Notwithstanding the fact that I am not a medical professional as such, I still consider myself qualified to present my ideas on what I consider one of the most serious malpractices in the medical profession. Strange as it may sound, but as a patient, my association and affinity with hospitals and doctors have been as long and close as those of richly experienced healthcare professionals. However, it must be clarified that I look at the issue from a teacher's perspective and not from a legal one. It is my conviction that the doctor's job, as much as the teacher's, invariably involves the task of educating the customer. A failure in this regard either due to indifference or due to haughtiness amounts to a malpractice. I am not sure whether the law in any part of the world endorses this, but I hope my argument will find favor with the code of humanity by all means.
Somerset Maugham's paradoxical remark in his intriguing short story A Friend in Need that the longer he knows people, the more they puzzle him aptly applies to most doctors, the most sought after ones in particular. It is a mystery why experience seems to desensitize them instead of making them more empathetic. My personal experience apart, I have seen a large number of patients who silently suffered on account of lack of communication or inadequate communication from their doctor. They just have to be content with a few, quick instructions. Any attempt to know more will usually be discouraged as undesirable probing and further insistence will be considered as serious an offence as contempt of court.
Unfortunately, the most knowledgeable professors in the domain of the anatomy of the human body often appear to have missed the basics of the invisible anatomy of the patient's mind. They don't quite seem to appreciate that there is something the patient needs more than just the prescription. He wants to talk, he wants to be talked to, he wants to be told - what his problem is, how serious it is, what its possible causes could have been, what the prescription is going to be and what it is expected to do and so on and so forth. He longs to relate to, to be connected with, the doctor, emotionally, as a human being in need of help. He desperately looks for something more than a mere clinician - client relationship. It's only a patient who knows what a word of kindness can do to improve the morale. To him, it matters more than all the pills and injections on the planet put together.
I wish the people who have taken on the mantle of the god allowed a little more democratic ambiance with a dash of concern. Is it asking too much to expect them to be reasonably sensitive to the susceptibilities of the poor patient community?
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