Human Stories: We Operate On The Family Without Anesthesia!




I remember as a resident doctor doing post-graduation in obstetrics and gynecology there was this lady senior consultant of ours who always had her anger on the tip of her nose.  We all used to be terrified of her and many would run helter-skelter on seeing her.  Once while I was doing some post-operative routine work in the wards I heard a big commotion near the operation theater door. She was shouting at the top of her voice. Inquisitively, I went closer to find an old man standing in front of her trembling and with folded hands as if pleading for mercy. She was blasting him. It seems she on coming out of the operation theater on finishing some difficult surgery saw something unsavory.  There were beedi (a thin, Indian cigarette filled with tobacco flake and wrapped in a tendu leaf tied with a string at one end) stubs littered all around plump near the door of the Operation Theater. I did not need a minute to understand what must have happened. The man must be smoking those stuffs and had thrown the stubs around him. The lady must have seen the litter and the flare followed. She didn’t leave till the old man literally in tears collected all the beedi stubs and threw them in the dust-bin. Tidiness restored – all well – the lady left with a gleam of victory in her eyes.
We had nearly forgotten the episode when in the evening after all teaching sessions were over and all had left I went back to the post-operative ward to complete the remaining work. There I saw that old man sitting or rather squatting on the floor, near a young woman patient who was seemingly operated. He was holding her hand as the patient may move the hand and thus dislocate the needle of the running saline drip. He had totally stoic face. He was looking out of the window staring vacantly at the dark sky. I quickly pulled a stool for him so that he could sit a little more comfortably. He looked up at me and as he sat on the stool he just sighed. He spoke nothing.
“Have you had something to eat? “ I asked. He didn’t reply. Wasn’t the answer obvious? Tea and biscuits were arranged. But he seemed to be too scared to take it. He was so clearly hungry. I sensed the fear that was doing rounds in him again. His silence spoke loudly while he did not utter a single word. He was too afraid to eat in the hospital ward. He was also too frightened to leave the hand of the patient as he was strictly instructed not to move. Having reassured him I arranged a peaceful corner for him outside the ward in some privacy and got on with my work. After about half an hour or so deeply engrossed in my work I felt someone was staring at me. I looked up to find that old man. He was peering at me from the window. As I looked up he smiled gently and in Indian tradition folded his hands as if to say “Thank You” and went back to the patient. I left him in his space.
After a couple of days I could see the man in the hospital compounds now visibly relaxed but still very silent sitting in the corner waiting for the gates to open and the visiting hours to commence. I walked up to him and just placed my hand on his shoulder making it as comforting as possible I asked; “How is your patient”. He replied “She is much better now”. “Who is she?” I asked. He said “She is my only child, Sir. She had torn her uterus (rupture uterus – very serious life threatening condition). We were tossed from primary health center to the referral hospital and from there, here. She was operated here and is now saved Sir”.
The entire picture was now so clear: This man’s only child – his daughter was on death-bed that day. She was getting operated. He was facing a real possibility that what would come out from the operation theater would be simply her body. He must be in unimaginable, indescribable stress. In that stress he must have smoked one beedi after the other. Little did this simple man realize that he was in a hospital and therefore not supposed to smoke or make the place dirty! Did it matter? Do such rules matter at such critical times? No they don’t. He smoked away in sheer agony - at the prospect of losing his only child. We the doctors on emerging from the operation did not care to tell him what the situation was. Instead we blasted him – after all he had made the hospital dirty! He had smoked in the hospital.
I have never forgotten this incidence in my life. I know that as doctors when we operate on a patient we are not operating on one human being but on the entire family that is waiting outside. The agony is – the patient is anesthetized so he/she doesn’t feel the pain. But the family is not under anesthesia and undergoing a mental surgery all in consciousness and pain – lest we forget! Would a gentle word have been out of place?


