Though the review name suggests something on the lines of a fictitious thriller (Erle Stanley Gardner types), I would hereby like to narrate a harrowing real life incident that puts serious doubts about the ethics of medical profession in India.
Though the review is listed against Ruby Hall, this review does not highlight any infrastructure and/or medical facilities available in the Hospital.
This incident occurred on 17th Sept 2007 (during Ganesha festival) and I have tried jotting down the sequence of events as they occurred, with some background:
My wife is a pretty weak person and most of her weakness stems from her bad eating habit which dates back a couple of decade. After the birth of my daughter, she kept complaining about a series of illness – giddiness, tiredness, pain in her abdomen etc. As ever, she used to consult the doctor on a need be basis & took medication.
After shifting to Pune, the frequency of her complaints kept
increasing & I took a firm step to resolve it & convinced my wife to
undergo a complete medical check-up. It was not the first time I had suggested
this but my wife is herself a self-diagnosing practitioner (runs in her family)
and is never a suggestion taker.
Having successfully convinced my wife, I was keen to get her
a complete medical checkup & which other Hospital to consider other than
the much acclaimed Ruby Hall (Web Site, I had been here on a couple of
occasions to get my routine corporate checkups). I did not know any particular
doctor out here & asked them for an appointment from one of their best general
physician. What more, I got an appointment with the founder of this Hospital,
Dr Grant. I was amazed meeting up with this doctor, who must be over 70 years
and had the energy of a 30 year old. While the doctor checked my wife, I tried
blurting out the list of all problems that I could remember & the doctor
without hesitation told me that it sounds more of a gynec problem and asked us
to get a sonography done.
I took my wife to their radiology dept and as per my wife,
the doctors/radiologists out here took a while out here, asking her lots of
questions & consulted amongst themselves. My wife got a little nervous and
asked them if there was any problem and they never disclosed anything and asked
her to go back to the doctor & they would pass on the report to the doctor.
After half an hour’s wait, Dr Grant called us in & told
us that we need to consult a gynecologist as the reports suggested the
existence of a big ovarian cyst. We both were a little shocked but I was a
little relieved as I finally thought that someone has finally figured out what
was the reason behind my wife’s illness.
As we were supposed to get back to the hospital the next day
to collect the report, we thought of consulting some good gynecologist in Ruby
Hall itself. We did not know any doctor in particular & most of the doctors
were on vacation (Ganesha festival), and as fate would have had it, I got an
appointment from one Dr Subhada Deoskar.
We picked up our report next day which I have uploaded in my photos section of my profile and this suggested an existence of 7 X 3.6 Cms Cyst with well defined
boundary & thick wall (4 to 5 mms). When we showed the report to Dr Subhada
& another Jr Doctor (who was present in her chamber that day), they
animatedly discussed about the case amongst themselves – Oh ma, 7 Cms Cyst with
well defined thick wall, look at it (looking at the sonography), its here..hmm,
it needs a laproscopy, nothing else will suffice.
I interrupted and asked for some explanation. The doc told
me that the Cyst was quite big and it needs to be removed with a small incision
called laproscopy, 30 min job and half a day hospitalization. My wife was in
tears by now, she pleaded for any other way out to which the doctor said – no,
it would lead to complication, it can not be dissolved with medication, it may
blast on its own otherwise & cause complications etc etc.
Both docs lead my wife in for an internal examination &
got back later claiming that they could feel the cyst which was quite big &
it had to be operated as early as possible to avoid any un-warranted
complication. All the while when the doctor spoke, her eyes hardly met mine
which worried me a little bit….I do not like it when someone does not look me
in the eye when discussing something serious. But I forgot about it as I had
more things to worry about at that moment.
They asked for suitable operation dates & I asked them
for at least a week’s time as I had to arrange for someone to look after my
kid. After getting back (wife was in tears all the way back home), I googled
for information on cysts & what ever the doc mentioned sounded correct.
Well, I called in for backups and my MIL was expected in a
week’s time. The Hospital staffs were too friendly & were calling me up
every other day to confirm the operation dates. I spoke to the doctor in
between who now told me that it would need at least two days of hospitalization
as they need to keep my wife under observation after the laproscopy.
My wife in the meanwhile tried her best to avoid the
operation, she consulted few homeo paths & ayurvedic docs and also
consulted our Bangalore
gynec who also suggested us to go in for the surgery based on the size of the
Cyst.
It had been over 8 days now that we had consulted Ruby Hall
and as a desperate measure, my wife thought about consulting another famed
gynec (she was out of town when we first wanted to consult her) Dr Meeta
Nakhare at Ratna Memorial Hospital. I had made up my mind to get her operated
and asked her to go alone for the second consultation.
In the middle of the day (26th Sep 2007), I got a
call from my excited wife informing me that Dr Meeta asked for a second scan
from a specific radiologist who now was unable to locate the Cyst!!!! Wow!! I
found that hard to believe & to be honest, never believed it till my wife
showed me the second report, which I have uploaded in my photos section.
Well, how can this happen?? Where had the 7 X 3.6 Cms Cyst
gone??
How could it disappear in a week’s time??
Dr Meeta informed my wife that this was not something new to
her and she was not surprised!! My wife had mere Fibrosis for which she
prescribed few tablets that resolved her problems.
By now, I was in need of a third opinion!! On the same day
(26th Sep 2007), I took my wife to Jehangir Hospital
and asked for a scan. I told the radiologist that the doctor had suspected Cyst
and I wanted her to check carefully. She took 20 mins and confirmed that
everything was just about right & no Cyst!! I now took out the Ruby Hall
report and showed it to her. She was shocked and ran through an internal scan
which took 15 mins, searched all around the place (!!) but could not locate any
Cyst!!!
Look at the third report that I have uploaded as well.
(contd in the comments section)