Tag: supreme court

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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Blatant cruelty & #oppression-of-doctors: Re-entering Hammurabi Era (1750BC)


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 scant  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.  

          By showing cruelty and being revengeful towards doctors , our society is in a way re-entering the realm of an ancient medical regulatory  system, Hammurabi Era (1750BC). Certain aggrieved health care consumers may welcome a move toward harsh penalties in the name of justice and simply for revenge but we need to keep in mind the  poor outcomes in complex diseases, limitation of science and of course the idiosyncrasies of the human body.  Fear factors and  Impact  of present legal complexities,  on doctors  is  already on a par with that of  Hammurabi  era.

Then why  doctors  be  made a punching bag for venting out emotions of the bereaved relatives. Nothing and really nothing can justify this barbaric act. Emotions should not be allowed to take such a demonic form.

This is simply jungle raj, goonism and  expression of a most  uncivilized kind of society, which simply cannot be excused by any sort of reasoning. The incident is being  protested by the professional bodies as is the routine and after few day things normalized for everybody else except that terrorized doctor .  

If the courts, the commission for women’s rights, and the human rights commission are maintaining silence, is it because the rights of doctors were never clearly defined and outlined.  The duties of a doctor have always been enumerated but the rights have never been discussed.

           Human rights of doctor and medical community have been grossly violated by physical assaults. It is painful to see that the authorities that are supposed to take action have maintained a silence all these years about this issue.

What is role of human rights commission, if rights of a hard working community like doctors are violated and what is it supposed to do? I really fail to understand what else will it take to shake them out of their stupor ?

NRS Hospital Violence

Hammurabi era

female doctor assault

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#Choosing-to-be-doctor in lawless society: A self inflicted disaster #uncivilized-society #Govt-apathy


There is increasing discontentment among doctors because of  present 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 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.

Enslavement of doctors

NRS Hospital doctor assault

Young doctors  complete  training and 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 preoccupied negative beliefs of society.

       They face physical assault , routine instances of verbal abuse and threat 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.  Even female doctors have not been spared by mobs. Silence of prominent social people, celebrities, human right commission  and society icons on this issue is a pointer towards increasingly uncivilized mind set of society. 

Being revengeful against doctor is very easy. They have become sitting ducks for revenge. Verbal abuse, physical harm, legal remedies, disciplinary actions, punishments, social mudslinging, court cases and legal harassment are common remedies easily available. In absence of support, lack of law and order enforcement, physical assaults and even murder is also not a distant possibility. Here it was just a treatment failure or may be a poor response to treatment, which resulted in killing of doctor’s family. If trying to treat some one can result in harm to one self, why should the doctors will choose to treat. More over why should one become a doctor at all. Such incidents of extreme violence are not merely disaster for a family, but  are warning signs to whole of profession.

     Many in such unfortunate situations must have a thought in mind “ why should one become a doctor  and serve an uncivilized society?”

 

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Deadly doctor assault at #NRS-Hospital-Kolkata: doctors- save yourself


The condition of the intern, who was admitted to a hospital, was stated to be critical . After Death of Patient, Relatives Clash With Junior Doctors in  #NRS-Hospital-Kolkata-west-bengal Hospital Over ‘Negligence’

An intern was injured in the clash and regular services at Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital were disrupted as clashes broke out over the death of a 75-year-old patient.

        Unwillingness or failure of government to prevent such attacks on doctors will have deep ramifications on future of medical profession. Silence of authorities, human right commission is really appalling.  Role of doctor associations, parent institutes have been spineless and not encouraging.  Media, celebrities, film stars in spreading the hatred against the medical profession and creating an environment of mistrust is unpardonable, where stray incidents were portrayed as normal routine just to earn money and fame. Ultimately doctors have been left to fend for themselves individually or with friend groups. 

Kolkata: A clash erupted between junior doctors and relatives of a patient at a state-run hospital here late Monday night after the 75-year-old died due to alleged negligence, police said Tuesday. An intern was injured in the clash and regular services at Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital were disrupted as the junior doctors began a sit-in, demanding better security, they said.  Family members of Mohammed Shahid, a resident of Tangra, allegedly assaulted some junior doctors at around 11 pm last night after he died. As a result, a clash broke out, virtually turning the hospital premises into a battleground, the police said. Shahid’s family members were also angry over a delay in handing over his body, they added.

A large team of police personnel from Entally police station intervened and restored to lathicharge to bring the situation under control, a senior Kolkata Police officer said. More than 50 doctors shut the gates of the medical institution and began a sit-in on Monday night, demanding “protection”, the police said. The condition of the intern, who was admitted to a hospital, was stated to be critical, they said. Services at the hospital, including the emergency services, were affected on Tuesday as the junior doctors’ continued their protest.
West Bengal Medical Education Department director, Dr Pradip Kumar Mitra, visited the hospital and tried to persuade the doctors to withdraw their protest, but in vain.


    Empathy, sympathy, compassion and trust  of the doctor towards the patient, will definitely get a hit after these incidents. Everyday  the news of assaults on doctors, court cases against doctors, negative projection of the medical profession   in the media are viewed  by doctor’s community anxiously. Recent senseless attack  on doctor  at NRS Hospital Kolkata again a warning to children, who wish to be doctors.

