Category: extinct good doctors

Corona outbreak Whistle-blower Chinese doctor was harassed; dies of infection


Chinese doctor Li Wenliang, one of the eight whistle-blowers who warned other medicsof the coronavirus outbreak but were reprimanded by the police, died of the epidemic on Thursday, official media reported. Li, a 34-year-old doctor who tried to warn other medics of the epidemic, died of coronavirus on Thursday in Wuhan, the state-run Global Times reported. He was the first to report about the virus way back in December last year when it first emerged in Wuhan, the provincial capital of China’s central Hubei province. He dropped a bombshell in his medical school alumni group on the popular Chinese messaging app WeChat that seven patients from a local seafood market had been diagnosed with a SARS-like illness and quarantined in his hospital. Li explained that, according to a test he had seen, the illness was a coronavirus — a large family of viruses that includes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) which led to 800 death in China and the world in 2003. Li told his friends to warn their loved ones privately. But within hours screenshots of his messages had gone viral – without his name being blurred. 2/6/2020 Chinese doctor who first warned about coronavirus outbreak dies . When I saw them circulating online, I realised that it was out of my control and I would probably be punished,” Li was quoted as saying CNN recently. Soon after he posted the message, Li was accused of rumour-mongering by the Wuhan police. He was one of several medics targeted by the police for trying to blow the whistle on the deadly virus in the early weeks of the outbreak. Overall 564 people have died in China due to the virus and 28,018 confirmed cases have been reported from 31 provincial level regions, the National Health Commission reported on Thursday.

corona virus

doctor nurses at risk from mutated virus

21 occupational risk to doctor and nurses

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‘Reel Heroes vs Real Heroes’ Naseeruddin Shah’s Daughter Assaulted Vet clinic staff


‘Reel Heroes’ are seen proudly hitting the doctors and health staff in films and earn money and accolades for “acting” so well. But in the process, they give a message to society that they can hit and assault doctors and health staff with impunity, in case the patients feel unsatisfied. Being right or wrong does not matter. Projecting only negativism about medical profession by ‘REEL Heroes’ has resulted in demoralization, belittling and consequent increasing assaults on doctors.

Working on same principles, there was an incident, where health staff of vet clinic was assaulted by kin of “REEL Heroes”. An impression is being created to assault health staff, when-ever there is some dissatisfaction, specially by ‘Reel actors against Real actors’.

A non-cognisable offence has been registered against Naseeruddin Shah’s daughter Heeba Shah for allegedly assaulting two employees of a veterinary clinic reported mid-day. The complaint was registered on 17 January. The NC has been registered under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult) and 506 (criminal intimidation). The incident allegedly occured on 16 January and was captured in the clinic’s CCTV camera. The footage has been submitted to the Versova police, where the complaint has also been registered. The clinic is called The Feline Foundation. Heeba was helping out a friend, Supriya Sharma, by taking her two cats for sterilisation to the clinic.According to the report by mid-day, Heeba Shah entered the clinic in the afternoon at 2.50 pm on 16 January. She was asked to wait outside as surgery was on inside the clinic. After waiting for some time, Heeba allegedly got aggressive with her words and said, “Don’t you know who I am? How can you make me wait for so long outside without any assistance? How come no one helped me to get my cats’ cage out of the rickshaw on arrival?”As can be seen in the video, Heeba also physically assaulted the staff by pushing and slapping the person. She can also be seen yelling at the staff.

Reel heroes or Real heroes-Media projection

Self-proclaimed social activist ‘the Hero’ tring to espouse the cause of hapless patients, by projecting doctors as deceitful. In the process of self-projection as saviours of innocent patients, the ‘hero’ presents doctors as villains of the fleece tragedy as a generalization. Whole profession is painted with the same brush by ‘Reel Hero’, thereby creates a wave of huge mistrust among masses against ‘Real Heroes’ and true saviours.

Unfortunately masses trusted more on the person, who was dancing to entertain them rather than a doctor who was awake at night, trying to save lives. Sadly, in an era of media dominance, ‘Reel heroes’ get projected as ‘Real heroes’. The real become invisible behind the glittery mist. Masses fail to envisage the bigger real picture and are grossly mistaken by another projected story.

