Voodoo Death!

Last week an event took place in Pune in a major hospital. A 25-year-old was being treated in the ICU. She was shifted from a small private hospital where she had undergone a surgery, and things started getting out of control! The doctor who did the surgery but realized the limitations of his own and the hospital. Unfortunately, things had veered so much out of control that the lady could not survive and died. This news item came in a leading newspaper and then it became viral. Initial information was, “So and so hospital tries to cure by performing rituals by a God man!” The lady had died of multiple organ failure!

There are many issues. First is that this ritual was performed in an ICU of the major hospital. Secondly the ritual was performed by a “God man” in the presence of the doctor who had treated the patient before shifting her to the big hospital. A video was allowed to be taken inside ICU where hospital nursing staff was partially seen in the video! Initial newspaper report gave importance to the name of the hospital and it appeared as if the large hospital allowed the ritual to be performed in ICU.

So many things have gone wrong in this event that it becomes difficult whom to blame. First and foremost is the ritual! How can a trained doctor allow this, that too in someone else’s hospital? He just took a decision to do it. Second is the psychology! Probably the patient’s health had reached the point of no return. So, the act was performed in desperation! Unfortunate part is that the patients 20-year-old brother was the only relative present and doctor apparently asked him if it was ok to perform the ritual. The immature person allowed this but he himself took the video of the event! How can you allow videography in a hospital room where the patient is on the death bed? The godman performed the ritual with impunity as if it is a daily event for him. It is desperation which leads to such rituals being performed as a last resort. It is a tricky thing to pass judgment on these things.

One event and see how many wrong things have been done! Is it the problem with our society? Is it in our DNA? When I point out something which is not good in our society, some of my friends get disturbed. But I feel that once in a while we should look into mirror and be reflective. The sequence starts with God man’s ritual. It is well proven that these rituals have no effect on events in our life. Still we keep on doing the same. It is illegal to perform such rituals but we don’t care.

Who should be going in an ICU? Why a patient is kept in ICU? Intensive Care Unit is an area in any hospital where critical patients are looked after. It is equipped to handle all type of emergencies that may crop up during the treatment. To me it is an area where “nobody” should be allowed to go in except may be a person who is doing the work of an attendant. But what happens in real life? We crowd the area, we go and meet the patient even though we may be carrying some infection like cough and cold. If an unexpected person goes to see a patient in ICU, excitement may get generated. In a patient who is critically ill, excitement is not good and it can affect the patient’s health. On top of this a video was taken inside ICU! Are you trying to capture last moments of a dying patient?

Allowing this event to happen was definitely hospitals failure. There are systems and processes about who is to be allowed inside ICU area? How could there be three outsiders in that room? Of course, part of the blame is with us too! We must meet the patient, irrespective of the health condition. We will do anything and everything to get the entry. What about the Doctor who was present? This doctor’s hospital had handled the main surgery, so he was very much aware of what had gone wrong! For what he did, does he not deserve disciplinary action from the authorities? Why his license should not be revoked? Will he go scot free and keep on doing what he has done?  Newspapers also have equal responsibility in this blunder. Their first reporting indicated as if the large hospital performed this ritual. It was someone else who came and managed to perform it without the knowledge of the authority. From next day reporting changed but it is a public relations nightmare created by press due to incorrect reporting! This is totally unacceptable.

When will our society come out of this backward-looking thought processes? People may justify and say that it was the last desperate attempt to bring the patient out of difficult health condition; for some it is like going to a psychiatrist! But to me, in all this affair the doctor is the main culprit, as far as I am concerned. I will tell you an event that happened in Mumbai.

In a government hospital in Mumbai, a lady was being advised by a doctor during her pregnancy. This doctor also had her own private hospital. She convinced the patient to have delivery in her private hospital. The lady died during the delivery, as complications came up and her hospital was not equipped to handle complications. The hospital was situated in a hilly terrain and approach roads were in poor condition. So, shifting the lady during complications was next to impossible. The family of the patient took the doctor to court. The doctor argued that the lady was a tricky patient; she weighed 120 kgs. So, chances of complications were very high; death of that lady was not surprising to the doctor. The judge asked the doctor one simple question. When you knew that the case was complicated, why did you ask the patient to come to your private hospital, which was not equipped to handle emergencies. Doctor had no answer. She was jailed!

