If a patient dies, doctor killed him, but if he gets well, Gods saved him, says an Italian proverb. A doctor’s profession is so noble. Salaam to all docs. But then the commercial world has tainted some of them.
During the earlier days, all that a doctor did was to put the stethoscope on your chest and ask you to breathe in. Then you are asked to open your mouth. When you do, s/he will say, “wide” until you say “bahhhhhh” and open your mouth as wide as a rhino. That’s it. Your disease has been diagnosed. Once my doc did the same and told me, “Go home and send your mom.” I had diphtheria and he had diagnosed with just a look.
Most present day doctors do not move one step ahead without X-ray. The “cutting system” (where doctors get commission) with the testing clinics works wonders for them. Of course, there are wonderful doctors who do selfless service. Among them are two of my best dentist friends from Assam and Meghalaya.
Talk of docs and remembered a joke. A man had a big fight with his nurse wife, screamed at her and at last managed to go off to sleep after a struggle. When he was about to snore, his wife woke him up: “You forgot your sleeping pills.”
Yes it has become difficult to find a doctor or a hospital that you can trust.
ReplyDeleteI remember my childhood doc clearly his chamber had an ante-room wherein lay all the different coloured pills and mixtures. Also there was a guy who went by the name of compounder and he delivered the goods out of that anteroom to us..pills in pinks and blues, mixtures and we got cured with that!! really miss those days!
ReplyDeleteSo goes the saying---Jo Sahi Kiya Allah Kiya--Jo Galat kiya Abdulla Kiya.
ReplyDeleteROFL @ The joke!!! That is what I call a sweet revenge ;-)
ReplyDeleteAnd yep these days docs have turned true professionals, will do anything for money!
intresting post indeed ...yep docs hav modified their techniques of diagnosing and so has the various complicated diseases...where once it was just minor fever or cold now its caner or tumors..
ReplyDelete:D :D
gud eve!!
It's pay through your nose!! So, save, save save for the worrisome times. May we have some left.
ReplyDeleteya... and like sometimes its oour fault only, cause if the doctor ill diagnosis the disease he is likely to get sued so they prefer all written stuff, like x-rays, lab reports and all...this is what my friend doctor told.
ReplyDeleteShe was sued for giving a medicine which the patient had allergy, but then it came to light, the patient did not write it on the report when told too so not her fault.
a very nice post indeed...!
ReplyDeletevery true. today one has to think twice before going to a doc, the amount of tests they give are so scary
How true and TIMELY. I broke my arm in January and Orthopedics told me yesterday that I need surgery....after five months of Physical Therapy. My daughter's first reaction - they are trying to make more money.
ReplyDeleteExcellent! Totally agree. Doctors are either less sure of their knowledge, or happier taking the easier route. Besides, don't forget, they get their commissions for every redundant test they make you go through :)
ReplyDeleteI too had written a simliar post on our family doctor, how things were then and how things have changed today. I blog on wordpress too,about my life an things like that. Your post brought back those memories.
ReplyDeleteregarding the sleeping pill joke for the snore. I take the pill as my dear husband roars...oops.. snores
i trust my doctors, no matter what, how ever to an exten i do agree with you!
ReplyDeleteJokes apart, there is a serious need for affordable, quality medical education to produce dedicated,honest breed of medical professionals. The erosion of faith in Medical practitioners lead to increased reliance on self-medication..
ReplyDeleteWell some irresponsible doctors need such wives who would keep them awake with sleeping pills!
Boss -
ReplyDeletewhat to do?
starting in school..
ending in hospital..
dentists?
now me understand -
where you got all ur smiles?
During the early days, the doctors relied on their skills. They also do not have to deal with thoroughly-read-and-aware patient.
ReplyDeleteNow, it is not only the commercial factors. The doctors do not want to take a risk as a miscalculation from their side is also very costly - not only to the patient but also to their career(and bank balance)!
yup... u r correct... most of the doctors these days are tainted.... one of my family members dels in Medical and Surgical Supplies and i came to know from him the level to which these doctors are corrupted... but then corruption has its roots in every field...
ReplyDeletenothing is left beyond on this earth to save from the clutches of capitalist corporate culture where everything is a consumer product including human emotions and health...
ReplyDeletegoodness!!! we sure are very unpopular!!!!lol!!! But if commissions were the only means of bread and butter, i would have been in dubai and around the world every weekend. hehehe!!!!
ReplyDeleteSome food for thought. It is difficult to find genuine doctors nowadays. Even a simple headache requires urine test, blood test, ECG and all that!! Ways to make money.
ReplyDeleteYes, we too had only one old doctor for all ailments and most of the time he used to give one pinkk concoction in a bottle, marked with a hexagonal shaped paper dozage mark sticker. Then, all eeej welll.
ReplyDeleteThe joke is good!
"God cures, we just dress the wound".. thats a popular sayin we all doctors know. god cures for sure. but hey, we dont kill anybody yeah. atleast not the 'doctor' doctors. there are corrupted ones and morons, i agree. but not the majority.
ReplyDeleteand coming to investigations, well, earlier, investigation modalities and treatment modalities weren so much advanced. a lot of them weren even invented.and mortality n morbidity were high too. nowadays, we have all of it. we infact have- investigation for screening, investigation with best accuracy and investigation of choice for each disease. and we choose teh investigation best suited for that particular patient.
infact, in medical colleges, students are taught how to diagnose n treat a patient just based on history and clinical examination. only in our internship and later on do we actually blend that knowledge with these investigations and stuff.
wat used to happen in ur childhood days was 'primary health care' practice. and what happens now, is corporate. come on, if we don't diagnose something with ur kith n kin just coz u dint wanna go thru investigations, and later if somthing happens to that patient, wud u leave us alone? u wud sue us in court with the consumer system that exists now!! we do give the patient the options for treatment. if they really don want it, they can always sign an 'against medical advice' form n go. that signature is just to guard ourselves in times of sueing :)
about the cuts, well, thats how the system has gone. but trust me, its not with everybody. i come from a doctors' family. parents, aunts n uncles, cousins, all of them. just one engineer in my family. so i know, honest noble doctors still exist :)
not offended or anything, but felt i ahd to say this. as a doctor, the stand of the medical community goes like this :)
@smita- docs dont actually do anytthin for money. trust me, we dont. a few b**** mights, but not all of them
ReplyDelete@mingled minds- i so totally agree
@A- physiotherapy is very much needed in an ortho case. what doctors gave u earlier, was a re-assembled limb. what we try to give u now, with physiotherapy and stuff, is a re-assembled limb in its best workin status.
@nituscorner- i totally agree to that
@insginia- u dont need a urine test blood test and ecg for a head ache. if some doctor has done that to u, well,u chose the wrong doctor
earlier, medical college admissions used to be based on merit. nowadays, with all the private colleges comeing up and the 'NRI quota' and the 'management quotas' that exist, we end up havin doctors who are not fit to be doctors... thats the prob.
ReplyDeleteokay, i know i wrote too much. just clearin up misconceptions ;) trust me, bein a doctor is not an easy job as people assume it to be
Loved the joke as always...hilarious...but you might have rubbed some doctors the wrong way
ReplyDeletehmg..
ReplyDeleteboss..
me feel -
u need a lot of papers to write..
he he good one. wish u had selfless doc friends in mumbai ;)
ReplyDeleteIn every aspect of our life - the marvelous, the good, the bad and the ugly co-egoists. My own story would be way to long to mention here, just so much: I am very, very thankful for the excellent doctors out there, as well as for the quacks. The latter thought me to take responsibility for myself.
ReplyDelete