Doctors upset by trend of violence

Doctors upset by trend of violence
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

JANUARY 16: Medical consultants in the city have expressed their shock over the police findings that it was actually a patient's brother who was responsible for the killing of cardiologist, Dr Vasant Jaykar, since the patient had died while under his treatment.

At a press meet today, city police commissioner, M N Singh said Deepak Sewani (50) had been arrested for being responsible for the killing of Dr Jaykar. Sewani had hired assailants to shoot the doctor outside his clinic, as he nursed an unjustified grievance against the doctor. Sewani's brother Bali, had died in February ' 99 while he was being treated by Dr Jaykar for liver cirrhosis.

According to Dr Lalit Kapoor, spokesperson, Association of Medical Consultants, the murder was a great shock for doctors who in the line of service are often involved in the treatment of patients in a serious condition. If doctors were going to be held responsible each time a patient died, then it would be difficult for them to attend to patients with a free mind, he pointed out.

He explained how one of the professional hazards doctors faced was that relatives held them responsible for anything that happened to the patient and vented their anger whenever a patient died. He recalled a recent incident of a patient who died in a nursing home at Malad. Around 40-50 persons had gathered outside and threatened to destroy the place, he said.

The President of the Indian Medical Association, Dr S G Shanbag, said that sometimes it is not possible for a doctor to attend to each and every case in great detail. The patient or their relatives may feel that the doctor is not taking enough pains. But even if the relatives do have a grievance then the proper step would be to approach either the medical council or other fora that are available for this purpose, he said.

Commenting on this case, Dr Dinesh Bhagat, consultant surgeon, recalled that he was also once held responsible for the death of a person, who was seriously injured in a firing incident. Relatives of the patient had damaged his nursing home, and he was under police protection for a long time after the incident, he said. He added that this trend of directing violence against the doctor was very disturbing and would only further strain the doctor-patient relation.

As it is the the relation was under stress because of the Consumer Protection Act, which has resulted in the cost of treatment going up due to more tests and investigations, he explained.