One Professor was
visiting us and talking about his own experiences.
“I don’t know how to cope” he
said. “I have not experienced anything like this from anyone else
before.”
“What do you mean?” I was confused
and showed it.
“It is my Associate Professor” he
said. “The other day, I found a patient in the postoperative ward,
recovering from anesthesia and surgery. She has undergone
cryocauterization of cervical erosion, the Registrar said. I was
surprised. It is something that requires no anesthesia and no
hospitalization. So I asked why she was in the postoperative ward.
Madam asked us to give her anesthesia, so we gave her TIVA, the
Registrar explained. I remembered the said Associate Professor making
a fist of her right hand, saying ‘now cryosurgery’ and marching
towards the OT as if going on a mission. I was surprised, but never
thought she would get it done under TIVA. So I told the Registrar not
to use anesthesia again, but two weeks later the Associate Professor
got another cryocauterization done under TIVA again. I had to speak
to her firmly to break this habit.”
“Hmm…” I said. There was nothing
else worth saying.
“Then there was a patient who was
undergone an MTP in another civic hospital. She had some retained
products of conception, and had come to us. When I asked her why had
she not gone back to the doctors who had performed the MTP, she
started crying and said they had done it without any anesthesia and
it had been very painful. So I told my entire unit, including the
Associate Professor to do her D & C under general anesthesia,
like TIVA. But when I reached the OT, I found this patient screaming
on the operation table, undergoing D & C. It turned out they were
told to do it under local anesthesia by the Associate Professor, even
when she was reminded that I had specifically asked them to do it
under general anesthesia. The patient was fit for anesthesia.”
“She must have guts, overruling the
boss” I said.
“I suppose so” he said. “I asked
her why she did that, and she just kept looking at me.”
“Did you give her a memo?” I asked.
“No. I think she has a lot of baggage
that memos will not get rid of” he said.
“Maybe she wanted to just get the
list finished and run away” I suggested. “Or may be she does not
like to be told what to do, even by the boss.”
“Perhaps. But the painful thing is
that this same person keeps preaching kindness to patients, bioethics
and humanities all the time.”
“Heavy stuff” I said.
“I don’t understand that myself”
he said, “but now I wonder if she understands it herself.”
“Perhaps the explanation is quite
simple” I said. “She does not know what anesthesia is required
for what procedure, either because her teachers did not teach her, or
she did not read on her own, or both.” That left him as confused as
his Associate Professor was about the choice of anesthesia.