The old adage “All that glitters is not gold” is particularly relevant in current era of media domination, where media projection shapes the perception and may defy the reality. Media has dominated our lives and can sway the opinion formation of masses.

Media projections create a mirage of illusional glitter wherein there is blurring of real life from the reel life of heroes. The larger-than-life unreal persona of the celebrities on screen looks too charming and sometimes becomes undeniable and dominates mind of masses. The super-human characters played out in films and television appear to be too real. The problem arises when the imaginary characters of the reel life stories are emulated in real life. The naivety of masses to perceive the projected character as the real one goes beyond a reasonable thought process and imagination.

These roles played in films are not really act of inspiration in real life as the actual purpose accomplished in the end of a movie is entertainment of society and business for themselves. In present era, more people will choose to watch the criminal trial of a celebrity rather than the biography of a truly great human being.

At the best, a particular projected character (and not individual acting star) may be a role model. An actor or super star, is simply doing his work of “acting” in the end. This work of acting may bring an entertainment of few hours at the most.

One should not stray away from the wisdom to choose between what we consume merely for our entertainment or face in real life. One needs to differentiate between rationale truth behind the celebrity gimmicks in the media and exaggerated sensationalism. Sensation created merely for a commercial successful venture should not be allowed to overpower the judgments of real life.

But the problem starts, when these false perceptions created merely by a projected glimmer takes the shimmer away from the real worthy. The real professionals and people who are worthy of glory become invisible behind the glittery mist, a haze, the unreal and the unhelpful in real life.

A soldier contributes to our society much more in real terms. Even a junior doctor saves many lives in a day in emergencies as compared to work of a superstar in films. A teacher, nurse or scientist have contribution which is more fruitful to our generation. The reel actor merely imitates the real life lived and actual work done by real heroes like soldier, doctor or teacher. Someone who only acts and behaves like one, is respected and paid thousand times or more than ‘the real one’.

In reality, people need more than mere entertainment, reel role models and actors in their real lives. Unfortunately, reel projection for purpose of entertainment is more easier to enact and has become more profitable than actual performance in real life.

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Risk to health workers working in remote areas (specially-Women; Doctors & Nurses)


 

Often  an issue is raised that doctors and nurses  are hesitant to go to  remote places.  Brutal rape and murder of Hyderabad vet doctor  is an evidence of the  dangers lurking because of  preying eyes   and lack of security, specially to women health workers (doctors and nurses).

 A  ghastly  incident that highlights the dangers associated with entering unfamiliar places, unsecured environment  and a dark world with  no one to listen to   heart wrenching cries of the unassuming victim. With no serious policing activities, it may turn out to be unthinkable nightmare.

       But  the lady doctor  went  to a place where transport was difficult and paid the price. A  women  is being  posted to an area where transport and security  were not provided and thereby  assigned  an unsafe posting.

         Doctor   should consider these factors before joining at unsafe places.

          Problem is that the system does not take into account the risk to health workers, their convenience  and  family obligations. Their difficulty in transport,  the security issues, providing basic amenities are  not considered important by  administrators.

  The system  that failed to  provide proper transport and security is the  real culprit.

 Till  some one  puts a question to  the  system and makes them accountable, there will be  more cases of this kind.

  Had  the  deceased  not been  a doctor, or from  some  other profession,  there was no compulsion  for her to go to remote areas.

        Lack of medical facilities  and infrastructure add to the  risk, as the health workers are held responsible for  all the short comings. Not infrequently they become the punching bags for the  inept system and infra structure deficiencies.     Females doctors and nurses are at greater  risk for obvious reasons and strangely there are no special provisions made for their security. Usually they are allotted a place where  they have to fend for themselves.  If one thinks it seriously, risk is even  greater than anticipated.

   Women -Doctors & Nurses- need to take precautions and save themselves in view of system insensitivity.

 

21  occupational-risk factors – for doctor and nurses

Real story of female doctor assault- serving uncivilized society

Work life balance problem for female doctor and nurses

Disadvantage of being a doctor

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Who killed Hyderabad  Vet Doctor? Answer : “OUR SYSTEM”


 

      A vet doctor  was subjected to   brutal rape and death in Hyderabad.  An incident that filled  our hearts with  grief  and  pain.

