Jayalalithaa died of organ failure, say her doctors

UK-based Richard Beale, who treated Jaya, said she was critical and an acute sepsis led to her death

Doctor Richard Beale, the UK-based expert who treated late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister late J Jayalalithaa, has denied any conspiracy related to her death. Jayalalithaa passed away on December 5, after she was hospitalised for nearly 74 days.

The comment by Beale, a consultant in Intensive Care Medicine at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, St Thomas' Hospital, London, comes a day after Jayalalithaa's close aide V K Sasikala was chosen by the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) to lead the government as the new CM of Tamil Nadu.

Beale, who has his clinical and research intersts in sepsis, haemodynamic monitoring, advanced ventilation, nutrition in the critically ill and others, treated Jayalalithaa when she was admitted at Apollo from September 22.

On Monday, he told reporters that Jayalalithaa was suffering from infection, sepsis set in, with bacterial infection in blood as underlying problem. Infection spread to organs, led to shortness of breath, he said. "I am not from here. There was no conspiracy. She (Jayalalithaa) had severe infection. She had supportive care," he said.

He added that while the doctors opined Jayalalithaa should be taken to London for treatment, she did not agree.

"No organ transplant or amputation was performed on Jayalalithaa and she died died of sepsis. Normal embalming process was followed after her death," said the group of doctors in an interaction with the reporters in Chennai. 

Beale said that Jayalalithaa was conscious, and he spoke to her when she gave thumb impression for Election Commission forms related to some election during the period. She read the documents before giving thumb impression, since she had a swelling in her hand. Dr Balaji, Apollo Hospital's General Surgeon, also spoke to her during the course of treatment.

Babu K Abraham, Respiratory Medicine Specialist at Apollo Hospitals, said that Jayalalithaa suffered cardiac arrest at around 5 pm and she was given cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for 20 minutes.

She was put on ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) as there was no heart rhythm. It was a collective medical decision comprising of all doctors who had treated Jayalalithaa including the doctors from AIIMS, New Delhi that it was futile to continue with ECMO. The decision to remove ECMO was taken after informing Jayalalithaa's family members, he said.

Balaji said that the Tamil Nadu Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao met Jayalalithaa at the hospital during his second visit and "she showed him thumbs up sign". He added that hospital bill for treatment of Jayalalithaa is between Rs 5 crore- Rs.5.5 crore and he was told that the bill was given to the family members of Jayalalithaa.