I am convinced: “A good doctor doesn’t necessarily mean a good human being. But a good human being necessarily means a good doctor. Let us be good human beings, the good doctor will automatically follow!”


Comments

  1. In the sad mood, every Person want to forget his sadness by doing drink or smoke. They know that it is so dangerous. But at that time they are in really serious trouble they forgot every thing and just remember only his sadness and his drink and smoke.
    B.Arch colleges

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    1. Well said Ronita. That is the sensitivity we doctors in particular and human beings in general can develop.

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  2. Well said sir....but after seeing both sides of coin,i should blame situation abt wat's happened....We cant damn docs for their anger as dey r tryin to keep runnin' a systkem..

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    1. Thanks Pritesh for your very nice input. Appreciated

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  3. Ankil Naik @ankil_1990 tweeted this on the blog: its really nice sir..i appreciate it ur work.

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  4. Thanks for sharing doc. Touched. Hope we all learn lesson in humane approach to all matters human. Regards best wishes some day i hope we meet

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  5. As a resident in a government hospital,I remember having patients with obstructed labor: tired, dehydrated, in severe agony, brought in rickety ambulances/autos/ even on motorcycles to our hospital. The recieving registrar would take care of the patient: do everything that was needed to stabilize the patient and treat her;Come out of the recieving room and burst into a tirade about how serious and sick the lady was, the hopeless condition of the child in her womb, need to arrange blood for her. All this in the earshot of the lady.The trembling and confused relatives would take off to buy medicines and get medicines while the lady was wheeled into the OT.Usually the baby would be stillborn in these cases and the lone remaining attendent( usually the mother inlaw) would be handed her dead grandchild without a word of comfort. The next day, this patient would be in the postop ward: with engorged breasts, with a bandage on her tummy surrounded by at least 30 crying newborns and their mothers. Every cry from the neighbouring bed would cause milk to let down from her bosom. Every resident and consultant would take excellent care of her condition, but none of us looked at the hole in heart. We saw the patient, but were blind to the childless mother.
    Sir, I urge you to take the same lecture that you had taken some years ago about mishaps in OT for registrars and residents of today.I salute you and hope that I can impart this teaching to my students as well.

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    1. Thanks a lot Doc for sharing this. I am able to look the situation from both the sides.I have worked with cancer children in IRCH , AIIMS. in EVERY CHATAI CLINIC I have taken don't know how many sessions on hygiene and cleanliness but still patients never used to understand and place is mess as usual. I was surprised as, in disease like Cancer cleanliness plays a very important role for treatment reduces the immunity. Still parents of patients never used to understand this and same blame games. The lives of their kids were on stake still my words on cleanliness were waste. You can any time witness that. Some times Doctors, social workers, hospital attendants we all are just failed to tackle this problem. I understand the agony patients undergo but I understand the frustration of Doctors and Hospital attendants as well especially when it comes to maintaining cleanliness in general wards and they face the blame game. Its a mutual responsibility. And yes I agree when you say humanity has to be maintained in communications.

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    2. Brilliant inputs Archana. Much appreciated

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  7. You are 100% right ,sir.As a doctor we must appreciate the mental agony of the relatives and we should have some counselling with them. and in some critical situations some good counsellors may be arranged to tide over that critical period.

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  8. Sir,
    very rightly said. When we are on the other side of the table we do not know what the relative must be feeling. While operating on relatives of the doctors, I have observed they are far more worried and ask equally silly questions. They too keep sipping tea and smoking without letting anybody know. It is human to be worried under these circumstances and equally human to divert mind by occupying it elsewhere.

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    1. Hirenbhai as usual very sensitive and thought provoking inputs....

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  9. Pankajbhai, You may not believe, i am weeping right now which is very unusual for me. I do not remember when I had last tears in my eyes. i had many emotional and odd and sad moments, as many have, but I am not of a tearing nature. But you did to me.
    Discipline is a must for every place but definitely not beyond humanity. Sorry for such goodness of the professionals who hold scalpels and syringes most efficiently with their hands which lack human touch.