Who are culprits? The four men, caught and will be given punishment. But are they alone the culprits?

       No; there are culprits who will not be even named. Our system is the biggest culprit.             

 Often  an issue is raised that doctors do not go to  remote places.

 But  the lady doctor  went  to a place where transport was difficult and paid the price. A female is posted to an area where transport and security  were not provided. She was given an unsafe posting with no security  and no transport.   The person who gave her  such posting is also the  culprit

         The system  that failed to  provide proper transport and security is the  real culprit. Till  some one  puts a question to  the  system and makes them accountable, there will be  more cases of this kind.

        May  the departed soul rest in peace. 

       Doctor   should consider these factors before joining at unsafe places.

 

 female  doctor  assault ; serving uncivilized society

Young veterinarian murdered, set on fire near Hyderabad after her vehicle broke down

The victim, who had left her house in Shadnagar for Kolluru village to attend her duties at a veterinary hospital, called her sister on Wednesday night to inform that her two-wheeler had broken down while returning home.

A young veterinarian has been murdered by unknown persons, while her burnt body was found on Thursday in Shadnagar town close to the Telangana state capital, police said.The charred body of the victim was found at Chatanpally bridge near Shadnagar town in the Ranga Reddy district.The victim, who had left her house in Shadnagar for Kolluru village to attend her duties at a veterinary hospital, called her sister on Wednesday night to inform that her two-wheeler had broken down while returning home.She told her sister that she was feeling scared and that somebody had offered to help her and taken her vehicle for repair. When her family members tried to contact her later, her mobile phone was found to be switched off.Police said the charred body of a female, aged between 20-25 years, was found near the bridge. Sridhar Reddy identified victim’s body as being that of his daughter.Senior police officers rushed to the scene for launching their investigations and were scanning CCTV footage from a nearby toll gate for clues.It may be recalled that in another gruesome incident earlier this month in the same district a man burnt alive a woman revenue official inside her office near here, but in the process also suffered critical burn injuries himself. The shocking incident occurred in the Abdullapurmet Tahsil Office in Ranga Reddy district on the outskirts of Hyderabad.

 

 

 

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Black coat vs white coat: medical profession vs law industry


Every medical  case that goes to court involves lawyers and their expensive fees. Most of the time even though the doctors may be right, he has to defend himself with the help of  lawyers.  Law industry has been  benefited enormously because of consumer protection act at the cost of doctors. Increasing mistrust and unhappiness in patient’s mind definitely does not  help patients and doctors, but ends up benefiting law industry.

Strangely  doctor’s fee are quite low but lawyers charges them astronomical amounts, which are beyond any logic.

      In a country where people  fight with their parents, brothers and  sisters for money and property, it will be naive to think that idea of making money from doctor  does not exist. With court compensations going into crores, doctors  can sense many times that some patient relatives  try to use the opportunity. They have nothing at stake so they try to make some noise on social media and harass the doctor in court or on social platforms. Even for patients, who had poor prognosis at the very onset of treatment, relatives can create problems, many times due to financial reasons. Doctors have no protection from these nuisance. All these factors further enhance insecurity in doctor’s mind.

It is  because of career building of few professions, that medico-legal cases are being fueled. Medical errors and complications are integral part of the treatment . Even simplest of diseases carry some amount of risk.  These  will still remain, even if doctors are hanged to death. Natural complications, poor prognosis can be attributed to errors by clever lawyering and because of benefit derived by other professions.

Many careers  are  shining in name of preventable deaths  and medical errors at the cost of medical profession.  The managers, right activists, media   and lawyers  have made their career and wealth out of it. Ask any doctor really, are these issues really preventable beyond  a point.  The  line separating errors or natural complications is really blurred and arbitrary. People who work in life and death situation know it well that  even natural poor prognosis can be labelled and proved as error by retrospective analysis and wisdom of hindsight and more certainly with luxury of time at disposal for lawyers and courts.

It becomes a unbalanced match specially when the amount of money which was paid to doctor to save a life was peanuts as compared to now being paid to punish him.

