REBIRTH: RISING FROM THE ASHES

Reincarnation, in its essence, is a religious belief; with millions of people worldwide believing in cyclic rebirths based on “transmigration” of the human soul from one physical body to another. The dictionary meaning of the word reincarnation is “Coming back in the flesh”. The process of reincarnation allegedly continues until the soul reaches its full maturity and perfection when it joins its source, God or the “Ultimate Soul”.

“For the soul there is neither birth nor death. Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain” (Katha 1.2.18)

The roots of this religious belief can be traced back to ancient Greek and Egyptian philosophy. The Hindu and Buddhist teachings are also centered on this concept. The main idea is the same except for minor variations, which is being the constant evolution of the soul until it reaches a state when it can merge back into the "Universal Soul". The ancient Egyptians believed that the dead person returns back to this earth for another life as the same person he/she used to be. Consequently, the pharaoh (king) was buried with all his treasure and wealth intact so that he can claim them back upon his re-birth. The Hindu version of reincarnation is slightly different, believing that a dead person does not return as the same person, but as a completely different person with the same soul. The idea here is not to go into the depth and details of the various beliefs regarding the reincarnation theory, but to present a basic perspective of the concept and its validity. Reincarnation, in fact, forms the essential foundation of almost all the religions of the world.

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there” (Job 1:21)

“When Melchizedek met Abraham, Levi was still in the body of his ancestor” (Hebrews 7:10)

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3)

It is believed that Christianity is opposed to the concept of reincarnation. In fact, this attitude is a departure from the origins of Christianity. Nowhere in the Bible is reincarnation denied, in fact it appears to be a concept that Jesus and his followers took pretty much for granted. Jesus himself speaks of John the Baptist as the return of Elias (Matthew 11:14, Matthew 17:11, Mark 9:11-13). It was during the development of the Roman Catholic Church and its doctrines when the concept of reincarnation lost favor in Christian tradition.

The first 300 years after Jesus’ death, there were many variations of Christian doctrine as the new religion spread throughout the Roman Empire. A number of sections developed, with some believing in reincarnation and some not. These groups were frequently in conflict. In an attempt to consolidate his crumbling Roman Empire, the Emperor Constantine in 325 A.D. offered his official support to Christians if they would settle their differences and establish a unified set of beliefs. The resulting Council of Nicaea put together the foundation of the Roman Catholic Church and established a new doctrine, from which reincarnation was omitted. Christians were subsequently instructed to drop any belief that was not covered in the doctrine.

However, the belief in reincarnation did not disappear easily, and in fact persisted for centuries afterwards. In the early 13th century, the Pope launched a crusade against a Christian sect in Italy and Southern France, which believed in reincarnation, wiping them out completely. This was finally effective in forcing Christians to give up their belief in reincarnation, at least publicly.

“Those who incurred the curse of Allah and His wrath, those of whom some He transformed into apes and swine, those who worshipped Evil; these are  worse in rank, and far more astray from the even Path" (Quran 5:63)

“We are not to be frustrated from changing your Forms and creating you in that ye know not” (Quran 56:60, 61)

“How can ye reject the faith in Allah? seeing that ye were without life, and He gave you life; then will He cause you to die, and will again bring you to life; and again to Him will ye return” (Quran 2:28)

Islam is also believed to oppose concept of rebirth. In fact, it is said to be the biggest critic of the theory of reincarnation. Muslims firmly believe that there is just one life here and then it’s all over, not getting any second chance to improve upon, being raised from the graves on the Day of Judgment, with their hands, shoulders, face etc. giving the testimony of their deeds.

“The Prophet said: …I would love to be martyred in Allah's Cause and then get resurrected and then get martyred, and then get resurrected again and then get martyred and then get resurrected again and then get martyred…” (Bukhari 4:54)

Even Muhammad (The Prophet), who was a chosen one by Allah, and could have never thought anything against Allah’s will, wished to get life again and again, proving the concept of rebirth not being anti Islamic or against Allah’s will. Prophet Muhammad believed in concept of rebirth. Quran contains many verses of Muhammad, which unambiguously show that he believed in the concept of rebirth.