      Merely taking some token  action and showing  protest will not solve the problem. It does not compensate for the  damage done to medical profession. Sympathy, compassion and trust of the doctors towards patients will definitely reduce. Who will be  the ultimate sufferer, does not need a Einstein brain to predict.

                    This insecurity or fear of the uncertainty tends to affect the thinking process of doctors and the way they practice medicine or deal with the patients. Many will like to be defensive in practice, or try not to treat very sick patients.  Why would someone try complex surgeries with risk involved? Few will limit themselves to follow protocols. Going extra mile with risk, which not everyone will like to take. Many will become health managers or  do something else than do active clinical work. Who should risk his life while doing routine work?

     Patients might get their revenge for the  naturally occurring disease, but they will lose compassion and trust of doctors in the long run. If that is the way to impart justice in this era, doctors will have to find some way to save themselves.

 

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#Expensive-modern-health-care: Reminiscent of an ancient realm of medical regulation #Medical-lawsuits


With the evolution of medical science and medical care intertwined with  medical business, braided changes in  medical  regulation is not an far off expectation. But reticulation of evolution to modern medicine  and health care has not happened  in  isolation. Simultaneously there has been  progressively complex emerging trends in medical business and changing patterns of health investments along with an era of corporate investments in health care  has also ushered.  Every one now wishes  to live longer  and  dreams of better quality of life with support of progressive medical care.  Opportunities projected by advancements in health care, have shown that these dreams can be a real possibility, in many cases. That kind of perception has given patients a hope in lieu of some money. With rich people willing to spend more, the insurance sector and corporate invested money into health care, which was unthinkable few decades back in the  past.  This reticulation of business and  health care really took away the profession from control  of doctors. As it is no more simply treating a disease and involves many more issues.  New model of business in  health care is  still  not a mature process. It has emerged and progressed in  just  for few decades, as compared to  medical treatments and systems that existed since ancient times. It is still in infancy and still has to go a  long way to do real justice to every one.   No one really knows how to regulate this difficult area,  which encompasses life and death, deals with extremes of poverty and riches, mortality and morbidity, pain and  relief , sadness and happiness, smiles and sorrows and uncountable emotions, intertwines with financial aspects. Most difficult part is  amalgamation of  intricacies of science with minds of  patient and doctor’s skill in  newly evolved milieu of financial complexities.  Results are not encouraging for the profession.

 An effort to govern or  regulate the medical profession  is not new. Hammurabi  had initiated to  write the rules of the game. This single professional species was managed with cruel regulation 5000 years ago, that initiated a change in the global perception and regulatory system in radical and unprecedented ways.

Hammurabi,  5000 years ago,  was  not even at the   doorstep of medical science, but he  promulgated some rules. It is difficult to say whether he was naïve or  brilliant  enough to make it more mathematical. He fixed  heavy prize for saving lives and used to  cut the hands of physicians for death or untoward incident. But he was still wise enough to pay heavily if life was saved.   After thousands of years, with some scientific advancements, our regulation has remained more or less similar in basics. It is still based on principles of revenge and punishments. Now clearly  knowing well the limitation of medical science and the uncertainties and complexities of human body in better way, it still  remains  somewhat  unfair to doctors.  In other words, it has not attained enough  evolution and maturity.

  Hammurabi at the start of civilization believed that doctors needed to be punished in case there was poor prognosis. He failed to understand the complexity of human body and the limitations of medical  science, most of which was unknown at that time. By an application of average wisdom, doctor can be easily blamed for poor outcome, because he is always a common link between treatment and poor prognosis. Stricter punishments were imposed to  regulate medical profession, even  when the medical science was not even developed enough to deal with most of diseases.  Children are always taught in school that medical profession is a noble one. But they are never told, about the cruelty this profession has faced since ancient times.  Almost universally, the earlier work or contribution of  a doctor  to society is  not taken into account.  Even for complexities of medical science and uncertainties of the outcome, blame can  conveniently be  passed on doctors by application of average wisdom.

    Hammurabi’s Codex specified the harshest form of deselection of health providers possible. If the physician erred through omission or commission, his fingers or hands were cut off, immediately stopping his practice. Therefore, a single mistake can undo all the good work of past or the future good work that could have been accomplished. Problem here is that who can differentiate with certainty the real cause of sufferings of patient, a poor prognosis or a mistake.  Such  regulatory systems will dissuade  other good people joining the profession, again  resulting in  further inhibition and flourishing of profession for the good.  Obviously,  harsher  penalties will discourage a physician surplus.

Today the global  system of medical regulation, is becoming somewhat  similar, to those ancient regulations in  terms of punishment and revenge. Differential payment system for health care also resembles the Code of Hammurabi in some respects. And this is despite the fact that now we are very well conversant with the known uncertainty and complexity of the human body and despite cognizance of the poor prognosis in many disease states.

In an effort to institute  a  well controlled  healthcare, our society is in a way re-entering the realm of an ancient medical regulatory  system. Certain aggrieved health care consumers may welcome a move toward harsh penalties in the name of justice and simply for revenge but we need to keep in mind the  poor outcomes in complex diseases, limitation of science and of course the idiosyncrasies of the human body. Evolution of medical legal system and medical regulation has to evolve and mature, to enjoy  benefits of medical advancement to the fullest. Fear factors and  Impact  of present legal complexities,  on doctors  is  already on a par with that of  Hammurabi  era.

