Last week we ran from pillar to post to find out the right expert to guide on father's health condition, and subsequent treatment plan. And after consulting to several experts, we have found out that, every expert has their own way of diagnosis and prescribe different medicines, based on what they feel is right. And some even go to the extent of blunder and prescribe medicines that even can have fatal consequences, but there is no way you can hold them accountable. Dad went through such a blunder, thanks to our common sense to save him and bring back to normalcy. The doctor had prescribed some medicines that made him severe dehydrate and cough, and fell unconscious, after finishing his lunch. This happened after taking the new medicines for just two days, from my last post. He even did not told us to monitor him but I was cautious to ask Mom to look after him every now and then, as there were some new medicines. We stopped the new medicines, and it took 3 days to bring him back to normalcy, but his fear level increased. When I went back to the hospital and asked the Doctor telling him that his new medicines has caused such effect, his immediate response was that, it could have been a brain stroke, so you need to consult Neurology immediately - if you believe such crap , then you will traverse that wrong path again. So we decided to go to different experts and seek their opinion to choose the right path.
One of the hospital seemed to be in a pathetic state, you can see a bucket being kept to collect the water drops falling from the ceiling. But we still went there, because we were told, he is the best Cardiologist in the city. The administration staff were pretty bad, as they did not inform us the right time and made us wait for 3 hours.
Our experience with that doctor was pretty bad as well, with the doctor prescribing medicines for sugar, even though dad does not have diabetes. I felt he was very casual in his diagnosis saying he is already very old aged, but hey, we know that and did not go to hear that. We are never going back to the hospital again and would not even recommend anyone to go there. They charge a very little, just ₹50, but that should not be the driving factor for anyone, risking life.
The next two experts we consulted were pretty good and we liked the way they demonstrated and answered to all our questions. The first doctor belonged to Manipal Hospital and the second doctor is the famous one in Care Hospital, who had fitted the pacemaker on him. I always feel, a good doctor should have patience to answer to our queries, instead of asking us to blindly follow his prescription. Both of them reduced his medicines, saying a clear NO to surgery and advised him to drink less water. And they also confirmed there is no immediate risk, and it can be managed with medicines, as surgery has greater risk. I even booked and went ahead with a video consultation with one famous surgeon from Narayana Hospital, Bangalore who also advised in similar line - continue with medicine and NO surgery. So we are relieved to have a plan in place knowing all the pros and cons - Dad never maintained a healthy lifestyle, so its very difficult now to put him in any schedule. So let him live the rest of his life happily the way he wants.
Interestingly, I found out a shocking fact when we consulted the doctor who had operated on him for fitting the pacemaker in 2010. The first doctor whose medicine had made him unconscious belongs to the same hospital, and I came to know that he gives incentives to the support staff (kind of bribe) to redirect patients of the famous doctor to him. And this was the very reason, the support staffs diverted us on the very first day, when we actually wanted to consult the operating surgeon.
There is no proof of these malpractices being done under the hood - nobody bothers about what happens afterwards - all they want is your money. Everyone wants to consult the best, but we do not have enough best for everyone, the sad ground reality. And some people take the advantage of the situation, to make some money out of this. I am sure, they won't be able to enjoy the money earned in this unethical way - after all someone is watching us all.
It's always good to take 2-3 opinions from different experts and do a little research on your own to make sure, their treatment plan is in line with patient's need. Our loss is always 100% for us, even though it could be a fraction in their statistics.
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