anonymous

20th September 2018

DOCTOR'S DILEMMA (7)

DOCTOR'S DILEMMA (7)

 Another case concerns a wealthy businessman, Mr J. Our experience in a general hospital is that rich people tend to believe that the best medical aid can only be bought. In the bargain, they often get misled. This gentleman had been getting his oesophagus dilated for twenty years by a renowned ENT surgeon in a private hospital. He was called one day by this surgeon to K.E.M. Hospital for dilatation. Unfortunately on that day his oesophagus was torn. This often carries a high risk of mortality. He was immediately referred to me and within eight hours, he was taken up for surgery. The expectation was that his rich friends would prefer to have him operated in a 5-star hospital. However, the patient's courageous and dedicated wife watching us put in hectic efforts in the first 24 hours, firmly refused all suggestions that her husband be taken elsewhere. She expressed full faith in us and was willing to face any consequences. This gave us additional incentive to do our best. Mr J had an extremely stormy post-operative period but ultimately not only did we save him but we also taught him how to perform the dilatation himself and keep away from us in future! Leave aside the pleasure I got in treating this challenging case, what was more important was that I got a wonderful friend who for the last fifteen years, has been like an elder brother to me.

Compilation of professional reminiscences of specialists - edited by M.V.Kamath and Dr.Rekha Karmarkar.