One of the Assistant Professors came to me with a complaint about a resident doctor in another specialty.
"He was quite rude. He told us to get our patient out of the theater. I told him that was a ruptured ectopic pregnancy and needed urgent surgery. He said that was not an emergency like fetal distress. He said she needed blood first, not an operation. I told him I was an Assistant Professor and I knew what was an emergency. Finally the operation started. Even during the operation he kept on making comments and being rude."
"OK. It does not sound good. Do you want to lodge a formal complaint?" I said.
"Yes, Sir."
"OK. Write a complaint letter. I will send to the head of the department of that specialty."
That was done. A couple of days later, an Associate Professor of that department met me and asked if this complainant was working or on leave.
"On vacation for 18 more days" I said.
"My Head of Department has made inquiries. It is found out that a few of our people also have complaints against this complainant. If this person wants to pursue the matter, he/she has to be ready to hear a few harsh words."
I was stunned. Finally I found my voice. "The complaint is against a Resident Doctor by an Assistant Professor. The inquiry is of that Resident Doctor, not that of the complainant. If there are complaints against the complainant, they have to be lodged by proper method and sent to me. Your Head of Department cannot offer harsh words as remedy. Now if complaints are lodged against the complainant, it will appear as if there is an attempt to cover someone's error by counter complaints. That is not how complaints are dealt with in this institute or anywhere else where principles of justice are followed."
I wonder how much this middleman understood and how much he/she would convey to his/her Head of Department. I am even more doubtful how much a person who had that weird method of conducting an inquiry would understand. Going by my past experiences, I actually should have no doubts. I should know that that person will not understand anything at all.
"What do you think of all this?" someone who was listening to this asked me.
"I think such people have not progressed beyond their childhood, when they had fights with other children and dealt with them in this manner. I think it is a tragedy that such people reach high positions without any training on dealing with situations like this."
"He was quite rude. He told us to get our patient out of the theater. I told him that was a ruptured ectopic pregnancy and needed urgent surgery. He said that was not an emergency like fetal distress. He said she needed blood first, not an operation. I told him I was an Assistant Professor and I knew what was an emergency. Finally the operation started. Even during the operation he kept on making comments and being rude."
"OK. It does not sound good. Do you want to lodge a formal complaint?" I said.
"Yes, Sir."
"OK. Write a complaint letter. I will send to the head of the department of that specialty."
That was done. A couple of days later, an Associate Professor of that department met me and asked if this complainant was working or on leave.
"On vacation for 18 more days" I said.
"My Head of Department has made inquiries. It is found out that a few of our people also have complaints against this complainant. If this person wants to pursue the matter, he/she has to be ready to hear a few harsh words."
I was stunned. Finally I found my voice. "The complaint is against a Resident Doctor by an Assistant Professor. The inquiry is of that Resident Doctor, not that of the complainant. If there are complaints against the complainant, they have to be lodged by proper method and sent to me. Your Head of Department cannot offer harsh words as remedy. Now if complaints are lodged against the complainant, it will appear as if there is an attempt to cover someone's error by counter complaints. That is not how complaints are dealt with in this institute or anywhere else where principles of justice are followed."
I wonder how much this middleman understood and how much he/she would convey to his/her Head of Department. I am even more doubtful how much a person who had that weird method of conducting an inquiry would understand. Going by my past experiences, I actually should have no doubts. I should know that that person will not understand anything at all.
"What do you think of all this?" someone who was listening to this asked me.
"I think such people have not progressed beyond their childhood, when they had fights with other children and dealt with them in this manner. I think it is a tragedy that such people reach high positions without any training on dealing with situations like this."
