Doctor or Business?

A doctor has the huge responsibility of treating a patient.. Most people come to a doctor with a lot of trust, because their life depends on them.

But a doctor is as human as the patient. And to become a doctor, one needs to go through a lot of study and hard work. But a doctor is still liable to make human errors.. Sometimes it may cost a life or perhaps a severe disability. To a doctor it may be a statistical insignificance most of the times, but to a patient, or a family member, the harm done maybe be very dear. The following post by a friend shows how it feels to be a victim of such error at the patient end.

"It is over a year and four months today. We feel victimized- victimized by the utmost failure of a judicial system and lack of conscience on the part of an otherwise noble profession- the medical sciences. 

A year and four months ago a perfectly healthy woman was rendered blind for life after a supposedly harmless cataract surgery. This woman is my mother. She continues to be an example for all of us, till date- we may have a weak moment but she refuses to be put down. She may not have her job anymore but she refuses to let her idle moments make her bitter. She is still as much in-charge of the house as in her better days.

What irks me- to this day we read about the doctor practicing freely at eye camps meant for the less privileged- causing further damage with a promise to restore conditions at a higher price at his 'private' clinic. To this date he is associated with a prestigious organization which, I suppose, hasn't bothered to check his track record yet. I'm only aware of three lives being ruined personally- the rest are just mere numbers to the onlooker anyway.

The local papers in Jamshedpur (Tatanagar) won't run our request of highlighting the malpractice- we can't buy them at a price the other party offered.

The lawyers we hired seem to be in need of endless amounts of money to print every possible piece of paper or notice for the past four months- we're being milked dry. The police won't move the file up till we can buy our way out of the pile.

All we have, all I have, is words- a social medium- where I can request each one of you, please be aware, please be careful.

People of Jamshedpur- it's a humble request- the best way to curb medical malpractice is by not giving such insensitive people a market, a platform to clean their hands.

I urge you, request you- please stop this man by spreading the word, by not giving Dr. [name withheld] more opportunities to fill his pockets at the cost of innocent lives. Even a simple apology from this man would have made us think, but he refuses to either acknowledge or take responsibility for his actions.

We have been through the trauma of trying to save her eyes for a whole year- not everyone has the means and resources to fight. This plea for help ironically comes from a family of doctors and lawyers. I shudder to imagine what an average Indian would do.

Please help us! By helping yourself."

What do you think is the solution to such a problem?