Re-blogged

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#Doctor-wife-killed-by patient #Warning to Doctor/medical profession- becoming a victim of easy revenge


Any patient who visits hospital carries a static or progressive risk of death, howsoever little his illness looks to be . A genuinely poor prognosis or progression of disease or routine complication can cause or result in death. But by application of average wisdom of the people who do not have an idea about complexity of medical field, can easily blame doctors. So doctor even when doing his best is at risk of revenge or harm from public as well as authorities. A fundamental question about such situations will come to doctor’s mind naturally. What happens when doing some good work by our self causes harm to ourselves? Here you are trying to save some one. It is a happy situation for him if you are successful. But due to some reason patient dies or there is poor outcome. He has all the rights to harm you in more than one way. What if he happens to be a powerful person, a VIP, criminal or a goon. What if he becomes revengeful towards you. Doctor will turn into an object of revenge. Money a doctor receives in “what so ever risky situations” or even for saving a life is peanut. But if patient decides to sue him, court may ask to pay something , doctor may not earn in his life time. Or in extreme cases physical violence and even killing the doctors is also some thing which is not unheard off and is on the rise. And this process can happen any minute, any day and continues for years till he continues to work the whole life. Even single mistake in entire career, that too unintentional is enough to cost name, fame or even life. Even it may not be a mistake, or just be a naturally poor prognostic disease, which can be interpreted as an error easily. For people who do not treat patients, how so ever learned they may be, are unable to recognize the difference between the negligence or genuinely poor prognosis. Thanks to media and our celebrities, who have created a doctor- patient mistrust for their own populist gains. An impression is being created, as the poor outcome is because of doctor’s mistake by selective projection in a certain manner.

not-satisfied-with-treatment-man-kills-doctor-s-wife Irritated that a doctor, who wasn’t able to cure his itch for six months, was away in Delhi, an Indore man stabbed to death the doctor’s wife and injured her son. According to the police, the incident happened at the clinic of Dr Ramakrishna Verma in the Malwa Mills area of Indore, on Thursday morning. The doctor ran his practice from home. Tukoganj city superintendent of police (CSP), BPS Parihar said, “The accused Rafiq Rasheed (45) was suffering from an itchy skin disease for which he was getting treatment from Dr Ramkrishna . Verma for the past six months, but without any results. When he went to the clinic at about 11 a.m, Verma’s wife Lata informed him that her husband was in Delhi. This apparently angered Rafiq who got into an altercation with Lata (50) and stabbed her repeatedly with a knife he was carrying. As Lata screamed for help, her son Abhishekh (19) came out and Rafiq stabbed him too and ran away. However, some people who came hearing the screams managed to nab Rafiq and handed him over to the police.” The locals took both mother and son to a nearby private hospital where Lata was declared brought dead. Abhishekh’s condition is said to be critical, police said.

Being revengeful against doctor is very easy. They have become sitting ducks for revenge. Verbal abuse, physical harm, legal remedies, disciplinary actions, punishments, social mudslinging, court cases and legal harassment are common remedies easily available. In absence of support, lack of law and order enforcement, physical assaults and even murder is also not a distant possibility. Here it was just a treatment failure or may be a poor response to treatment, which resulted in killing of doctor’s family. If trying to treat some one can result in harm to one self, why should the doctors will choose to treat. More over why should one become a doctor at all. Such incidents of extreme violence are not merely disaster for a family, but they are warning signs to whole of profession.

Many in such unfortunate situations must have a thought in mind “ why should one become a doctor and treat patients?”

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1,000 people at Delhi’s RML Hospital for anti-rabies shot in a day #dogbite#straydogs


Until last year, Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) hospital used to get around 200 patients daily for anti-rabies vaccination. This number has grown manifold over the last six months and on Monday it crossed 1,000. Hospital authorities blamed the unavailability of anti-rabies vaccine at state and municipal corporation-run hospitals for this surge and said if the vaccine wasn’t made availabile at all centres soon, it could lead to a fullblown crisis

