Lately, a friend of mine was conducting a study of her own in psychology. She put forward a question to all of us on a Whatsapp group… which only a few could answer with conviction.
What is the most encouraging thing you ever heard for yourself? A simple subtle question yet thought provoking and a human mind generally avoids taking this thought provoking stroll about life. The answers to such questions do not lie in the large ocean of occurrences your life is, but in the little grains of sand that rest on the shore… to be occasionally touched by the ocean.
It was just another day of being the Duty Medical Officer in the emergency. At 9 in the night, when I was almost done admitting a patient, I could see an old man getting down from an auto rickshaw outside. The old man walked through the door, crouched over and leaning over his cane. Slowly and steadily he walked to one of the medical assistants in the Emergency. I saw them discuss something discretely and then, the assistant guided the old man towards me pointing with his finger.
The old man patiently came to me and said,” I am 90yrs old and just live about 3-4kms from here. My wife is suffering from a chronic heart disease. She is not keeping well since yesterday and needs to be referred to a super speciality hospital. Can you just make her referral to a higher centre without me having to bring her? See… we live alone and at this point it will be difficult… first bringing her here and then taking to another hospital.”
So for those of you not well versed with our medical system, a referral note with signature of a registered medical practitioner makes the life of a patient… and his relatives much easier in a tertiary care hospital or a higher centre of care. Otherwise, a layman is like a deer caught in the headlight in a big hospital. Now, for this referral note, the registered medical practitioner is supposed to physically examine the patient and then be convinced to the core that the management of patient would require larger degree of care, not available with his centre.
This calm old man right in front of me was a man of experience. He very well knew that our hospital was not a super specialty centre and if he brought his wife, I would probably refer her. Perhaps, it had happened before. So he stood there requesting for a little head start. As the Medical Officer Incharge, things were not that simple for me. Referring a patient-in-absentia would amount to making a false certificate, a good old medico-legal aspect of our practice. However, I couldn’t fully disagree with the approach of the old man considering his age and that, he was not lying. So, I took a minute weighing all the pros and cons. I remembered my father telling me once that your profession provides you with ample opportunities to help people. Help them whenever you can.
So, I asked the medical assistant to hand over me a blank case sheet and started asking the details of his wife from the old man.The medical assistant stood shocked and so was the old man there. As a doctor, this could get me in a lot of trouble if little something would go astray, for instance, if the lady died and things took a legal turn for some reason. However, I had made my decision. I handed over the referral note to the old man.
The old man had almost walked back to the gate when he slowly turned around and came back to me and said,” Thank you very much, son. I know what you have done and it means a lot.” I could not say anything and just smiled back at him.
This ‘Thank you’ remains one of the most encouraging things which I had ever heard and what will inspire me to go beyond if required. These were initial days of my practice. I don’t encourage going past set rules in any profession but there was a man who was in need and my little act gave him hope… the very hope that defines our acts over the course of life.
Being a doctor, I am expected to treat people, rich or poor, however, the little something which I can do beyond my profession, will define me as a human being.