In the current “scientific” era, a lot of people are resistant to the idea of the existence of soul.  Some people think it is outright silly. However, the concept of consciousness being able to detach from the body helps in explaining phenomena like Near Death Experiences, Out-of-Body Experiences and even reincarnation. In fact, the verification of cases of reincarnation is the finest scientific evidence one can have for the existence of a soul. The evidence for reincarnation is undeniable and cannot collectively be attributed to chance or any other physical explanation. If reincarnation exists, the soul has to exist.

One does not need any hard proof in order to be justified in believing in something, because there are so many good reasons that, when taken together cumulatively, provide a plausible account for the same.  This is known as “abductive reasoning” and is the kind of reasoning we use most in our everyday lives.

Reincarnation is not a thing that can be determined the same way a chemical reaction can. So the solution left is to gather sufficient pieces of evidence, which provide a stable proof and, in turn, can prove the existence of a soul.

A research was carried out on 3,000 children in the last 40 years by Dr. Ian Stevenson, a former Professor of Psychiatry. These children claimed to have memories and know people from their alleged past lives. Facial recognition software confirmed a facial resemblance to the alleged prior incarnation. Some had birth marks on places where they allegedly suffered fatal wounds from in their past life, which included dramatic and sometimes bizarre lesions, such as malformed digits or missing limbs, misshapen heads, and odd markings. In cases in which a postmortem report was obtained, it confirmed the correspondence between wounds and birthmarks.

Also, the memories the children recalled were far too specific to be chalked up to chance, with the specific details given by the children ranging from anything from the names, personalities, and occupations of their former parents and siblings to the precise layouts of the houses they lived in. Dr. Stevenson stated, “It was possible in each case to find a family that had lost a member whose life corresponded to the subject’s statements. The statements of the subject, taken as a group, were sufficiently specific so that they could not have corresponded to the life of any other person. We believe we have excluded normal transmission of the correct information to the subjects and that they obtained the correct information they showed about the concerned deceased person by some paranormal process.”

Another fact that was found interesting was the behavior of the children, regarding the phobias they showed, usually related to the mode of death from the life they claimed to remember. What seemed to be more than mere chance they were also able to accurately identify former acquaintances and relationships they had with people in their prior lives.

It is just a fraction of all evidence that exists for reincarnation. There can be only one explanation that can hold all these facts.  This cannot be a mere coincidence that so many people claim to have been other people, knowing the specific names and interpersonal relationships of the person they recall being, having similar behaviour and personalities as the people they claimed to be, having birthmarks and abnormalities where they claimed to have suffered wounds in their past lives, and having specific phobias linked back to alleged past life traumas. The accounts are far too precise to be chalked up as chance, and all explanations, other than reincarnation, are impoverished in trying to explain them.

Reincarnation can no longer be looked at as something pseudoscientific, and neither can the soul.  There has to be a non-physical part of us that contains memories that leaves our body and then enters into a new body.

In fact, a hypothesis has gotten serious attention in the mainstream scientific community. It states that at the time of death, quantum substances, forming the soul leave the nervous system and enter the universe at large. According to this idea, consciousness is a program for a quantum computer in the brain which can persist in the universe even after death. It suggests that the essence of soul is contained inside structures called microtubules within brain cells, and that the experience of consciousness is the result of quantum effects in these microtubules. Thus it can be said that the soul is more than the interaction of neurons in the brain, and are, in fact, constructed from the very fabric of the universe, and may have existed since the beginning of time.

“This Self is never born nor does it ever perish; nor having come into existence will it again cease to be. It is birthless, eternal, imperishable, timeless and is never destroyed when the body is destroyed” (Bhagwad Gita 2:20)

The concept is similar to the Buddhist and Hindu belief that consciousness is an integral part of the universe. At the time of death, the microtubules lose their quantum state, but the information within them is not destroyed. Instead it merely leaves the body and returns to the cosmos. If the person is revived, this quantum information can go back into the microtubules and the patient has a Near Death Experience. If he is not revived, and the patient dies, this quantum information exists outside the body, perhaps indefinitely, as a soul.

Above findings suggest that a part of the mind, which can be called the soul, is immortal and exists outside of space and time.

The hope of another life can give people courage to meet their own death, and to bear with the death of the loved ones. One can be twice as prepared if equipped with faith, which is backed by science.

