November 29, 1975: Anesthesia Reaction Kills Mother of Four

On November 28, 1975, Kamala Reddy and her husband, G. Pulla Reddy, went to Sigma Reproductive Health Center in Montgomery County, MD, for an abortion. Kamala was a 31-year-old immigrant from India.

Kamala and Pulla completed the informed consent together, indicating that Kamala's only allergy was to sulfa. They also indicated that there had been no complications during the pregnancies and births of the couple's four children. 

Dr. Vibhakar J. Mody was an independent contractor paid piece rate by the facility.

When Mody administered the local anesthetic, Kamala suffered "a violent reaction." She was transferred to Washington Adventist Hospital where she died the following day, November 29.

The defense successfully argued that when Kamala first reported a reaction to the anesthetic, both Mody and a nurse asked if she had ever had a reaction before and she said yet, but didn't tell them because "I didn't think it would be so bad."

Sources:

• Reddy v. Mody, 39 Md. App. 675 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. 1978)  388 A.2d 555