This, to me, is illiteracy!

I happened to meet up with a friend of mine, a doctor who's very popular thanks to her flawless bedside manners and who has the interest of her patients, uppermost in her mind. Within a comparatively short span of time, she's made her mark in her profession and many awards - national and international - have come her way in recognition of her tireless efforts in her profession.

Interacting with her has been a pleasure as I've always benefited from the fund of knowledge of which she's a repository. She claims that she too looks forward to our interactions but I've always felt that it's her humble and magnanimous way of putting me at ease, more aptly, my fragile ego at ease!

Since it was just a week after the 'Vaayana vaaram', our conversation had meandered to the topic as to whether we 'literate mallus' had a head start on our counterparts, from the rest of the country, on general attitudes and behaviour! Much to my dismay, the stark reality is different as gleaned from the facts on the ground and who, better than a doctor, can appreciate this social aspect because of the numerous patients that he or she comes across, day in and day out.

The case goes something like this. A young lady in her mid 30s, while tending her aged father had missed a step and fallen hard on the ground taking a bad hit from a piece of furniture that came her way, in the process. The saving grace was that she was able to save her father from falling. But the hapless lady went through excruciating pain for almost a week and she'd administered painkillers and other drugs to lessen her discomfort due to the following reasons:-

    (a) the discomfort was centered around her private parts and therefore, showed a reluctance to expose(?)
         herself.
    (b) to make matters worse, there were only male doctors in the immediate environment.
    (c) she'd not informed either her husband or her son as she felt self conscious.

What was appalling was that she seemed to have missed out on the following fundamentals:-

    (a) the basic ethics of a doctor-patient relationship.
    (b) a female patient's right to have a chaperone/attendant while being attended to by a male doctor.
    (c) the details of lady doctors - even from outside the immediate environment - if such a feeling existed.
    (d) the perils of self administering pain killers or drugs.

Luckily for the young lady, she'd fetched up finally at my friend's treatment room. She's on a long, yet sure, road to recovery because of valuable time lost initially.


Tailpiece.

The young lady is a double graduate from reputed universities. But can you blame me when I say that it's a case of illiteracy notwithstanding the educational certificates that she possesses?