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    1. Dada now you have made me misty-eyed. Thanks for your kind blessings

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  10. Col Manobendra Roy gave these inputs on Facebook on the blog:‎...went through it in your blog site...a very poignant commentary on the travails of the doctors, their patients and the caring relatives...top class as always...it also had a touch of wistfulness in the interpersonal rlationship in it's content...you are right, doctors need to be first and foremost a humane homo sapiens...half the battle over the disease is won if the patient is comfortable communicating with his doctor...don't want to be judgemental about anybody here...as giving advise is easy...in the overall analysis what ails our countrymen is the acute lack of standardisation of education in our country...resulting in varying standards in lifestyles and attitudes...Doctor you have immortalised your real life central character here...the trauma and pain suffered my the aged father will remain etched in my memory for a long time...

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  11. Jyoti Daswani commented thus through Facebook on this blog: Wow! We dont anaesthetise the family. Very well written Doc. Your compassion and a total understanding of others agony reflects through this real story. My father used to say,sabko koi na koi nasha chahiye..voh ek support system ho jata hai..Hats Off! Keep it up!

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  12. Srikanth R. ‏@_R_Srikanth tweeted this on the blog: Thanks for writing. Maybe I need to get kinder and gentler myself...I thought after reading that.

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  13. RiBaanee ‏@BreeZerHolic tweeted this on the blog: speechless...

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  14. Silvio Aladjem ‏@dr_silvio tweeted this on the blog: Thank you for letting me know. It is a moving story. thanks again

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  15. Akash Gadiya ‏@GadiyaAkash tweeted this on the blog: Heart touching.. Must read.

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  16. Sonal ‏@MrsSonaL tweetd tis on the blog: luv it... :)

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  18. Excellent! Share the sentiments. We all need to be human first & anything else later. Nothing can be more rewarding than thankful eyes of a patient or of her next of kins... and being humane gets you that!

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  19. hotleo ‏@hotleo2222 tweeted this on the blog: Actually I have gone through a similar situation some years back.But unlike in your story it was only thrashing but no consoling

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  20. that was a eye opener sir.I as a general surgeon do sometimes behave sternly with the patients and the relatives but the intention is always right.The only thing on my mind is patient's safety and hospital staff's safety.For example,if the relatives are allowed outside the visiting hours the hospital suffers.I have to be sympathetic to my sweeper who is tirelessly cleaning the hospital floors only to find some unkempt relative spoil it again,not done sir not at all done...suggestions to tackle the problem,a central nodal enquiry station manned by a Psychaitrist /human sciences specialist who can keep the family members updated in the most soothing way and simultaneous training of the residents in handling such situations........

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    1. Thanks Praveen Kumar for your kind inputs. They are appreciated

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  21. Wow! You've so beautifully narrated the story; while reading I was actually able to visualize each and every thing there, got emotionally attached.

    I liked the last para very much :-
    “A good doctor doesn’t necessarily mean a good human being. But a good human being necessarily means a good doctor. Let us be good human beings, the good doctor will automatically follow!”

    We should look within ourselves to answer such question of 'Would a gentle word be out of place'?

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    1. Thanks Nikhil for your appreciation. Thats very encouraging

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  22. Vinita Mittal commented this in Facebook on this blog: this blog is very touching it is so true we operate never think of the agony the relatives are going thru as its routine for us but not for them . thanks I will surely keep this in mind when I operate now

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  23. I totally agree with you sir. Compassion has become a rare commodity these days - both at home and away from home. It's a cut-throat world there outside. For e.g. travelling in a public transport is hell these days - with a lot of pushing and shoving. Travellers look at co-travellers as if they are aliens. Likewise, in office too there is oneupmanship. We are all in a rat race. A kind word here and there will certainly help in ironing out things. Even at home, instead of nitpicking each and everytime, if one learns to let go certain things, marital life will be much better. After all, this Earth is not our permanent residence, rather it is our transit place to a destination that God only knows.