 Zero fee advertisements and fixed commission ads on television by lawyers in health systems in certain developed countries is an example of instigation against medical profession. They lure patients to file law suits and promise them hefty reimbursements. There is no dearth of such   relatives, lawyers who are ready to try their luck, sometimes in vengeance and sometimes for lure of money received in compensations.  This encouragement and instigation of lawsuit against doctors has become a major disadvantage for medical profession.

Sense of impending  injustice  is fueling among doctors, giving   a  feeling  of   sitting ducks  for harassment.

what if money is taken out of medico-legal cases

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Myths and facts about ICU ventilator: small boat in sea storm


 

 Some one who is drowning, a small boat can  save his life, till sea storm settles or the victim reaches a safe land. The boat will not settle the sea storm, but enough to save a person from catastrophe. In reality, ventilator is the invention, which should be worshiped. But contrarily, due to wrong projections and misguided perceptions, it has been hated despite saving lives.

     Although doctors and ventilators are in a similar situation, projected in a wrong way,  hated in spite of doing good work and saving lives. They are hated and despised, despite the only ones of help in life and death situations. Following are few myths and fact about ventilator.

  1. Myth : Once on ventilator, patients do not survive: common myth is that  once the patient is placed on ventilator, he will not survive.  Human body,  when  gets severely  diseased or  under stress, heart and lungs need to be supported for saving the life, till ailment    So, when the battle for saving live is ongoing, almost all the patients will have to be placed on the ventilator. It is a last ditch attempt made to save the patient’s life. However when the patients do not survive people feel that it’s the ventilator which has caused death, rather than a rational thought about severe disease as a cause.

             In reality, it is the severity of disease and possibility of death, when ventilator is required. It is necessary to support life.

  1. Myth : Ventilator is a modality for mere prolongation of life: every disease has a spectrum. Every disease can progress  from a reversible  to irreversible state. As an effort is ongoing while waiting to reverse the process, the patient will need  ventilator to sustain life. Unless the disease reaches a stage of  irreversibility,  ventilator is indispensible  for an  absolute need to maintain life. Since in serious condition, it is an uncertain prognosis.  In retrospect, combined with application of an average wisdom, the time of uncertainty and institution of ventilator   can be  interpreted  as a mistake.  As the whole exercise is labeled as futile and expensive by relatives.   it’s a grey area and the  negative thoughts are fuelled because of retrospective wisdom in hindsight.  The real prognosis can not be predicted in real time.

In reality, Ventilator is a machine which just  supports respiration and not  responsible for  heart beating. Therefore it   buys time for healing and treatment of primary disease.

  1. Myth : Ventilator will cause death:

one can understand this simple logic on the basis that patients are placed on dialysis when kidneys fail. Patients are placed in cast when bones are fractured for a fixed predefined period of time. Similarly patient is placed on ventilator when lungs fail. Ventilator is used till the time  lungs recover and become fully functional.

                        In reality; Risk is because of disease, which needs ventilator and not vice versa. Ventilator is a friendly machine which helps people who have failed lungs.

  1. Myth : Doctors and hospitals keep dead patients on ventilator for financial gains

Fact:  placing patient on ventilator is a very critical decision, taken in best interest of patient to buy time, to so as to treat the disease.  A patient needing on ventilator is actually so sick, that not  instituting ventilator will risk the patient’s life. Knowing all these facts, doctors take a decision to keep the patients on ventilator.

         As once the patient is on ventilator,  it is a stress for the doctor to take the patient off the ventilator. As such ventilator is a SANCTUM SANCTORUM life saving machine,  to be used only in life and death situations.

 

  1. Myth : Its miracle if the patient placed on ventilator survives.

Given the fact that placing the patient on ventilator on scientific facts. There are clear indications  for putting the patient on ventilator.   A much larger patients put on ventilator are actually saved and go home.

Fact:  Everyday thousands of patients are placed on ventilator and sent home to lead a normal life: Any patient who is given general anesthesia is placed on ventilator in the operation theater and then taken off the ventilator at the end of the surgery. In these cases patients are placed on ventilator so as patient can be put to deep sleep (called anesthesia) during which surgery on desired part can be carried out. Soon after the surgery patient are taken off the ventilator and soon thereafter discharged for home after few days of healing.

