different doctors and hospitals but her condition did not improve. She vomited a lot of blood before she died." The medical records available with her mother show that Raisa was admitted at the JLN Hospital on 7.8.'96 for 20 days with complaints of breathlessness, cough and anxiety attacks. Chest x-ray report dated 30.10.'96 from the TB Hospital mentions "Bilateral infiltration with cavity formation left mid zone". All three doctors in the assessment panel in the Sambhavna Clinic's Verbal Autopsy project have opined that Raisa's death is attributable to her exposure to Carbide's gases and the injuries caused to her respiratory and neuropsychiatric systems. In their opinions tuberculosis was a complication that arose out of the injury caused to her lungs. No claim for compensation for Raisa's death has been registered. |