    Sankar G.

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    1. Thanks Sankar. “Compassion is sometimes the fatal capacity for feeling what it is like to live inside somebody else's skin. It is the knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy finally for you too.” Frederick Buechner

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  24. Jayanta Bhowmick commented this on the blog in Facebook: Heart touching and inspiring .It has the potential to change the behavior and attitude of docs toward their patient and their relatives. Very well written.

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  25. thanks for posting a small (VITAL)incident.I understand,at a professionally managed Madurai urology hospital(where my brother did his MCH)'detailed-counselling'is done by non- medicos, as doctors have paucity of time.

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  26. It's touching.And thanks to be polite with the old man.We need it most sometimes.But I beg to differ.The lady in question was not wrong though rude.The other family member may spit or do so many things Indian men do where they shouldn't do just because he was tensed? Our civic sense... but that's a different topic altogether.

    'But a good human being necessarily means a good doctor'. No sir! There was a doctor.She was very polite but she killed my friend after she had delivered twins.Kept experimenting on her for 15 days.
    We need good doctors,politeness can wait.The lady here did her work well.That's most important.
    Rgds
    -

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  27. Meghna Pant ‏@MeghnaPant tweeted this on the blog:
    What a touching story Dr Desai. Very moving. We rarely realise how far small kindnesses go and I'm sure yours went a long way.

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  28. Sandeep ‏@sandeepgandotra tweeted this on the blog: Nice blog doctor I hardly read now a days but read urs...

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  29. madhu trehan ‏@madhutrehan tweeted this on the blog: Really moving piece! Every Dr shud read it. But the pix of smiling White Dr does nothing 4 ur beautifully written story

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  30. advaitachowdhary ‏@mayaadvaita tweeted this on the blog: Your blog made me sad & reflective at the same time. not only doctors it applies to all. thanks for sharing :))

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  31. Confuseus ‏@ConfuseusSay tweeted this on the blog: Very touching story, sir. It's good to know that some people, if not most, understand the value of a kind word :)

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  32. Marya Zilberberg ‏@murzee tweeted this on the blog: A heart-felt compassionate post by @drpdesai on patients' families' experience of a surgical encounter

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  33. akanksha ‏@tadbitlooney tweeted this on the blog: It could be habit though I don't deny his tension but smoking inside hospitals should be completely prohibited?

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  34. vipul kocher ‏@vipulkocher tweeted this on the blog: It was well written and heart touching. Fantastic. Must read. Kudos.

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  35. twilightfairy ‏@twilightfairy tweeted this on the blog: Well written.. as docs I guess ppl get too numb to feel anything anymore, is it?

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  36. Sweety ‏@thodi_si_pagal tweeted this on the blog: Somehow we dont expect docs to be so insensitive!

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  37. Alexandra Yperifanos ‏@AlexYperifanos tweeted this on the blog: thx u for this deeply touching reminder 4 the need to be gentle. We Operate On The Family Without Anesthesia!

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  38. Vitasta ‏@baavri tweeted this on the blog: Nice!

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  39. Meena N Swamy ‏@menkris tweeted this on the blog:
    Beautifully written Dr. Desai. From the heart and to it. On a very important subject too. Thank you for sharing!

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  40. Suzy Welch ‏@SuzyWelch tweeted this on the blog: Thanks for sharing your story. It sends a beautiful message about compassion.

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  41. aniket A ‏@capri8ight tweeted this on the blog: I read one post.. Touched... Superlike :) please read :)

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  42. Sir, I had first heard you at the MOGS Annual Conference Oration when you were FOGSIPresident. You had touched my heart. I'm amazed at your perspective of life. Lots to learn from you. Keep up the good work. God Bless You.

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    1. At any stage of life encouragement is rejuvenating. Thanks for your kind words Ashima. I am deeply touched.

