Nightmares in Obstetrics Gynecology: 3

She had come to us as an ad hoc lecturer. She had filled a vacancy for which I suppose we should have been grateful to her. After all, she was one more employee required for fulfilling requirement of recognition of our institute by the medical council. She was one more qualified person to be on emergency duty, so that the existing lecturers and senior residents would be relieved somewhat. However it wasn’t long before we realized that all was not well. Her husband had a couple of nursing homes, but she said she was not desirous of working there. Then reports started coming in that she did not know much of operative work. She was with us to learn rather than serve. “Sir, do we have to have her?” “Sir, she is dangerous (to the patients).” “Sir, I would prefer to work without her.” (This one was from her boss) I did not know what to do. She was appointed by the institute’s administrators, and her removal before her tenure was over would be a major maneuver best not attempted. Then one day she stormed into my office with a complaint against her residents. “Sir, they are saying I am here as a lecturer, so I should teach rather than expect to be taught. If I want to learn, I should take a resident’s job.” The tip of her nose and her eyes were red. Apparently she had been crying. I called the resident doctor who had said so and asked her if that was true. “Yes sir” said the resident. “Do you have any explanation for such rude behavior?” I asked. There was no answer. I suppose what she said was true, and residents can be blunt and cruel, especially when a not so competent person joins as a senior person and hogs their operative work undeservingly. The final shock came when her boss revealed that she would not assist the house officers in performing puerperal tubal ligations. So I called her and asked her explanation for such behavior. “I don’t assist the residents because the boss does not teach me how to perform laparoscopic sterilization” she retorted. I was stunned. “Do you realize that your post is a teaching post, not a student’s post? You are showing negligence in discharging your duties.” That seemed to insult to insult her. “Tomorrow was to be my last day in this job” she stormed, “but I will resign today! Now! This moment!” With that she stormed out of the room. All lecturers and senior residents were upset because she was scheduled to be on emergency duty that day and had run away without doing it. “Why don’t you help her learn laparoscopic sterilizations” I asked her boss afterwards. “She is incompetent. She cannot get a laparoscope into the peritoneal cavity. She might kill a patient” the boss said. I thought that fear was reasonable. We could not let patients die because a lecturer was desirous of learning but could not go through the basic stuff. A year went by. The one day we got news that I could not believe. “Sir, did you hear this one?” said the said boss. “Our lecturer who resigned because I would not teach her laparoscopic sterilization? She is joining the new corporate hospital in the city as an endoscopic surgeon.” “Huh?” I said. “How did she manage that?” “Her father in law is the chief administrator there.”