 

  1. Myth :Doctors place patients on ventilator at their own will:

Fact:   there are scientific parameters which decide when the patient should be placed on the ventilator and when the patient should be taken off the ventilator. So the decision to place the patient is scientific and based on objective parameters.

  Contrary to this popular myth, it is a compulsion for the doctor to put patient on ventilator to prevent death in serious situations.  Doctors are usually thinking several steps ahead of lay person about medical science.

  1. Myth :All patients placed on ventilator are unconscious:

 

Fact: this is not necessary. Usually patients are sedated  for their comfort.  they can be made to walk, write and even perform small tasks when on ventilator, depending upon their lung condition.

  Patients are also put on ventilator in case of airway failure when unable to protect their airway for various reasons. Another reason why patients are placed on ventilator is inability of the patients to protect his or her airway. Conscious and alert patients can swallow normally formed mouth secretions.  When patients consciousness level is dulled the ability of the patient to protect his airway is lost or compromised. This causes secretions from mouth to enter into the lungs trough the airway i.e. trachea causing infections in the lungs. The only way to prevent this and protect the patient’s lungs is to place a tube in his airway and then place them on the ventilator.

 

  1. Myth: Patients can be kept alive by placing on the ventilator:

General masses  have a feeling that patient can be kept alive by keeping them on the ventilator. Even  a dead person can be kept alive by placing on the ventilator, which is not true.

In reality:  It is machine used only for breathing and not heart and brain.

  1. Myth : Ventilating the dead patients:

    this is a common allegation on medical profession.  This is no truth in this projected and perceived hearsay.

       Facts: Assumptions are based on thoughts of lay persons. Patients on ventilator, may look like dead, because of the disease, sedation and paralyzed by drugs. But their heart and brain are working, so they can not be declared dead.

    If there is some incident, it  needs to be proved by medical personnel. In reality, it can  be a very rare and remote  exception. These untrue projection are creating lots of mistrust about life saving machine.

The problem is about correct projection and  majority of people without  knowledge of medical science  do not  even  know the large  number of lives  been saved by the ventilators.

In nutshell: serious conditions  and life threatening situations need higher technical interventions, to save a life. If correct projections are made, ventilators are life saving machines.

About ventilator

History of ventilator

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Reshaping medical industry & medical profession/Doctor: #Doctor assault


 

    Routine instances of verbal abuse,  threat  and physical assaults are common incidents. Usually media justifies assaults on doctors, administration and courts are of little help. Doctors suffer for  no fault of theirs. Many become punching bags for the inept medical system and invisible medical industry. The threat of physical assault is quite real these days.  Recently, even female doctors have not been spared by mobs. Silence of prominent social people, celebrities and society icons on this issue is a pointer towards increasingly uncivilized mindset of society. But these are not without having long term effects. There will be definite effects on how medical profession and industry reshapes  in coming times.

    1.  Poor advertisement for  Private medical college seat- Doctor assault is definitely a poor advertisement  for the medical students, who want to buy a private medical college seat by paying millions. Medical colleges are owned by rich and powerful.  There is possibility of loss of business. Why should one pay millions and bear  risk of being beaten or killed, while doing such a  stressful duty. People will be fearful to be doctors on a free seat, leave alone on the paid seat. It will be a naïve idea to pay millions and be a doctor.

       So  “loss in business” is something which can force administrators and  government to make laws against doctor assault and lawlessness against doctors.  That is the only silver lining  of doctor assaults. If private medical colleges are to survive and attract rich candidates  and earn money, a law to protect doctors is a must.

 

  1. Closure-Bundling out single practitioner and doctor run small practices: small nursing homes and single or doctor couple practices depend on a good doctor patient relationship. In  an era of deep mistrust  generated by media, it is difficult for individual doctor to have community practices, which were cheap and helpful locally. Doctors can not work with fear and in an unprotected environment. Automatically these smaller units will cease to exist and practically   It is a natural consequence of such incidents. There will be scanty friendly neighborhood doctors or their quality will  suffer.

