Neena is a working professional in her 40s. She has a very demanding job. She regularly suffers from cough, cold, bad throat. For that her remedy is to pop pills, some of them antibiotics on her own. Last month, she had a very severe case of throat infection. It was not getting better by those pills. Finally she visited the doctor. The doctor asked her the medical history. She mentioned that she had taken antibiotics on her own. The doctor prescribed some other medicines. Neena took few weeks to recover. It was a bit longer than expected for her age and condition.. Who does Neena blame for this? The doctor ? Can she ignore the fact that this random pill popping may have caused her body to become antibiotic resistant? Can she ignore the fact that the stresses of her job may have lowered her immunity?
Sharmaji is in his late 60s . He has diabetes and BP. His philosophy of life is you live only once and hence 'ji bhar ke
Kha lo' .Sharmaji doesn't believe in restricting sugar intake. If sugar increases , there is always insulin . He has been doing this for last 5-7 years. Last month he developed a foot infection and his foot had to be amputated and a Jaipur foot installed in its place. According to him, it was the doctors fault of not being able to prevent the amputation. What about the fact he did not follow the diet that the doctor had given? How regular was he in his medicines?
Mr & Mrs Joshi recently went on a Europe trip costing many lakhs of rupees. On coming back Mr Joshi was feeling very fatigued for a few days. The doctor recommended some tests worth Rs 15,000. When the results came, they looked all fine. The doctor then recommended some more tests. To this, Mr Joshi's reaction was the fact that " Doctor just recommends unnecessary tests. He is just a loot and has some setting with the lab people"
My question is how qualified is Mr Joshi to declare a test is unnecessary? If the report is good , the test becomes unnecessary? And what if the doctors hadn't recommended that test , and it would have turned negative later? Mr Joshi would have blamed the doctor for not recommending the test. A person who can spend lakhs of money on travel suddenly feels a healthcare checkup expense as unnecessary? Most people want 5 star treatment and facilities in a hospital and the cost should be peanuts. That will never happen. We do not go to Starbucks expecting the cost as well as the taste of a filter coffee. Similar logic should apply.
The point I want to make here is that it is very easy to blame doctors. While there might be cases of neglect by doctors, that does not mean they are always wrong and by any means does not justify physical violence against them. Each patient is different- his age, his family history, his immunity etc. How he responds to treatment depends on his body and not the treatment alone. What works for one person may not work for other. Hence before comparing two people and doctors, one must remember the uniqueness of each immune system.
I have myself had many extremely positive experiences with doctors who have gone out of their way to treat me and my family. Hence in the light of what happened in Bengal a few days back, I thought I should write something on this issue and help in #Savethedoctors movement.
- Dhanashree
P.S the examples here are fictional inspired by similar real life stories
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