“There is a limit to how much we can stretch our resources,” said Dr V K Tiwary, the medical superintendent of RML hospital. At Safdarjung hospital also, which is run by the Centre, officials said there has been significant increase in the rush of patients for the vaccination. Anti-rabies vaccine is needed to prevent the development of disease in persons who have been bitten by an infected animal, The first dose of anti-rabies vaccine has to be injected within 24 hours of the bite — the sooner the better. However, people who had queued up at RML on Monday said they had been running from one hospital to the other in search of the vaccine but to no avail. “I went to two government hospitals in east Delhi. Both said they didn’t have the vaccine. I cannot afford private treatment,” said Kavita Singh, a resident of Mandavali, east Delhi. While government hospitals give anti-rabies vaccine for free, it costs nearly Rs 1,500 for five jabs at private facilities. For patients with severe and deep bite, the administration of anti-rabies serum is required in addition to the vaccines, which costs above Rs 2,000. Authorities in at least two big state-run hospitals — Guru Tegh Bahadur (GTB) in East Delhi and Lok Nayak in central Delhi — confirmed the crisis. “For the last two weeks, there is no anti-rabies vaccine in our hospital,” Dr Arvind Mohan, deputy medical superintendent of Lok Nayak hospital said. He claimed the shortage is from supply side itself. “The vaccine shortage has been there for almost six months but we were managing things by making local purchase initially. Now, even the local suppliers have given up,” Dr Mohan said. Dr Sunil Kumar, medical director of GTB hospital also confirmed they are also running short of anti-rabies vaccines. “We are issuing tenders to purchase the vaccine,” he said. There is no anti-rabies vaccine at municipal hospitals either, senior civic agency officials from both the north and the south corporation confirmed. “The government manufacturer is not supplying the vaccine from last few months due to nonavailability. Patients are either being told to purchase it privately or being referred to other hospitals,” said an official ,Delhi, as per the last annual report of all municipal corporations combined, had witnessed over 27,407 dog bite cases from February 2018 to February 2019. South Delhi was worst affected. Real numbers are expected to be much higher as the figures do not include patients that go to private clinic or hospitals that are not bound to report, said a source. In April, Safdarjung hospital had stopped accepting new cases of dog-bite due to the rush. “Situation has improved a little over the last few weeks. But steps are needed to restore or arrange supply of the vaccine in all anti-rabies clinics to avert crisis situation,” a doctor said.

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“Dog lover” but lack love towards human child? #straydogs #Rabies #dogbite #infections


In a very recent incident, while out  for a routine morning walk in a Delhi park, I was suddenly jolted by violent barking sounds of dogs. The loud barking sounds were intermixed with cries of a child. I just saw the child running and screaming  for his life. Two stray  dogs were near him,  trying to hunt  him as a prey. As they got nearer to him, I somehow managed to get some stick from a plant and managed to save the child and shoo away the dogs. The nine year old child just clung to me, almost pale, dizzy and his eyes closed with fear. His football was in his lap, which he was trying to use as shield. A shield which society, government, courts and so called “dog-lovers” failed to provide. This child must be the life for his parents and could have been in a great trouble that day because of apathy of few “Animal Lovers”. For whom animal love is like a hobby to be projected for hollow public applause. I looked around, a gentleman was comfortably sitting  with his small dog and reading newspaper. He did not even bother to look at what was happening. He was the person, who used to feed these stray dogs and claimed himself to be a “Dog lover”.  He was totally unperturbed by the fact that a child was about to lose his life because of these wolf like dogs roaming freely. Fed by him, the stray dogs were like friends to him and used to attack others who did not feed them, or were new or  oblivious to the danger. What was bothering was his apathy to the child and victims  and the fact that he continued to feed that violent stray, unperturbed during  the incident.  Similar apathy has been displayed by government and courts with a result that thousand suffer from dog bite every day.

Is it not hypocritical that you care for a violent stray who is a threat to the society? Problem is not about loving and feeding dogs, but simultaneous apathy towards safety of humans.  Such dog lovers most of the time, totally ignore the fact that these dogs are a threat to children and older people. An immediate  sense of hatred towards such dog lovers is a consequence and  a natural thought.

Apart from the injury part, Rabies is a disease spread by dog bite, which is not treatable. Getting anti-Rabies serum becomes another Herculean task.

Courts have also upheld animal rights. That is right  but they did not formulate  policies to ensure guard safety of  humans from these violent strays.

           Government has not made out any policy to safeguard public from such attacks nor have courts come up with any solid guidelines, which can save public, children, women and older people from such bites.

Animal lovers  while pretending  of “dog love” have  formed NGOs and have  donations and accumulate money. But have failed to create shelters for stray dogs. Neither have any steps been taken to save people from dog bites. So consequently, people especially vulnerable are children and older people who are mauled and eaten alive by stray dogs. What responsibility and accountability these animal lovers and NGO bear towards such incidents? Why people who collect money in name of animals do not take care and form shelters for these strays? every single death from  such preventable cause raise a question on this issue.

    Apathy of these so called dog lovers towards humans is appalling. 

Besides dog bite and injuries, animal and dog poop is an health hazard. Following are the diseases which occur in community because of animal poop.

Problem of animal poop with dust : It is all around us.  It is actually even a bigger health problem than open defecation by humans. Humans defecate in country side and in open fields. But stray animals and dogs are everywhere. Even owner of pet dogs make them defecate outside their own houses and on the roads and wherever their dogs chooses. This poop dried and mixed with dust, acts a source of infection to the community.

       Life threatening infections : dog’s and animal faeces is a big health hazard. It is even worse than a dog bite since it spreads infection in entire community. A dog’s digestive system can handle just about anything that it eats and this makes its poop very toxic. Animal faeces contain pathogens, which are known to cause severe diseases, infections and organ failure. These heavy loads of bacteria increase the risk of infections in the community. But pregnant women, children and people with suppressed immune systems may are more prone to these infections. Many diseases may be spread by millions of these dogs and other animals like pigs, cattle as their faeces contain parasites, bacteria and viruses. These include life threatening bacterial infections by E. coli, MRSA, Leptospira, Salmonellosis, Campylobacteriosis, brucellosis, Rickettsia and parasitic infections like  Giardiasis, Whipworm, Hookworm, Roundworms, Tapeworms,    Cryptosporidiosis, Echinococcosis, Leishmaniasis etc. Viral infections like rabies, influenza and other viruses may also spread through these animals.