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  43. As a fellow doc, I know how people view us and how we too view ourselves at times. This was a lovely post and a reality check for many of us who just get lost in our need to follow rules and forget about the human aspect involving the patients relatives.

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    1. Thanks Roshan for very sensitive and sensible comments. i am indeed grateful to you.

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  44. it was a good read, i do agree that the doc should have been more sensitive towards the man, bt i guess smoking is not the solution to reliving problems and that too inside a hospital near an OT.

    Both are in the wrong here, the doc for reacting in a wrong manner and the man (i do understand the dilemma he is going through) for flouting the rules

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  45. Dear Dr Pankaj,

    The good news is that if there are good role models like you, the next generation of doctors will learn to be empathetic !

    Dr Aniruddha Malpani, MD
    Medical Director
    HELP - Health Education Library for People
    Excelsior Business Center,
    National Insurance Building,
    Ground Floor, Near Excelsior Cinema,
    206, Dr.D.N Road, Mumbai 400001
    Tel. No.:65952393/65952394

    Helping patients to talk to doctors !

    Information Therapy is the Best Prescription - www.informationtherapy.in !

    Read over 20 health books free at www.helpforhealth.org

    Read my blog about improving the doctor-patient
    relationship at http://doctorandpatient.blogspot.com/

    Check out the Healthwise Knowledgebase at http://healthwise.healthlibrary.com !

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    1. Thats very encouraging. Thanks Aniruddha. God Bless You

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  46. Communication skills are unfortunately not part of medical training and imprvoing them may help avoid this type of situation. Having wokred in India for a long time and now here in US some times it is the difference how you convey same news or enforce rules more effectively.

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  47. A very touching account indeed Pankajji. All doctors have a moral responsibility towards not only their patients but also towards their family members. I remember one such very touching moment which occurred when I was an Intern at Nair Hospital, Mumbai. A 9 yrs.old child had met with a road traffic accident and had been admitted at the intensive trauma unit with a head injury with multiple fractures. My job was to take him for Ct scans n MRI. I took utmost care of the comatose pt while shifting him to the radiolgy dept on a stretcher. He convulsed in between when I immediately injected him with the necessary injections, which were prescribed by my registrar. This arrested his convulsions and the pt.seemed relaxed and calm. All this was silently being observed by the patents n relatives who accompanied me to the radio.dept. As I finished my duties and shifted back the patient to the ITCU the pt was still calm, one of the relatives approached me n firstly thanked me for taking good care of their child. He asked me about the Childs condition to which I gave him the true picture of the seriousness of his head injury and polytrauma. What he said thereafter always remains imbibed in my memories forever. He said doctor I know you are a young doctor and still in the learning years but I m so happy that you spoke to me so politely and explained the condition of our child that we are truly grateful to you as none of the senior doctors have ignored us completely. They do not find it necessary to inform us of our Childs status or well being. Doctor whatever bad or good happens to our child we will always remember your good deeds.

    This particular incidence has always helped me deal with my pts n their relatives till now.

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  48. Mukesh Trivedi emailed these comments on the blog: A nice story with a learning message for all doctors. With due respect to you, i feel that is only one side of story. The lady consultant you are referring to may be having things going on her mind and LIFE that may be unintentionally she may be showing anger to the innocent sad relative or this may be her behavior pattern due to block in personality which she could have acquired during upbringing. I have experience of handling some of the doctors, who are professionally excellent but have behavioral issues due to traumatic life they are facing

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  49. Parag Chavda sent this email on the blog: As we are moving towards improving our teaching methods in medical education, we will soon be having a 'Foundation Course' for first MBBS students. I would like to keep this story to explain to my students the humane angle of medical care that we provide.

