Pushpa Narayan | TNN
Chennai/Margao: A cadaveric liver, 250 units of blood components and a dedicated team of doctors and paramedical staff working roundthe-clock at the intensive care unit of Apollo Hospitals in Chennai could not save 27-year-old Joelle Nadia Torrado from Loutolim in Goa, who was admitted to the hospital last week.
Torrado was known to be “close” to a prominent politician from South Goa, and both had reportedly returned from a trip overseas a few days before she tried to commit suicide on May 15.
Doctors at Chennai’s Apollo Hospitals said Torrado developed end-stage liver failure after she consumed rat poison along with the anti-depressant pill Alprozolam. She died on Saturday following severe blood poisoning that led to cardiac and respiratory arrest.
She was first admitted to Apollo Hospital, Margao (Goa), after she consuming Ratol (rat poison). She was subsequently rushed to Jupiter Hospital in Thane, near Mumbai, where a special executive magistrate recorded her statement. She said she accidentally consumed Ratol “mistaking it for a toothpaste”.
However, as medical records at Apollo Hospital, Margao revealed that she had consumed an entire tube of Ratol, the police were of the view that it was a deliberate attempt at suicide and booked her under Section 309 of the IPC.
Sources said Torrado was shifted to Thane from Margao after the politician took it upon himself the risks involved in airlifting her to Mumbai in a critical condition.
Torrado was taken to Chennai by a chartered flight last week. “When she was wheeled in she had already developed liver and kidney failure. She was on active dialysis and on life support,” said a senior doctor at the Apollo Hospitals.
Investigations revealed that the combination of rat poison and anti-depressants had caused “severe and uncontrollable” bleeding of the liver. Zinc phosphate, the main ingredient of rodent poison, had also severely damaged the liver. Her name was forwarded to the state organ transplant registry. “We moved her up the waiting list, by-passing several patients due to her age and medical condition,” said Chennai organ transplant co-ordinator Dr J Amalorpavanathan. Luckily, the registry received a call from KG Hospitals in Coimbatore about the brain death of a 32-year-old man after an accident. The liver transplant team from Apollo Hospitals harvested the liver and airlifted it to the Chennai hospital for a 13-hour liver transplant surgery.
However, following the transplant she did not recover well. “She developed blood poisoning and died of cardiac respiratory arrest,” he said.
Margao deputy superintendent of police Mahesh Gaonkar, when contacted, said the police investigations would continue and all aspects pertaining to the suicide attempt, including the role of the South Goa politician, probed.
Late on Sunday, the police recorded the statements of the deceased’s mother and brother, for the first time since the case was registered. Goa’s leader of Opposition Manohar Parrikar said it was the job of the investigating agencies to find out the truth behind the death.