Hindu philosophy believes in Karma. What you in a past life (or past lives) gets credited to your account - I suppose it is credit for good deeds and debit for bad deeds. One is reborn to pay for debits and get paid for credits.
There is that House Officer, who believes in self, which is a good thing and a bad thing together. It is a good thing because it is good to believe in self. It is a bad thing because the belief is misplaced. There was a time when a patient's husband got a blood bag from an outside blood bank for her, as per a request from our blood bank which did not have any blood of that blood group. The standard recommended practice is to get it grouped and cross matched with the patient's blood, and then get it from there and transfuse it to the patient. The husband brought the blood bag and gave it to this House Officer. She was about to start the transfusion, when the Registrar caught her and told her to send it to our blood bank for checking. After the Registrar went to see another patient, this House Officer transfused the blood as it was right away. The patient lived without any mishap. When I was told about this after a week, I asked her to explain why she did so.
"I thought it was OK to give the blood like that" she said.
"But the Registrar told you not to do so" I said. "She told you to get it tested in our blood bank first."
"But I thought it was OK to give it like that" she said stubbornly.
I gave up after a number of times the same question was asked by me and the same answer was given by her.
This resident doctor has done a few other more or less disturbing things after that. One more I remember more than others is that of a young unmarried girl that had a cystic ovarian tumor. We removed it laparoscopically. In Indian culture, it is considered important for an unmarried girl to have the hymen intact. Though gynecologists understand that the hymen can get torn by events other than sex, many lay people don't. So I took great care to put a narrow bladed right angled retractor in the vagina for painting the vagina with povidone-iodine using a thin wick of gauze, and then inserting a small manipulator in the uterine cavity. I advised the assistant to be gentle while manipulating the uterus, so as not to tear the hymen. After the operation was over, I advised this resident doctor (who was the assistant holding the manipulator) to remove the vulsellum on the cervix and the uterine manipulator. She did that and then without my knowledge shoved a thick swab soaked with povidone-iodine into the vagina with two fingers. When I noticed this, I was aghast.
"We have made great efforts to keep the woman's hymen intact throughout the procedure, and now you have torn it with passing two fingers through it? Why?" I asked.
"Ma'am told me to paint the vagina with iodine" she said. I cursed that ma'am under my breath for not telling her to use a thin wick of gauze and plain forceps to do it.
"Did you have to tear her hymen for that? Would you like something like that done to your relative by anyone?"
"..." she looked at me sullenly. There was no answer despite asking the same question again. I sent her away for the peace of my mind. I requested the anesthesiologists to not reverse her just yet, sat down and repaired the torn hymen patiently.
"Why does she do such things?" someone asked me.
"I think I must have done something bad in my previous lives. It probably is my Karma that makes me have a resident doctor like her. It must also be the Karma of those patients who get so treated by her" I said. "They go home well because of the grace of God and/or the good Karma of we others who notice these problems and rectify them in time."
There is that House Officer, who believes in self, which is a good thing and a bad thing together. It is a good thing because it is good to believe in self. It is a bad thing because the belief is misplaced. There was a time when a patient's husband got a blood bag from an outside blood bank for her, as per a request from our blood bank which did not have any blood of that blood group. The standard recommended practice is to get it grouped and cross matched with the patient's blood, and then get it from there and transfuse it to the patient. The husband brought the blood bag and gave it to this House Officer. She was about to start the transfusion, when the Registrar caught her and told her to send it to our blood bank for checking. After the Registrar went to see another patient, this House Officer transfused the blood as it was right away. The patient lived without any mishap. When I was told about this after a week, I asked her to explain why she did so.
"I thought it was OK to give the blood like that" she said.
"But the Registrar told you not to do so" I said. "She told you to get it tested in our blood bank first."
"But I thought it was OK to give it like that" she said stubbornly.
I gave up after a number of times the same question was asked by me and the same answer was given by her.
This resident doctor has done a few other more or less disturbing things after that. One more I remember more than others is that of a young unmarried girl that had a cystic ovarian tumor. We removed it laparoscopically. In Indian culture, it is considered important for an unmarried girl to have the hymen intact. Though gynecologists understand that the hymen can get torn by events other than sex, many lay people don't. So I took great care to put a narrow bladed right angled retractor in the vagina for painting the vagina with povidone-iodine using a thin wick of gauze, and then inserting a small manipulator in the uterine cavity. I advised the assistant to be gentle while manipulating the uterus, so as not to tear the hymen. After the operation was over, I advised this resident doctor (who was the assistant holding the manipulator) to remove the vulsellum on the cervix and the uterine manipulator. She did that and then without my knowledge shoved a thick swab soaked with povidone-iodine into the vagina with two fingers. When I noticed this, I was aghast.
"We have made great efforts to keep the woman's hymen intact throughout the procedure, and now you have torn it with passing two fingers through it? Why?" I asked.
"Ma'am told me to paint the vagina with iodine" she said. I cursed that ma'am under my breath for not telling her to use a thin wick of gauze and plain forceps to do it.
"Did you have to tear her hymen for that? Would you like something like that done to your relative by anyone?"
"..." she looked at me sullenly. There was no answer despite asking the same question again. I sent her away for the peace of my mind. I requested the anesthesiologists to not reverse her just yet, sat down and repaired the torn hymen patiently.
"Why does she do such things?" someone asked me.
"I think I must have done something bad in my previous lives. It probably is my Karma that makes me have a resident doctor like her. It must also be the Karma of those patients who get so treated by her" I said. "They go home well because of the grace of God and/or the good Karma of we others who notice these problems and rectify them in time."