Environmental health Hazard: Storm water runoff due to extensive rainfall can wash off all these droppings into drains, many of which are connected to river systems and water sources in our country. This can lead to a widespread source of waterborne illnesses. Dry  poop on the roads is mixed with dust particles and in the air. So everyone is living in a highly infectious environment.  This may be an important cause of high rates of community acquired infections among our population.

SUGGESTION: the Government, NGOs  and people who claim to be “animal lovers” should create shelters to save strays “as well as people”. It should be mandatory that all the  dog and animal (stray or pet) droppings are properly collected and disposed off. This single step can do wonders as it will reduce infections, people’s suffering, save lives  and eventually reduce use of antibiotics. A rationale mind will definitely appreciate the danger due to strays, and can initiate proper steps rather criticizing above said facts in the name of animal rights. An animal has no sense of responsibility, so rights  should be limited accordingly.
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Medical Consumer Protection Act: Root of “Us and Them Syndrome”. Effect on medical profession


In present scenario, when patient is no more “patient” and  defined as consumer, doctors is not more than a service provider. With  Medical Consumer Protection Act acquired roots,  the whole system of medical delivery  and healthcare has changed. Most striking is this  entire fiasco is the “Us and Them” syndrome that seems to afflicted  every one. Doctors are pitted against every one, for example,  Doctors vs administrators, doctors vs patients, doctor vs managers. From regulation, insurance and legal system, every change has affected doctors adversely. They have been reduced to just only one component  of the industry, who deliver care and remain at receiving end. Other important stake holder are patients. How this change has been beneficial for patients? Suppressed professionals  can be used to work more, get less paid and can be dragged to court. So fear of all kinds will make them more  careful. It should be a win-win situation for all, except doctors. Therefore everyone makes merry, while doctors sulk, except those who can mingle with the present scenario and act smart in  changed business and legal milieu.

reblogged

Negatives effect on medical profession: cons or disadvantages of  medical consumer Protection Act

  1. Promotes Defensive medicine: Every patient with any illness has potential to complications. Progression of any disease state can cause death.  If doctors start looking at every patient as a potential litigant, especially those who are dealing with very sick ones,  practice of defensive practice is a natural consequence. This may manifest as excessive investigations, more use of drugs and antibiotics  and even  sometimes even refusal to treat very sick patients. Worst scenario of excessive fear will be  refusal of very sick patients in emergency situations or non availability of doctors.
  2. Erosion of doctor-patient relationship: stray and occasional Incidents about negligence and the cases in courts or  their outcome are given wide publicity in media. People are unable to understand the correct  application of such stray incidents to themselves. But they always try to imagine themselves in the scenario applied. Because of prejudiced notions, a sense of mistrust gradually creeps in,  which then extends to and involves their own treating doctor .This sense of mistrust multiplies manifold whenever there is  some adverse or even small unpleasant  Ultimately doctor and patients move forward together with a strained relationship and the treatment goes on with a surmounting sense of mistrust.
  3.  Increased cost of care:   With the creeping in of practice of defensive medicine, there is a need to document everything and to offer everything possible in the world, leading to inflated  medical costs.  Insurance  companies and lawyers have positioned themselves in between. They charge everyone heavily for allaying the fears , both  patients(medical insurance, lawyer fee) and doctors(indemnity insurance, lawyer’s fee) alike. The vicious cycle of rising costs , need for insurance, medicolegal suits, high lawyer fee (for patients and doctors) goes on unabated. All these contribute significantly to overall increased cost of health care.
  4. Enhanced insecurity in medical profession : Needless to say,  consumer protection act has increased the anxiety  and insecurity in  the medical profession. One keeps wondering which patient will prove to be his bane and finish his total career or will result in professional hanging or a media trial, with these having real probability in today’s day to day practice.
  5. Unnecessary litigation: Legal cases can be put on doctors for various trivial reasons e.g  for sense of revenge or to extract money or simply for not having to pay for services.  In an era where family members , brothers and sisters fight for money, it will be naïve to think that idea of making money from doctor does not exist. These are further stoked by the incidents of previous high compensations granted  by courts .
  6. Increased paper work: excessive documentation and time consumption: crucial and large chunk of time of doctors and nurses, goes in completing documentation. Needless to say, this time previously was dedicated solely to patient service. Management is now-a days more worried about completing paper work as well. Initially it was a symbolic documentation , but now there is requirement of mammoth paper work. It leads to consumption of time  that was meant for real discussions for the benefit of patients.
  7. Doctors used as scapegoats for revenge : Any unsatisfied patient can vent his anger by putting complaint or case  against the doctor .  This is done to some extent for revenge or  trying to find some   human factor which can be punished. Not uncommonly doctors are used as  scapegoat to have  a concession on the patient treatment by health organizations. Everything can be easily put on doctors as they are universal final link to a patient’s treatment and adverse effects.
  8. Distraction of doctors from the primary point of intention:  Nothing else ever has  distracted doctors  more than these medico-legal cases and punishments. In many cases, saving themselves becomes more important than saving a patient. Uncertainty of prognosis, grave emergencies and split second life saving and risky  decisions which may later be proved wrong by retrospective analysis, complex  medico-legal situations are endless distractions that have creep in and are enough to distract doctors from primary point of intention.
  9. Early retirement or burn out:  Becoming a doctor and practicing has become a tough job. After people have reached a point of financial security or when near point of burn out, doctors tend to leave practice. No wise man will like to face medico-legal complexities in older age. Taken to court for a genuine decision by self  is enough to spoil and tarnish  health, wealth and fame earned by  grilling the whole life.
  10. Reluctance to do emergency, risky work: If the decision to decide or act or help someone in an emergency situation, puts ones own life and career to risk, why should one put oneself in that deciding position?  Therefore increasingly, financially secure doctors are staying away from the riskier jobs.
  11. Only Doctors are sufferers of the act: Patient can have poor outcome because of any reason. It can be severe disease, poor prognosis, rare or genuine complications or even unintentional mistake or human errors, system errors or deficiency. But retrospectively doctors can easily be blamed because of wisdom of hindsight.  All patients with unrealistic or unexpected outcome can go to courts. Whatever court decides, harassment of doctors is full and permanent. There is no compensation possible for the sufferings and agony spanned over years, even if court decides in favour of doctor.
  12. Spoils teamwork among doctors; Whenever there is adverse outcome in any patient, all the doctors involved may start looking  for whom to blame  among themselves. All of them will try to pinpoint other’s mistake.  Such situation produces a bitter and worst kind of disagreements among various teams or specialties. Mutual understandings take a back seat and the teamwork is spoiled permanently. Administrators in a bid to be safe, encourage putting doctor’s concerns against each other, creating a strange sense of enmity. Ultimately  a mutual understanding and team work takes a hit.
  13. Hugely benefited are medical industry, law industry and administrators; Rampant misuse of consumer protection act has instilled a sense of deep fear in mind of medical professionals. The act has been used as a whip for doctors by all these three stakeholders. Fear of medico-legal cases has reduced doctors to cheap labour. Industry has used the protective systems to gain out of doctors hard work.  Benefits to law industry are obvious and don’t need to be elaborated. Besides this, even insurance industry has collected money both from doctors and patients by creating the fear.
  14. Right decisions or wisdom of hindsight?; A certain element of doubt always remains in minds of doctor whether he will get justice in the long run, or will end up being victim of sympathy towards patient or clever lawyering.  What was medically right and judicious decision at that real time situation may look wrong later  retrospectively, especially when retrospective analysis  is done over years with fault finding approach.
  15. Delayed treatment in emergency situations: Due to prejudiced minds, it is not uncommon for patient’s relatives to keep seeking second opinion, thereby delaying consent for procedures, surgeries and treatment. Though doctors know this problem but they obviously cannot proceed without necessary documentation. With increasing mistrust, even emergency treatments are delayed only to repent later.  
  16. Instigation by law industry; Windfall profits for lawyers and law industry at the cost of doctors is a disadvantage for medical profession: One can see zero fee and fixed commission advertisements on television by lawyers in health systems even in  developed countries. They lure and instigate 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.