DOCTORS UNDER SCRUTINY: THE EMERGING TREND

If a child kid fails or performs poorly in exams, nobody raises a finger on the teacher’s capability. But if a patient does not respond to treatment, one starts doubting the doctor. Emotional stress, coupled with the financial distress of the relatives waiting outside the hospital is very high.

It needs to be understood that a human being is not immortal. No doctor intentionally kills or deteriorates a patient. Relatives of patients ask the same question to different doctors to extract some positive feedback. It is both for their mental satisfaction as well as a plan to set a trap to catch doctors in their own words as if they are some CID officers.

People ignore the warning signs of their illnesses, go for cheap remedies, are not compliant to treatment, but expect magic pellets from doctors. If a doctor tells the relatives about the general condition of patient that he is on ventilator, requiring support for blood pressure, with dropping urine output and an increase in the cell count is high, the next query propping up is whether the rest is fine. The meaning of this “rest" cannot be comprehended.

In the past, a doctor’s life was pretty simple. When somebody fell ill, he would first try home remedies, and if these didn't work, would go to the family doctor. The doctor would make a diagnosis, and since most medical problems are self-limiting, majority of the patients would get better. Because of the natural history of most diseases, where the body heals itself, the most important role of the doctor was to rule out serious problems, reassuring the patient and hold his hand till he got better.

Life has become much more complicated now as the knowledge achieved by doctors after numerous years of study and years of experience is interpreted by relatives using their own logic or consulting the internet, which means in a few minutes, they are quite likely to know more about the possible diagnosis and treatment options. The trouble is that they then start thinking of themselves as being well-informed, whereas often they are misinformed, as so many sites are unreliable and even plain wrong. There problem with internet is that each case is a different one and often, particularly in complex illness, the information given is not quite about a particular patient’s situation, and may not reflect encouraging details of the case or peculiarities in the diagnosis. Also, good doctors are busy most of the times and do not have the time to answer the queries online, and those who do spend a lot of time answering the patients’ doubts might be the ones who do not practice full time and/or have less current experience.

When patients start assuming that they know more about their problem than their doctor does, they are quite likely to lose confidence in the doctor’s expertise. They then want to use the doctor purely as a sounding board, to get a “second opinion” and confirm that they are on the right track.

Internet has made a doctor’s life much harder, and that is why many doctors get irritated by patients who come to them with the results of their internet search. The truth is that a lot of these search results are complete nonsense, because a layman is not sophisticated enough to separate the wheat from the chaff. While they can acquire the information easily, making sense of it requires a lot of sophistication which many patients lack, because they do not have the ability interpret it in the right context.

While the internet is great at providing knowledge, to transmute that knowledge into wisdom and then convert it into actionable advice still requires the maturity of a doctor. The problem arises if patients don’t trust the doctor, because it takes trust to develop a healthy doctor-patient relationship. If this is missing, then this only creates friction and unhappiness, for both doctor and patient.

It is understandable that 5-10 % doctors might be doing wrong practice for their financial gains or inadequate knowledge, but it is not right to doubt each and everyone.

If some doctor advices a thorough investigation, the bills soar up tremendously and the person starts blaming the doctor. But if the diagnosis is missed, the doctor would be grabbed hold medico legally for negligence.

Up and above this, a doctor needs to get permission from various authorities, viz. the municipal corporation, waste disposal, fire department, water supply department and many others. Then a patient expects concession, bills are doubted and services are blamed. People can spend thousands in celebrations, cinemas, malls etc. without even bothering about the expenses, but try to act like yellow ration card holders in front of a doctor.

Don't know where our health system is going but the current scenario is compelling doctors to be a crude doctor and not a good doctor.

IS IT TIME TO PACK OUR BAGS?? (Part II)

No doctor deliberately causes a patient harm or death. The best way not be accused of medical negligence is NOT TO PRACTICE MEDICINE. This would be like discontinuing driving to never be pulled over by a traffic policeman. It is one thing to be accountable for ones actions it is quite another to work under a steady threat of such claims. A sword hanging over a doctor’s head can never ensure steady hands.

