The resident doctors had gone on strike in civic and government hospitals. There was a pregnant woman who was refused hospital admission at a peripheral hospital, and also at another civic hospital. Then the political leader of the concerned geographic area called chief of our institute and made arrangements for admitting her to our hospital. Our hospital never refuses a patient. It is the final destination of all patients who are refused hospital admission by all hospitals including tertiary level care centers. She was admitted and given appropriate treatment.
The interesting part of the story was in the newspaper article carried the next morning. It read as follows.
'This patient would have died for lack of treatment. However she was admitted to this hospital and operated on in the nick of time. The doctors saved her life, but could not save her baby.'
I was surprised. I would have known if any baby had been lost. So I asked the doctors who had treated her.
"Was the baby lost as the newspaper article says?" I asked.
"Sir, it was an ectopic pregnancy in the fallopian tube. It had ruptured in the first trimester."
"OK" I said.
The baby can never be saved in a case pf tubal ectopic pregnancy, whether ruptured or not. The journalist made a sensational story to the best of his or her ability. It was not worth the trouble to write to the newspaper and make the correction which was appropriate. The boss and all other heads of departments had a good laugh at it in the meeting held to discuss the issue of the strike, and that was that.