 

  1. Hostile environment for young impressionable doctors: The young and bright doctors complete their long arduous  training and then suddenly find themselves working in a hostile environment, at the receiving end of public wrath, law and  media for reasons they can’t fathom. They face continuous negative publicity, poor infrastructure and preoccupied negative beliefs of society.
  2. Subject of continuous blackmail: Even with routine complications amongst very sick patients, a threat looms over doctor’s head. People do not accept even the genuine complication, what to talk of unintentional mistakes.  Mistakes are always easy to  pinpoint with retrospective analysis and with lawyers pondering over it for years. In such situations , doctors are sitting ducks for  any kind of

 

 Positives, Pros or advantages of medical consumer protection act:

Although there are doubts, whether it will have any positive effect in long term, except monitory benefit to patient’s relatives and lawyers.

  1.     Quick  redressal of grievances:  patient will get satisfaction, if there is a genuine negligence case
  2.  Better quality of care will increase;  medical systems will improve as they will need to lessens the errors and  court cases. Better systems from abroad are also copied to improve the efficiency.
  3. Better introspection by medical profession: although doctors from the beginning are sensitive about their work and always look at how better results can be achieved. But act will make this process more formal and official.
  4. Training of medical professionals: it will be difficult  to put  errors under carpet.  Doctor will like to get trained better as no one want to be in soup.
  5. Future  learning from court cases:  each and every court decisions  is viewed carefully by medical fraternity. Improvement in protocol and policy making is a natural consequence.
  6. 6. Eye openers for medical profession: court cases and decisions have acted as eye opener for medical profession. It gives an idea, how law looks at medical treatment. It has made clear that medical science and medical law are a bit different. In real time, things are easier to be said than done.
  7. 7. Better documentation and communication: Doctors to save themselves, documentation is the key. Previously doctors were doing everything, but not documenting. But now there is lot of stress on documentation.

   Stress itself is not a bad thing. It can often help us perform at our best, expand beyond our limits and  achieve  better results.   The real problem lies in the fact that In this age of  anxiety prevailing more for care givers,  do not get enough relief  from stress.

        But sad thing about this kind of learning is that it is at the cost of few, unfortunate doctors, who were in difficult situation, actually suffered, did not know the legal implications  of  their acts or  situation. Most of the time, it is a system failure, but blame can be pinpointed to doctor.