 

  1. Lesser   doctors for emergency work: as working in life and death situations is attracting heavy risk to doctor’s life, there will be less enthusiasm to work in emergency situations. If the  situations continue, it will be more of a forced decision rather than  elective to work in emergencies.
  1. Corporate health care will be a way of life: when doctors owned small practices becoming extinct and  remain rudimentary or  cease to exist, the investor run big set ups  will be the only option. The big systems will be run on business model and doctors will be better protected workers in  the industry. That will become way of life as far as health care is concerned.
  2. Doctor & nurses turning into cheap labor: biggest threat of the oppressive system is the minimizing  independence of doctors as professionals.  Dependence on investor driven big health systems will increase. So abundance of skilled manpower will be available to investor led healthcare, and doctors and nurses  end up  being converted    into cheap labor for industry.
  3. Good for administrators and health managers: the dream of health industry to have cheap skilled manpower, is not that distant now. Security risk will close independent practices and they will be available for safer zones,  which for administrators and investor is a dream coming true. Less expensive abundant skilled manpower is an administrator’s delight.
  4. Demoralization of doctors and nurses: needless to say, it is one of darkest era for medical professionals. They are ebbed from all sides. Medical profession reeks of desperation and desolation, with not any one from power corridors to protect them, no courts, no human right commission for them to save the saviors from its decrepit state. Real medical profession has been devastated with little hope of regeneration.
  5. Survival of  commercially fittest doctors: doctors who survive in changing environment will be commercially fittest, able to entrench themselves in changing business environment, able to wriggle through legalities, well connected, glib talking, able to connect to industry. Doctors, who  do not possess above qualities, will not survive the health markets.
  6. Medical Community broken to single  suffering individuals: Every doctor knows that some thing is really wrong happening against the profession.  Not only every day minor irritants but there  are recurring episodes of blatant cruelty against doctors. The whole profession is being criticized openly in the garb of stray incidences or in cases of genuine poor prognosis. Each and every doctors  wants  to react.  But no one knows  really “ how to do it”. There is no unity  amid this chaotic problem. The community has been broken  and pushed to behave as single suffering   whatever way  they choose to react ,  the slightest reaction may  invite the ire of many unknown people, may be mighty and revengeful. More over, it is the individuals, not a community, that remains  non-united,  whose  career   and life is at stake.
  7. Effect on patients: at present,  leave it to wisdom of readers.
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An example-How word twisting by media blames doctors for administrative failure, makes them scapegoats


Just look at the heading “ Doctor ambulances rushed to fight disease only when the spotlight’s on it”

This is just an example how real issues of administrative failure are made to look as doctor’s fault by clever word twisting by media. A Heading in “Times of India” gives an impression that doctors did not respond to encephalitis cases early and did so after spot light of media. Whereas content of news item correctly putforth the administrative issues. An application of average wisdom will always misinterpret it as doctor’s fault. No doctor will be able to leave his place of work without an administrative order.

Now issue comes whether such word twisting is deliberate or just a mild error, or just an ignorance about working of medical system. It is hard to believe that national daily like Times of India is ignorant about the working of medical system. It is a simple fact that no doctor by himself can leave his work place or patients, to visit Bihar. It will always a administrative decision to send them, if some crisis is there.

Such language errors are also not expected from such highly esteemed newspaper.

Are these word twisting a deliberate attempt to sway public opinion, so as to camouflage administrative failure. By an average wisdom, using such language, buck stops on the doctor. No one even thinks about the large and powerful administration and health industry, which has decisive powers but remains invisible. Media by making such carefully worded headlines keeps that veil intact for the powerful administration.

Similar or even more word twisting has become common blaming doctors. But sadly in the process doctors are made scape- goats and always bear the brunt of public ire.

This is just an example, how innocuous looking word twisting can shift blame to doctors, whereas in reality these are administrative failures.