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  50. That's very touching Pankajbhai. I hope all the doctors get the education of being a good doctor. We here in UK teach this in the medical school and also in their foundation programme. It is worth looking at UKFPO website and also GMC UK, being a good doctor. I had experience myself of such a bad inhuman doctor, who treats patients as guinea pigs and do not have any remorse for their criminal actions. Our whole family situation had changed after one doctor had killed my father in law and also such criminals are running big hospitals in the city. Because of impotency of the Indian medical council and Indian judiciary, such mal practitioners are thriving in our greedy society (cut practice). Only good Medical council who governs their doctors well can establish trust of society in doctors. I will be scared to go to any doctor in India, because all will treat a patient as a "BAKRA".

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    1. Interesting points Dr. Yogendra Singh. I will indeed look at the UKFPO website and GMC UK. Thanks for the inputs. hear rendering

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  51. Dear Dr Pankaj Desai, As a middle level consultant in a (15000 delivery per year hospital- the rest of the statistics, I am leaving it to your imagination) I pretty much resemble that lady senior consultant. At a younger age I (now 40) had probably more compassion and more-so eagerness to help every patient. Over the years I have been looked upon as a medico-legal person (?expert to others) by my colleagues probably because of too much of hear-say from other co-professionals about patient or her relatives suing even my most respected teachers and seniors. The worst time for a professional is to open the registered post of a lawyer's notice staking up a claim, which one would have struggled to earn for a life time. In our country, professionalism is given lip-service. The gentleman Yogendra Singh in your blog feedback has lined out what the other country does. That country has a good counseling system in place. But life reminds you of the bad lessons you have learnt and rewards for not repeating that error. Defensive practice and need to keep unsolicited lawyer's notice at bay would have been reason for the Senior lady's rebuttal. I affirm that even the lady would have felt bad for firing that old gent. I don't want to question the audacity of the gent for having brought that patient late ( I do not know whether she had a long drawn labor or a previous scar). I had learnt to put in that order, regard and respect for myself, my professional colleagues, and then the patients. I will not believe a patient who is too quiet nor the one who is too inquisitive / interfering.

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    1. Thanks "Unknown" for a very different perspective on this matter. Much appreciated.

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  52. Well said sir. This applies to everything in life, to look from others' perspective. This is what makes us good human beings. That was an eye opener.
    Thanks

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    1. Thank you very much Neeraja for your kind appreciation

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  53. Parul Chopra Buttan passed this comment on the blog in Facebook: Thought provoking and absolutely essential! Thanks for sharing sir!
    I deeply feel the need for emotional quotient assessment and enhancement among students training to be doctors.
    While our society as a whole is in dire need of humanistic values, we doctors have a little more responsibility, being the primary caretakers in difficult situations.

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  54. Priyanka Balhara passed this comment on the blog in Facebook: A story in which except fate there are no winners

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  55. Rima Dey passed these comments on the blog in Facebook: What a beautiful article,Dr Pankaj Desai!!Only a person as kind hearted as you would have so much empathy towards a patient's family member.

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  56. DrTushar K Suvagiya passed these comments on the blog in Facebook: Sir, you told us Heart touching , Life story on the day of GURUVANDANA

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  57. Gopal Shenoy passed these comments on the blog in Facebook: Wonderful heart touching article.....

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  58. Gautam Pandya passed these comments on the blog in Facebook:
    Gurudev this is superb.

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  59. Pawan Dhir passed these comments on the blog in Facebook: Yes doctors should be human not humane. Love the script n screening without censorship

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  60. Malti Shah passed these comments on the blog in Facebook: Nice message to all students on Guru Purnima.

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  61. Prakash Shah passed these comments on the blog in Facebook: Sir, great that you appreciated the pain and agony of the patient's relatives. Very kind of you 👍
    People do well when they are respectfully explained the benefits of cleanliness to their own patient and themselves.