May be The Act has good intention, but its practical application in its present form may cause more harm than good.    If the core of the health care  (medical hands) are harmed, no one can benefit in the long run.

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Advantages & disadvantages: pros & cons of medical consumer Protection Act

#Medical-Consumer-Protection-Act: Pros & Cons: Advantages & disadvantages, medico legal, medical negligence

As in last few decades, patients are defined as  consumers and Medical Consumer Protection Act takes roots, the whole system of medicine and healthcare has changed. All the new changes in regulation, insurance and legal system have resulted in facilitating and exercising an easy control of medical industry over health care, each revision has affected doctors adversely. They have been reduced to just only one small component of the industry, who deliver care and remain at receiving end for poor outcomes. Other important stake holders are patients. How this change has been beneficial for patients?

Suppressed professionals can be used to work more, get less paid and can be dragged to courts easily. It should be a win-win situation for all, except doctors. Therefore everyone makes merry, while doctors sulk, except those who can mingle with the present scenario,  act smart and are able to entrench themselves in  changed business and legal milieu.

Disadvantages of medical consumer Protection Act (Negatives, cons)

 

1 .Promotes Defensive medicine: Every patient with any illness has a potential for  complications. Progression of any disease state can cause death.  If doctors start looking at every patient as a potential litigant, especially while dealing with very sick ones, practice of defensive medicine is a natural consequence. This may manifest as excessive investigations, more use of drugs, antibiotics and even reluctance or refusal to treat very sick patients. Worst scenario of excessive fear will be refusal of very sick patients in emergency situations or non-availability of doctors.

  1. Erosion of doctor-patient relationship: Stray and occasional Incidents about negligence, the cases in courts or their outcome attract wide publicity in media. People are unable to understand the correct application of such stray incidents to themselves. But they always try to imagine themselves being in the chaos or scenario projected. Because of prejudiced notions, a sense of mistrust gradually creeps in, which then extends into and involves their own  imagination and  circumstances. This sense of mistrust multiplies manifold whenever there is some adverse or even small unpleasant event. Ultimately doctor and patients move forward together with a strained relationship and the treatment goes on with a surmounting sense of mistrust.
  1. Increased cost of care: With the increasing need for defensive medicine, there is a need to document everything and to offer everything possible in the world, leading to increased  medical costs.  Insurance companies, medical industry and lawyers have positioned themselves in between doctor and patients. They charge everyone on both sides, heavily for allaying the fears, both  patients (medical insurance, lawyer fee) and doctors(indemnity insurance, lawyer’s fee) alike. The vicious cycle of rising costs, need for insurance, medicolegal suits, and high lawyer fee (for patients and doctors) goes on unabated. All these contribute significantly to overall increased cost of health care.

25 factors for rising cost and expensive medical care.

  1. Enhanced insecurity in medical profession: Needless to say, consumer protection act has increased the anxiety and insecurity of  the medical profession. One keeps wondering which patient will prove to be his bane and finish his total career, will result in professional hanging or a media trial. There is a real probability of being entangled in these problems in present era in day to day practice.

 Disadvantages  of being a doctor, health worker

  1. Unnecessary litigation: Legal cases can be put on doctors for various trivial reasons, for example the sense of revenge or to extract money or simply for avoiding  to pay for services.  In an era where family members, brothers and sisters fight for money, it will be naïve to think that idea of making money from doctor does not exist. These ideas are further stoked by the incidents of previous high compensations granted  by courts .

Black coat versus white coat

  1.  Increased paper work: excessive documentation and time consumption: crucial and large chunk of time of doctors and nurses, goes in completing documentation. Needless to say, this time previously was dedicated solely to patient service. Management is now-a day more worried about completing paper work as well. Initially it was a symbolic documentation, but now there is requirement of mammoth paper work. It leads to consumption of time that was meant for real discussions for the benefit of patients.
  1. Doctors used as scape-goats for revenge: Any unsatisfied patient can vent his anger by putting complaint or case against the doctor.  This is done to some extent for revenge or just finding a human factor which can be punished. Not uncommonly doctors are used as scape- goats to have a concession on the patient treatment by administrators. Everything can be easily put on doctors as they are universal final link to a patient’s treatment and adverse effects.
  1. Distraction of doctors from the primary point of intention:  Nothing else ever has distracted doctors more than medico-legal cases and punishments. In certain circumstances, saving themselves becomes more important than saving a patient. Uncertainty of prognosis, grave emergencies, split second lifesaving and risky decisions that may later be proved wrong by retrospective analysis with wisdom of hindsight.   Complex  medico-legal situations are endless distractions that have creeped in and are enough to distract doctors from primary point of intentions ‘the treatment.
  1. Early retirement or burn out: Becoming a doctor and practising has become a tough job. After people have reached a point of financial security or when near point of burn out, doctors tend to leave practice. No wise man will like to face medicolegal complexities in older age. Taken to court for a genuine decision is enough to spoil and tarnish  health, wealth and fame that was earned by  slogging  the doctor’s whole life.
  1. Reluctance to do emergency, risky work: If the decision to decide or act or help someone in an emergency situation, puts one’s own life and career to risk, why should anyone put himself in that difficult  position?  Therefore increasingly, financially secure doctors are staying away from the riskier jobs.

