A Case Study.

“Patient Shashikumar Bhalerao, a 59 yr old male is suffering from CA penis involving the glans and shaft of penis with left sided inguinal lymph node metastasis…..”


Do we realize what we talk when we dash off diagnoses like these in one breath to impress the examiner?

“Suffering!” Do we understand what it means “to suffer from CA penis”? – is it as trivial as one of those bad hair days we have?

A woman from an orthodox family, who hasn’t lifted her ghoonghat except for her husband is sitting in the examination room surrounded by 20 piercing stares with 4 stethoscopes on her dignity that are desperate to find a middiastolic murmur. Her embarassment does not affect our thick skins.

Let us think of something less graphic. “God! That patient is so bloody uncooperative; she wouldn’t let me touch her!”

Think and answer... Why should she?

Now put yourself in their shoes and it won’t be that hard to imagine.

Every single day, in one or the other ward, overzealous, half knowledgeable, extra smart and robotic medical students exploit, embarrass, abuse and hurt so many ailing patients who are desperate for a cure. Medicos are proud of their systematic approach, so let us please ourselves.

Where do you think all this begins?

First of all, we are hardly grateful that we have got a chance to study in one of the premier medical institutes of this city. We prefer to sit and complain about how bad the infrastructure is, how disinterested the teachers are, instead of getting our seats up an d making the best of what we have, if not fight for the better.

Another subtle but dreadful belief (I do not know how many of you will realize and how many still would accept it)... Somehow, we subconsciously tell ourselves that we cannot be affected by any of the diseases or the pain we see around us every day. It is so simple – is it not the reason we speak of cancers as we would speak of some latest computer game? We squeeze and wring body parts as though they were hanging in mid air. I mean the lump and the breast in which it is belong to a live, fellow human being, not a mannequin! Isn’t this why we forget that the patient is our equal, that we are not givers and he is not a taker, that we could be in his place tomorrow …

As a result of this, we end up underestimating disease and worse, we end up disrespecting the patient.

Some might say “Patients hi waise hote hai!”.. They sometimes have to be dealt with a little harshly… OK but not by us... But by the doctors who treat them, not by some freak of a medical student who does not understand the pain and trauma which the patient goes through.

Sometimes I wish I had a button at the click of which my overenthusiastic friends would momentarily feel exactly what the patient feels when they torment him.

Come on people! We are medicos – not architects, engineers or accountants. We deal with people not blue prints, money and god knows what! We cannot be so objective when we speak of a patient. It is not just a below knee amputation, it is a lifelong adjustment, burden rather, for a hitherto walking, running boy!

There is another point apart from the objectivity – why are we so keen on observing all fixed signs like glabellar tap.. Tell me, who would like 5 taps each by 15 people on their forehead one after the other? Funny isn’t it? No... It is damn irritating if it were to be done to me! It is both stupid and inhuman to elicit such signs repeatedly.

Now despite all the excrement we throw at the sufferer, he still is forgiving enough thanks to his relative illiteracy, unawareness and sometimes the awe he has for the white coat. And if at all he is plain willing to undergo examination by enthusiastic students, we still manage to disillusion them completely at the end of our case taking farce. There is a lot to this, friends, than I have spoken here. Think and you will realize.

Let us for one moment look within, how sincere are we, how hardworking are we, how smart and efficient are we… how human are we?

Medicine is a chariot that runs on the two wheels of clinical acumen and compassion... if either is smaller than the other; the chariot would run forever in a circle!

The solution to this neo-imperialism lies within us. Yes we have to present more and more cases if we want to improve our clinical skills but let us do that with a little humanness. It will definitely make a sick person feel better and that is precisely we all intend to do all our lives, don’t we?