Dilemma Between Truthfulness And Kindness

Whatever way we may take it, doctors do provide sickness certificates, for a price. And why blame doctors for this only. They ask for tests that are not required.They prescribe medicines that are not needed. Most doctors accept or ask favors from drug companies. Thankfully medical schools run by Government are still affordable but these very doctors somehow manage not to do mandatory rural duties. These very doctors go abroad on pretext of specialization and never return.
No use talking about doctors who paid hefty capitation fee for their schooling.
Yet, and I am happy to say yet, there are some who would not do any of the above.
At times, it is very difficult to be kind and remain truthful at the same time.

 

the question is who did the right thing?!
But "right thing from whose point's of view?
Senior doctor ( truthful) who had discovered patient feigned comatose might have been already rich and so he doesn't need to enrich and so could cling to "business ethics".
The next day duty doctor might have begun from humble beginnings and he needs enrichment - accepted generosity for kindness.(a quid pro quo).
Both are better from their point of view. This is my point of view.
Thanks and REGARDS .
GOD BLESS US all always .

 

Dear Sri Gopalan:

Let us assume this scenario:

Patient faking abdominal pain gets admitted into the nearest hospital to avoid joining duty in Saudi Arabia. The doctor who runs a private nursing home with a lot of loan to be paid back, admits him for good three days, conducts all the tests to find out what caused the abdominal pain and finally concluded that there is nothing to be alarmed about. Patient finally requests that he may be given a medical certificate to take bed rest for 30 days and in order to avoid joining duty, he faked the abdominal pain. The doctor tells him that he would issue such a certificate provided he pays a certain amount that would pay back his debt.

The patient gets the certificate he wants whereas doctor's loan gets paid at the same time. It is win/win for both parties. Did anyone of them righteous in their attitude? They create a chain of bad behavior in the society and eventually their gains will be compensated by someone else taking advantage of them. Everyone has to pay for their bad actions however small they are, as it accumulates as Karma.

 

Honesty can be both kind and unkind.

If a thief asks you where the neighbor keeps his gold, the honest answer would be kind to the thief but very unkind to the neighbor.

The senior doctor on the second night cheated the malingerer's employer and probably shifted extra workload to his coworkers.

IMHO, corruption in the medical profession is unconscionable. Anyone who knew of the illegal transaction should have reported it.

If you were in the same situation again, what would you do?

 

Dear Dr Gopalan,
Truth is bitter and kindness is always sweet.
A person who wants to extend leave and politicians who want to avoid intrrogation for corrupt activities feign sickness and get admitted in hospital. Some doctors take advantage of this.
As in business management ethics is a subject, now in medical colleges also there is a proposal to add ethics as a subject.
I wonder in business how many are following ethics. As long as people are greedy and want to enrich themselves ethics will take a back seat.
PS

 

Sir,

Please continue to share your experiences, like to read your weekly posts. Thanks for sharing your experience.

It is my life long dream to have a doctor in the family. My son escaped, saying that it wasn't his 'cup of tea'. We, both work in IT industry, and our son chose to be in the same field. A missed opportunity, like to read about the personal experience of a doctor.

My sister didn't thrive on her job as a physician. She (barley) manages her work, kept saying that it was not the suitable profession for her and we were disappointed. She has long line of complains from GH, harassment and local people to deal with, were the hindrance of her 90's career. She became another book keeper of Govt. programs, moved on to do administrative duties rather than practicing medicine.