11 .Only Doctors are sufferers of the act: Patient can have poor outcome because of any reason. It can be severe disease, poor prognosis, rare or genuine complications or even unintentional mistake or human errors, system errors or deficiency. But retrospectively doctors can easily be blamed because of wisdom of hindsight.  All patients, who are unsatisfied or with unrealistic or unexpected outcome can go to courts. Whatever court decides, harassment of doctors is full and permanent. There is no compensation possible for the sufferings and agony spanned over years, even if court decides in favour of doctor.

  1. Spoils teamwork among doctors; Whenever there is adverse outcome in any patient, all the doctors involved may start looking  for, whom to blame  among themselves. All of them will try to pinpoint each other’s mistake.  Such situation produces a bitter and worst kind of disagreements among various teams or specialties. Mutual understandings take a back seat and the teamwork is spoiled permanently. Administrators in a bid to be safe, encourage putting doctor’s concerns against each other, creating a strange sense of enmity. Ultimately  a mutual understanding and team work takes a hit.
  1. Doctors converted to cheap labour: Hugely benefitted are medical industry, law industry and administrators; The ease with which doctors can be harassed  has lead to rampant misuse of consumer protection ac and t has instilled a sense of deep fear in mind of medical professionals. The act has been used as a whip against the  doctors by all these three stakeholders. Fear of medicolegal cases has reduced doctors to cheap labour. Industry has used the protective systems to gain the maximum out of doctors hard work.  Benefits to law industry and lawyers  are obvious and don’t need to be elaborated. Besides this, even insurance industry has collected money both from doctors and patients by creating the fear.
  1. Confusion while treating; Right decisions ?  A certain element of doubt always remains in minds of doctor whether he will get justice in the long run, or will end up being victim of sympathy towards patient or clever lawyering.  What was medically right and judicious decision at that real time situation may be looked as wrong later, especially when retrospective analysis  is done over years with fault finding approach. So taking medical decisions is becoming more difficult amid future uncertainty of disease.
  1.  Delayed treatment in emergency situations: Due to prejudiced minds, it is not uncommon for patient’s relatives to keep seeking second opinion, thereby delaying consent for procedures, surgeries and treatment. Though doctors know this problem, but they obviously cannot proceed without necessary documentation. With increasing mistrust, even emergency treatments are delayed. Delay in surgeries or therapies are a common outcome.
  1.  Instigation by law industry; Windfall profits for lawyers and law industry at the cost of doctors is a disadvantage for medical profession: One can see zero fee and fixed commission advertisements on television by lawyers in health systems even in developed countries. They lure and instigate 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 setback for medical profession.
  1. Hostile environment for young impressionable doctors: The young and bright doctors complete their long arduous training and then suddenly find themselves starting the work in a hostile environment. They find it strange to find themselves at the receiving end of public wrath, law and media for reasons, they can’t fathom. They work with continuous negative publicity, poor infrastructure and preoccupied negative beliefs of society.
  1. Doctors have become ‘Sitting ducks’  for  continuous blackmail: Even with routine complications amongst very sick patients, a threat looms over doctor’s head. People do not accept even the genuine complication, what to talk of unintentional mistakes. Mistakes  are always easy to be  pinpointed with retrospective analysis and with lawyers pondering over it for years. In such situations, doctors are sitting ducks for  any kind of blackmail.
  2. Demoralization of medical professionals – as selectively applied: strangely it applies  only to doctors. All of other professions are   out of it. Selective application is what demoralizes doctors.  Considering the uncertainty and kind of work of medical profession, actually it should be other way around.

The consequences are like victimization.

Advantages of Medical Consumer Protection Act: (Positives, Pros)

     1.  Redressal of grievances:  patient will get satisfaction, if there is a genuine negligence case.

  1.  Better quality of care;  medical systems will improve as they will need to lessens the errors and  court cases. Better systems from abroad are also copied to improve the efficiency.
  1. Better introspection by medical profession: although doctors from the beginning are sensitive about their work and always look at how better results can be achieved. But act will make this process more formal and official.
  1. Training of medical professionals: it will be difficult to put errors under carpet.  Doctor will like to get trained better as no one want to be in soup.
  1. Future  learning from court cases:  each and every court decisions  is viewed carefully by medical fraternity. Improvement in protocol and policy making is a natural consequence.
  1.  Eye openers for medical profession: court cases and decisions have acted as eye opener for medical profession. It gives an idea, how law looks at medical treatment. It has made clear that medical science and medical law are a bit different. In real time, things are easier to be said than done.
  1. Better documentation and communication: for doctors to save themselves, documentation is the key. Previously doctors were doing everything, but not documenting much. But now there is lot of stress on documentation.

Stress itself is not a bad thing. It can often help us perform at our best, expand beyond our limits and  achieve  better results.   The real problem lies in the fact that in this age,  anxiety prevailing more for care givers, a sense of injustice prevails . stress generated can alter the ways, the patients get treated.  If the core of the health care  (medical hands) are harmed, no one can benefit in the long run.

21 occupational risks to doctors and nurses

Reel Heroes vs Real Heroes

25 factors- why health care is expensive

     Covid paradox: salary cut for doctors other paid at home

   Medical-Consumer protection Act- Pros and Cons

Expensive Medical College  seat- Is it worth it?

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