Friends, let us not do things that are not correct. Let us not look at everything for personal benefit. Let us make a better society, come out of retrograde thought process. Let us keep the traditions but apply scientific thought when we follow them. Meeting sick person is ok but meeting very sick person who is in ICU is not Ok! Let all professionals take modern scientific view of the situations rather than looking through old thinking and continue with old unproven non-scientific ways. All these actions will make a better society. It’s not only about the death of the lady but Voodoo death of the whole system!

Strange are the ways!

 

 Pramod somehow managed to make Internet Genie run at the high speed that was expected of him. Genie as usual started narrating a story. He started with a question, “Pramod today I am going to share some incidents and I want you honest answer, Ok?” Pramod knew that if he uttered a word, Genie would slip out of his control and system will hang! So Pramod did not give any reply to what Genie asked.

As usual Genie kept on talking. Pramod, when you were in school, there used to be a  Cricket commentator called Vizy, Maharaj kumar of Vijaya Nagaram. If there were an award for most boring commentator, he would have won it hands down. You were listening to the commentary and Vizy was telling some boring story on the lines of, “In 1936, when I was in England…” he kept on talking and talking. In between 2/3 times you heard sudden crowd noise in the background. Vizy kept on talking, then his co commentator suggested, “Vizy should we update our listeners about today’s match?” He said, “Ok, I will update.” He coolly said, “In the meanwhile India has lost three wickets!” Pramod, was it not a strange way to handle the situation? Did Vizy forget that he was there to explain the match to listeners and not talk only about his nostalgia?

Pramod, this incident is a bit serious! You were chatting to a friend who had gone on a holiday to Europe, along with a group of friends! When you asked how the tour was? He said, “Fantastico!” Obviously, they had visited Italy too! Then he told you about St Moritz, Lucerne and many such lovely places. All in all, they were extremely happy with the experience! You had heard that there was a mishap on the tour. So, you asked about it. He said, “Oh! So and so died as he had a stroke and hemorrhage on the bus while we were in the middle of nowhere!”  My worry is about “Fantastico”. How can one say that tour was Fantastico when someone from the group died! Pramod, was it not a strange way to react to a sad event?

Pramod, this is even stranger issue as it was the way things were handled by a group of Professionals. A friend of yours had a massive heart attack; next day doctors declared that patient’s heart was working at 18/20%. Doctors said that even if he survived, he would be left completely bed ridden. Next strange action was that he was put on a ventilator for 3 weeks. Obviously nothing was improving. Then they took a decision to perform the bye pass surgery and convinced the family how it is essential! Next day the surgery was performed. Result. Doctors came out and said, “ Surgery is successful!” After four hours they declared, “The patient died; his body could not handle the surgery!” Pramod, is this not a very strange way of handling the situation? That too by professionals. They performed the bye pass surgery only from commercial angle!

Pramod, last one is even stranger. A person died and he was a non believer. Cremation was done without any religious stuff. Then you were told that there  will be pooja on 13th day. This was a surprise to you. When you went for pooja, you found that there was a big religious stuff planned. Thoughts about the person who died and his immediate family be damned! The reason, there was a marriage in the extended family in a couple of months. The dark shadows formed because of death were to be thwarted. Who cares about the thought process of the person who died? Pramod, can anything be stranger than this? Tell me why people behave in such a strange way?

Pramod, I want your reply on this as I know you have strong views!! Pramod just could not keep quiet. He said, “Genie, you have told me so many incidents, I have to give you an explanation, incident wise.  Ok, Vizy was an old guy and in his own world. That a few wickets fell in between did not really matter. But in the case of European tour, how can the response be Fantastico?  Tour must have been terrible, post the death of a person from the group! The response should have been “Europe was good, but we had a very sad experience due the death of a friend on the tour”! In the case of the heart patient, the doctors should have advised the family that nothing more could be done. They should have allowed the patient to die peacefully! In the last incident, if people cannot honour the wishes of the dead then I don’t know what type of family are they?”

With this statement Pramod broke the golden rule of silence that Genie had locked him in.  At that instant Genie slipped out of Pramod’s grasp. Genie’s speed became equivalent of 2 G and the system hung!  Genie could not help but make a passing remark before escaping. “Pramod I agree with you, but what has world come to! Is there no humanity left?”