Who Changed My Obstetrics Gynecology?

I am calling Obstetrics Gynecology mine not in the sense I developed these sciences. I am doing that because they are the subjects I love. It is probably obvious from the title that whoever changed these did not do it for better but for worse. When I realized what they had done, I got so upset that it took a lot of time to get down to the question “who did it?” It would be a dissertation if I listed all the ways they have changed these subjects for worse. It cannot be put in a blog entry. But I can give an example or two. We had a patient whose episiotomy had gaped. After controlling the infection, it was covered with healthy granulation tissue and was ready to be sutured. I told them they could suture it. My sixth sense prompted me to ask them what they used to suture episiotomies secondarily. They looked at me with surprise and said ‘chromic catgut’. Even my MS qualified senior resident and almost Associate Professor said the same thing. Good grief! We suture episiotomies primarily with chromic catgut because the hospital is for poor patients who get free treatment, and the hospital cannot afford to provide synthetic absorbable suture material. But to use catgut for secondary suturing of a broken down wound was unimaginable. I then asked the same question to others. I am proud to say one tutor and one senior resident said ‘monofilament nylon’. There were others who said ‘polyglactin 910’. One head of unit said the same thing, stating she did not trust nylon there. There are people who don’t read textbooks, who don’t believe in following established practices and develop their own practices without much evidence in support only because there is no one to question them, and we have changed science. I wonder if it has to do with admitting and recruiting on basis of things other than merit. There are a lot more examples, which I may post when I am upset again.