When an Indian hospital was running out of oxygen, these doctors tried to help. So why were they sent to jail?
GORAKHPUR, India - It was a shocking story: A government hospital in the far north of India ran out of liquid oxygen because it hadn't paid the supplier. Over the next two days, 35 children died in the crowded intensive care units. Amid a national uproar, authorities jailed nine people on charges including embezzlement and homicide.
Nearly a year later, Baba Raghav Das Medical College and Hospital in the town of Gorakhpur is synonymous with the failings of India's public health care system. But the investigation into the deaths is exposing the failings of its justice system.
None of the officials responsible for allocating payments has been punished. Instead, doctors who tried to avert the oxygen shortage are facing charges of attempting to commit "culpable homicide" - which is similar to manslaughter - and have spent months behind bars.
