Mid Day Boy
There is a boy I often see on the train who sells Mid-Day. He hops on the train, shouts "Mi de Mi De, tsk tsk"....."Mi de, Mi de..tsk tsk". He has a 'eager+ forlorn+ anxious to jump out of the First Class ASAP' expression on his face. Suddenly I got an urge to buy Mid day from him (Mid Day is something I buy only on impulse, or unless my Ajji (gran) is home. She HAS to have the crossword or she gets bored sitting at home all day). So he got in at Khar and I took a paper...started hunting my wallet for change. The train was about to leave and TC was on the train. So the guy said,
"Baad me sandaas me akey dena..."
I said "Huh, aye ruk...." He had long left the train, and the train had left the station. I keep feeling bad for not having paid the fellow, and befuddled by the toilet bit till Santa Cruz arrived and I realised I heard him wrong. He had said..."Santa Cruz mein main ayega to dena...."
Professional Secrecy
Now I know why professional secrecy is such an important legal issue in Medicine. Today in the Gyn OPD came a patient whose name I will obviously not mention. She was married and in Gyn you have to ask the patient a lot of personal questions...like time since marriage, about miscarriages, contraceptive use and so on. The lady started giving her history by telling me that she had been married since 5 years but her in laws had cheated them so she and her husband had had no physical relationship whatsoever. In her words, he had still not 'broken into her'. I was shocked. Not as much by that fact as much by the realisation that without having known me at all that lady had confided a very personal, a very serious matter in me. I am still dazed.....
Santacruz *lol*
ReplyDeleteWell, yes, the medical profession does mean access to a lot of personal and confidential data. It is not for nothing that the patients trust the doctor. BTW, do you know what a "garbhadhaan" used to be? There is a reference to it in one of the Chimanrao books. Looks like in this case the in-laws did not allow garbhadhaan.
well lolz at the santacruz bit
ReplyDeleteother then that i think its natural for her to explain to u.. i mean a) i think she took comfort in the fact that u were a stranger
and b) u're her doctor.. if she wont explain things to u who will she.. and her gynec..
Well I started reading ur pot..and thought it must be one of those where one sympathises with the state of the poor..and then ends up criticising the system(( I'm in the habit of forming quick opinions)). But the end had me in splits. I can imagine the look on ur face wen u heard that Sandaas bit..Hehehe..Cool
ReplyDelete@ Dadoji...no I don't know garbhadaan...
ReplyDelete@ Aditi...yes she has to confide in me I agree...what I meant was that it was TODAY I realised the importance of professional secrecy to its FULLEST
@ Saint..well thanks a lot. I do not believe in critising the system unless you have totally carried out your responsibilities. Like I can't criticise the corporation for the water problem till I am confident I have wasted not a drop of water and till I have harvested the rain water...get me?
haha.. santacruz, indeed laughed like the rest of them.
ReplyDeleteabout the professional courtesy. on my first rotation i figured out that sometimes we, doc's are their first line of "emotional support". most of them cant confide in their significant other's or in-laws or anything. most times they are the ones "abusing" them, may be it be physically, sexually, or emotionally.
I have come across many couples who did'nt know 'what had to be done' after marriage to have kids and kept doing puja path for the blessing of a child.
ReplyDelete@ CK...well this wasn't a case of "ignorance"....the lady had been cheated into marrying the guy (so she says) and hence they do not live together and fight....
ReplyDeleteErr...wasnt she like.. supposed to tell you that she was still a virgin... I mean.. you would anyway have asked her that.. the cheating bit made it easy bcs most people are perplexed enough to ask "Why?" on hearing such a buzzare thing..she just saved both of u a question..
ReplyDeleteOut of curiosity, what would you have done had she just said "married 5 years. Virgin." ??
Hmmm.. apart from Docs, the next line of profession that involves a lot of confidential stuff are the head hunters..
ReplyDeletehe he,
ReplyDeleteliked the first one :-)
Two incidents. Both funny on the face but sad actually.
ReplyDelete@ Me...hmnnn
ReplyDelete@ EM...thanks
@Anumita....Ya one is sad out and out...other is sad when you reflect on it.....
lol @ d sandaas.. tu be frank.. i was eagerly reading fast to see whether he was standing outside d 'sandaas' on d platform or what else was expected.. lol..
ReplyDeleten yeah.. d other incident is sad.. and am really taken by surprise.. :O
I thought there was a toilet on the train and he'd gone and hidden there...:)
ReplyDeleteAnd the other incident-she must have been so relieved to finally tell somebody. Sometimes it's easier to tell strangers and doctors the truth!
As a Mumbaikar - I could very well imagine the first scenario *LOL*
ReplyDeleteAnd as regards the second issue, like Mumbaigirl said, she sure must have been relieved to speak her heart out to someone. Judging by the fact that she had been cheated into her marriage, she sure would not be at the receiving end of any sympathy/empathy from her inlaws or her husband, for sure.
And while one realises that such situations do exist in the world of today too, the impact of the same is felt to the full only when one comes across such situations in reality.
there are times you will be shocked beyond your wits when patients confide in you....
ReplyDeletewe had a teenager who was being assaulted by her brother and her mom was privy to it
we were just interns then and rather than shocked we were scandalised.. now we realise wht it implied in the real sense.....