Mistaken identity leads to woman's suicide in Odisha hospital, husband found alive

BHUBANESWAR: A man in Odisha who was believed to have died in an accident at a private hospital last week is actually alive and undergoing treatment in the hospital's ICU, the hospital said on Friday.

The man who was misidentified as the deceased is Dilip Samantray.

His family had performed his last rites after receiving his charred body from the hospital on December 31.

Samantray's wife, Soumyashree Jena, who was seven months pregnant with their first child, hanged herself two days later after hearing the news of her husband's death.

The hospital authorities admitted to the mistake and said they had gone by the information provided by staffers of the outsourced agency. They said four persons were injured in the compressor blast, and one of them, Jyoti Ranjan Mallik, died on December 31. The hospital staff mistakenly identified Mallik as Samantray and informed his family.

On Thursday evening, the condition of one of the patients improved, and he was taken off the ventilator. He identified himself as Dilip Samantray and even recognized his nephew. The ICU doctors then conducted a psychometric evaluation and confirmed his identity.

The hospital authorities said they will now conduct a DNA test to conclusively establish the identities in this case.

Samantray's family said they are devastated by the news and hold the hospital responsible for their daughter-in-law's death. "Had the hospital authorities been careful, my daughter-in-law would have been alive today," said Samantray's mother, Ahalya.

Mallik's family is also grief-stricken. "I could not even see my son for one last time," said Mallik's father, Jyoti Ranjan. "The hospital authorities are responsible for whatever happened. I will not spare them."