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“Silver lining to #Doctor-assault”: for enforcing law – Poor advertisement for #private-expensive-medical-seat


 

Doctor assault is definitely a poor advertisement,  to take note by  medical students, who want to buy a private medical college seat by paying millions. Medical colleges are owned by rich and powerful.  There is possibility of loss of business. Why should one pay millions and also bear  risk of being beaten or killed, while doing such a  stressful duty. People will be fearful to be doctors on a free seat, leave alone on the paid seat. It will be a naïve idea to pay millions and be a doctor.

       So  “loss in business” is something which can force administrators and government to make laws against doctor assault and lawlessness against doctors.  That is the only silver lining  of doctor assaults. If private medical colleges are to survive and attract rich candidates and earn money, a law to protect doctors is a must.

Medical profession reeks of desperation and desolation, with not any one from power corridors to protect them, no courts, no human right commission for them to save the saviors from its decrepit state.

Every doctor knows that some thing is really wrong happening against the profession.  Not only every day minor irritants but there  are recurring episodes of blatant cruelty against doctors. The whole profession is being criticized openly in the garb of stray incidences or in cases of genuine poor prognosis. Each and every doctors  wants  to react.  But no one knows  really “ how to do it”. There is no unity  amid this chaotic problem. The community has been broken  and pushed to behave as single suffering   individuals. whatever way  they choose to react ,  the slightest reaction may  invite the ire of many unknown people, may be mighty and    revengeful.

Doctors  are being treated as  punching bags for venting out emotions of the bereaved relatives. they are just a front man for revenge, for an inept and insufficient system, which has failed to take the real responsibility. Nothing and really nothing can justify this barbaric act. Emotions should not be allowed to take such a demonic form.

Such apathy towards doctors will continue till businesses associated  and dependent on health care take a hit.  Possibly  demoralization of doctors consequent poor health system  will not affect any one, but affecting money generation may  force establishments to act against doctor assault.   One of  such business is private medical education. Killings or assaults of doctors may not be a effective deterrents, but “loss of business”  definitely can play wonders.

 

 

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Pay millions to be a doctor?: welcome to “ring on fire” #NEET


Being a doctor has become a disadvantage in itself, thanks to our media and celebrities projecting the saviors  in bad light. They are now seen as harbingers of death. Morale of doctors has been at rock bottom and community is devastated.  A society that believes more in fairy tales told by “Reel heroes” has turned prejudiced and preposterous towards “Real  heroes”.  The medical profession reeks of desperation and desolation with apathy from government, indifference from courts and silence of human right commission to salvage them from decrepit state. At the best, they have been reduced to punching bags and scape-goats for inept medical systems or cheap labour to industry.

Problems faced by doctors are not only innumerable but are also so exceedingly complex and diverse that they are difficult to be analysed. It is common to listen doctors discussing these problems whenever one of these crop up. If so many doctors feel so disgusted about the entire system that they do not encourage their children to take up this profession which until now was one of the coveted ones, there must be something going terribly wrong with the profession. The challenges in this profession are too many and difficult to analyse.
  1.     Medical courses are Comparatively lengthy and expansive study course and difficult training with slave like duties: that I have discussed in one of my previous article on “enslavement of doctors”.
  2. Uncertain future for aspiring doctors at time of training: Nowadays, doing just MBBS is not enough and it is important to specialize. Because of lesser seats in post graduation, poor regulation of medical education, uneven criteria, ultimately very few people get the branch and college of their choice. They have to just flow with system ultimately.
 3. Hostile environment for doctors to begin: Suddenly young, meritorious and bright children who came out of training find themselves working in a hostile environment, at the receiving end of public wrath, law, media for reasons they can’t fathom. They face continuous negative publicity, poor infrastructure and prejudiced  beliefs of society.