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  62. Milind Sakhardande passed these comments on the blog in Facebook: Very Beautiful, Practical and Emotive Story You Have Posted Sir, Truly As You Rightly Say That The Whole Family is Undergoing Mental Operation Without Anesthesia. It Is Indeed Very Important at This Point To Learn By We all Doctors That A Person's Most Useful Asset is Not a Head Full Of Knowledge But a Heart Full Of Love, an Ear Ready To Listen and a Hand Willing To Help Others and Understand Their Feelings at a Critical Situation Like This.

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  63. Jyoti Daswani passed these comments on the blog in Facebook: That was a memorable real life story, and yes your warmth was probably life giving

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  64. Vikas Gorhe passed these comments on the blog in Facebook: Truly said sir !! Love is the healer of many things , we should learn art of loving 🙏👏😀
    My experience lovely & caring words solve s the almost 90 % of problems

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  65. Shalini Agrawal passed these comments on the blog in Facebook: Sir, u r not only a great teacher but also a great human being, pranaam to u on the festival of guru vandana..very heart touching story depicting love and care can heal everything..

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  66. Dr-Priyanka Saxena passed these comments on the blog in Facebook: V.touching story sir

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  67. Lata Trivedi passed these comments on the blog in Facebook: Gynaecopsychology! Very touchy description. Brought tears!

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  68. Charu Rawat Mittal passed these comments on the blog in Facebook: Yet again brought tears to my eyes reading this after so many years ...
    Sir, you have described the situation so vividly and the gentle reminder in the end is always good to remember - "Let us be a good human being, a good doctor will always follow"

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  69. Sushie Singh passed these comments on the blog in Facebook: very touching story... patient is labelled and given a name with the condition he suffers , we forget they are humans !

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  70. Zinal Unadkat passed these comments on the blog in Facebook: Thought provoking so true....we doctors hv become part of rat race and not kepy humanistic values. Should be humane to feelings plus be grounded to do justice to our work responsibility and respect

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  71. Paras Modi passed these comments on the blog in Facebook: we are not operating on one human being but on the entire family that is waiting outside. Wonderful sir

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  72. Great Memoirs....
    When I was in first MBBS,I had to be hospitalised for a minor surgery.We students were given a "special room" inside the ward with 2 beds.My dad who was a government servant would come after office hours to visit me at the hospital.One day he came extremely tired and just hit the bed which was alongside mine.The office superintendent Dr...... came in and lost his temper seeing my dad sleeping.He howled hislungs out preaching to my dad that this was not a bed for him but for another patient>My poor dadsuddenly woke up and stood apologetically bearing all the nonsense.This has been ages but this memory never erases from my mind.
    Surely a doctor could speak in a better and politer way to his junior colleagues parents?

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    1. Very beautifully described and so valid a question you raise Lalitha. it all boils down to A good doctor doesn’t necessarily mean a good human being. But a good human being necessarily means a good doctor. Let us be good human beings, the good doctor will automatically follow! Thanks for commenting directly here on the blog.

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  73. Rizwana Jamshed passed these comments on the blog in Facebook: So thoughtful a caretaker is often ignored .....

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  74. Kalpesh Patel passed these comments on the blog in Facebook: Heart touching story written wonderfully....After doing obgyn residency in India and again in US and now working here, patient empathy is the biggest difference in both. To become physician in India students isolate themselves from society to get good scores and same continues during Medical College and so on. Our education system not only lacks humanity teaching but also human touch. At the end we end up having very young, overworked, burnt out residents who don't understand the pain of family. We had professional to help and also teach residents in US about how to deal with bad news, and you also learn from your mentors by observing them. In bad outcome taking care of family member and there needs and keeping them informed is a very important issue. The behavior of attending mentioned in the story will never be tolerated in any hospital of US.
    PS. I also understand that it is not isolated incident which prompts this kind of behavior, it is cumulative effect of what they see daily in Govt. Hospitals.

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  75. ItsBijal ‏@bijal_1223 tweeted this on the blog: "But the family is not under anesthesia" - never thought so, this wet my eyes. Thanks for sharing ☺

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