I'd aspired to be a doctor, once upon a time, because I used to be impressed by the way a doctor came out from the ICU, after reviewing a patient, to give the rundown to the relatives anxiously waiting outside for a word of hope to cling on. Every word that he'd utter is carefully assimilated and every advice adhered to in letter and spirit! It seemed as though the doctor had a special covenant with god regarding life and death and hence, his words were gospel!
Then came the awakening that the doctors were ordinary mortals like anyone and had their limitations, just like it is in any other profession. It came through experiences, case studies and numerous books - both fiction and non fiction - on the profession! But I must admit that Ivan Ilyich's 'Nemesis' helped me to understand and appreciate the pros and the cons of the profession to a great extent.
Having said all that, on a personal note and from what I've gathered from the experiences of a few friends and relatives, there're increasing cases of insensitive behaviour from some in the profession. I'd like to believe that these form a miniscule and also because of the fact that cases of errant behaviour are not restricted to this profession alone.
A patient's attendants have the right to know as to what the problem was(not so much in medical terminology), as to what's being done to alleviate the problem and a few words of consolation would go a long way in reducing their anxiety. One can't buy the theory that a doctor doesn't have the time to show sentiments when there are many of them who practice good bedside manners and go out of their way to interact with the attendants despite being hard pressed for time and are simultaneously busy, taming the problem at hand.
The supporting tableau.
The father of one of my boys was shifted from one hospital to another as he was in an extremely critical medical condition with a multi organ failure - the kidneys have stopped functioning with no output of urine and Creatinine levels exceeding limits, lungs working at low efficiency due to the combined effect of an abscess in the left lung and contraction of pneumonia and a heart that has already suffered a mild attack right at the beginning.
Time taken to carry out the paperwork in connection with the transfer of the patient from one hospital to the other - over two hours! Simply ridiculous and unacceptable!!
Is it because human lives are cheap in this country?
Then came the awakening that the doctors were ordinary mortals like anyone and had their limitations, just like it is in any other profession. It came through experiences, case studies and numerous books - both fiction and non fiction - on the profession! But I must admit that Ivan Ilyich's 'Nemesis' helped me to understand and appreciate the pros and the cons of the profession to a great extent.
Having said all that, on a personal note and from what I've gathered from the experiences of a few friends and relatives, there're increasing cases of insensitive behaviour from some in the profession. I'd like to believe that these form a miniscule and also because of the fact that cases of errant behaviour are not restricted to this profession alone.
A patient's attendants have the right to know as to what the problem was(not so much in medical terminology), as to what's being done to alleviate the problem and a few words of consolation would go a long way in reducing their anxiety. One can't buy the theory that a doctor doesn't have the time to show sentiments when there are many of them who practice good bedside manners and go out of their way to interact with the attendants despite being hard pressed for time and are simultaneously busy, taming the problem at hand.
The supporting tableau.
The father of one of my boys was shifted from one hospital to another as he was in an extremely critical medical condition with a multi organ failure - the kidneys have stopped functioning with no output of urine and Creatinine levels exceeding limits, lungs working at low efficiency due to the combined effect of an abscess in the left lung and contraction of pneumonia and a heart that has already suffered a mild attack right at the beginning.
Time taken to carry out the paperwork in connection with the transfer of the patient from one hospital to the other - over two hours! Simply ridiculous and unacceptable!!
Is it because human lives are cheap in this country?
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