  1. Difficult start of career of doctors: After a difficult time at medical college, an unsettled family life and with no money, these brilliant doctors begin their struggle. Even before they start earning a penny, the society already has its preconceived notions because of negative media publicity and half treats them as cheats and dishonest. Their work is seen with suspicion and often criticized.
    5.The fear and anxiety about the actual treatment,  favorable and unfavorable prognosis of patient, keeps mind of a doctor occupied.
    6. Doctors are blamed for all malaise:The society gets biased because of the media reports and some celebrity talking glib without proper understanding of inept medical system , administrative failure and complexity of medical industry.  These lead to formation of generalized sentiment against all doctors and are then unfortunately blamed for all the malaise in the entire healthcare system.
    7.Doctor’s personal and family life suffers: Large number of patients with lesser number of doctors is a cause of difficult working circumstances, and the frequent odd hour duties have a very negative impact on the family and personal life of the doctor.
    8.Risk to doctor himself:     Repeated exposure to infected patients in addition to long work hours without proper meals make them prone to certain health hazards, like infections which commonly include tuberculosis and other bacterial and viral illnesses. Radiologists and interventionists get radiation exposure. Because of difficult working conditions, some doctors are prone to depression, anxiety and may start on substance abuse.  21 risks to doctor and nurses
    9.Unrealistic expectations of society: Every patient is not salvageable but commonly the relatives do not accept this reality. Pressure is mounted on doctor to do more while alleging that he is not working properly. Allegations of incompetency and negligence are quite common in such circumstances. These painful discussions can go to any extent and a single such relative  is enough to spoil the mood for the day.

10.Retrospective analysis of doctor’s every action continues all the life-It could be by patients and relatives every day in the form of “ Why this was not done before” ? Everyday irritating discussions, arguments, complaints, disagreements add to further pain and discontentment, in case the patient is not improving. Or it could be by courts and so many regulatory bodies. Unfortunately, if there is a lawsuit against a doctor, he will be wasting all his time with lawyers and courts, which will takes years to sort out.
In these court cases, the doctor is at disadvantage since his decision which is now being questioned was taken at that time in good faith using all his wisdom. The decision in retrospect may not turn out to be the best one, but later retrospective analysis along with wisdom of hindsight over many years, may label it as faulty if a fault-finding approach is used. This along with general sentiment and sympathy with sufferer makes medical profession a sitting duck for punishments and lawsuits. Even if the doctor is proved to be not guilty, his harassment and tarnishing of reputation will be full and almost permanent. No doctor has time to pursue such things all the time. Even if such events don’t happen to everyone, the very fear of such possible scenarios and their possible complications always lurks in the back of their mind.
11. Physical assault , routine instances of verbal abuse and threat  happen for no fault of theirs. Many become punching bags for the inept medical system and invisible medical industry. The threat of physical assault is quite real as well. Recently, even female doctors have not been spared by mobs. Silence of prominent social people, celebrities and society icons on this issue is a pointer towards increasingly uncivilized mindset of society.  Even female doctors  are being assaulted.
12. Medical industry may be rich but not the doctors: The belief that doctor’s is a rich community, is not correct. Although decent or average earnings may be there, but earnings of most doctors is still not commiserate with their hard work viz-a-viz other professions. Doctors who also work like investor, a manager or collaborate with industry may be richer. But definitely most of doctors who are just doing medical care are not really rich.
13. Windfall profits for lawyers and law industry at the cost of doctors is a disadvantage for medical profession: I have seen zero fee and fixed commission ads on television by lawyers in health systems in certain developed countries. They lure patients to file law suits and promise them hefty reimbursements. There is no dearth of such relatives, lawyers who are ready to try their luck, sometimes in vengeance and sometimes for lure of money received in compensations. This encouragement and instigation of lawsuit against doctors is a major disadvantage for medical profession.

14.Overall, a complex scenario for doctors: There is increasing discontentment among doctors because of this complex and punishing system. They are bound by so many factors that they finally end up at the receiving end all the time. They are under Hippocratic oath and therefore expected to work with very high morality, goodwill and kindness for the sufferings of mankind and dying patients. They are also supposed to maintain meticulous documentation and also supposed to work under norms of medical industry. They are supposed to see disproportionately large number of patients with fewer staff and nursing support while still giving excellent care in these circumstances. And if these were not enough, the fear of courts and medico-legal cases, verbal threats, abuses, and physical assaults and show of distrust by patient and relatives further makes working difficult. Additionally there may be bullying by certain administrative systems at places, who use pressure tactics to get their own way.

With so many adversaries, the situation is like sailing a small boat in a tornado.
At present, with this mind-set, the losers are the doctors and medical profession. But the society should be able to foresee its overall loss in the long run if these practices continue.

 

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