Doctor Held in Fatal India Sterilization

A physician has been arrested in connection with the deaths of 14 women at a state-run sterilization camp in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Dr. R.K. Gupta and his assistant carried out tubectomies on 83 women on a single day in Pendari village in Bilaspur district. The initial death toll of eight has been rising. One more woman died Wednesday night, and another died after an operation at a second camp in the state. More than 90 women remained hospitalized, many in a critical condition, following operations at the two camps. Before his arrest, Gupta, 63, blamed the deaths on toxic medicine. He said the victims showed no symptoms of infection from dirty equipment and were vomiting before they died.