There is repeated injustice to doctors by equating them with all kinds of commercial and institutional establishments by government agencies. They are charged commercial, non residential, institutional rates for water, electricity, property tax. This is done even when doctors are earning their livelihood professionally in part of their residential premises. The administration considers a doctor’s clinic in the same category as a petrol pump, a coal depot, cinema houses and clubs, charging property tax from them. This again is nowhere done in case of other professionals like advocates or chartered accountants.

Another wound has been caused by the acceptance of a gross devaluation of the economic value of a doctor’s work. Be it any scheme of the government or the private sector, the reimbursement from the insurer, which is frequently delayed and with unjustified deductions, does not even cover the cost of the treatment. Doctors are routinely and without objection doing massive amount of work for which payment is frequently not made by the insurers. The administrators also at times dictate the course of treatment to be followed, and which hospital a patient should visit, depending on whether hospital has signed their Preferred Provider terms and conditions.

The overt and covert promotion of indigenous systems of medicine by the State and proliferation of quackery without any fear of law is another formidable bane of modern medicine. From a chemist, an RMP to a layman, everyone knows and freely advises modern medicines. Whenever some attempt is made by doctors to improve the state of affairs regarding quackery, there are always those who scuttle the process by talk of introspection. The next generation of doctors will blame the current one for not having done what we should have, letting the profession degenerate.

There is no doubt that there is commercialization of medical profession. Solutions to this have to start with reform in medical education, and regulatory mechanisms of medical practice.

Now there is another notification that MBBS doctors will have to serve 1 year in rural areas before appearing for postgraduate entrance exams. Already with charm of medicine fading among youngsters, an increased duration for postgraduate degree will further dampen any remaining enthusiasm. Also, the government does not have sufficient rural primary health centers or jobs in them to accommodate 43,000 MBBS graduates passing out each year. A fresh MBBS doctor has no exposure of treating independently. In rural areas treating patients unsupervised would expose them to danger. According to a survey, 88.1 % of doctors have faced the wrath of patients or their relatives more than once in their career. Leaving untrained fresh graduates loose on rural population will definitely not earn any kudos for the government.

Adding insult to injury, seats for specialization and super specialization courses are sold openly at exorbitant prices to the highest bidder with approval of statutory bodies like the Medical Council of India (MCI). Medical education is now available to either the beneficiaries of social justice or to the super rich. Merit has no role to play in this scenario and this is approved and promoted by the State.

Final nail in the coffin is provided by the Clinical Establishment Act, which provides total control of medical practice in the hands of bureaucracy. An eye specialist under the act can be forced to conduct delivery for a woman in labor, part-time medical practice cannot be done without providing round the clock emergency services, a registered clinic can be inspected any time of the day. Ironically, to inspect the premises of unregistered quacks, a notice has to be given to the quack before inspecting the premises at an appropriate time.

The profession that has long held the esteem and trust of the public is experiencing a transformation unlike any ever seen in the country’s history. Today, doctors feel squeezed from multiple fronts. The investment and hassles required to run a sustainable medical practice have become too great. A wedge has been driven between the doctors and patients by third parties. The diagnostic and treatment regimen of patients, once individualized to each patient’s physical, mental, spiritual, financial and cultural needs, is now dictated to them and enforced with threats of reimbursement cuts and malpractice litigations. This confluence of economic and regulatory pressures is driving some physicians to early retirement and others out of the medical profession altogether. The time does not seem too far when the emerging generation of talent starts avoiding the debt and risks inherent in becoming doctors, unless, of course, something is done, and that too, promptly.

IS IT TIME TO PACK OUR BAGS?? (Part I)

The doctors today never had the opportunity to have witnessed the “golden days” of medicine, when a patient operated erroneously would still touch the surgeon’s feet on discharge. Since then situation has come when one in 4 doctors have faced allegations of medical negligence in courts and consumer forum. 88% MBBS and specialist doctors have faced anger or violence of patients or relatives in their professional career at least once.

Over the years doctors have been complaining, griping and sulking over the problems facing them. They feel hemmed from all sides, victimized and perceived as being soft targets. Many doctors, especially youngsters, seeing their previous generation unhappy with the state of affairs, have started leaving clinical practice. Some move into administration, others business, some go abroad, some simply retire. They cannot be blame because India seems to be at war with its doctors for the past 2 decades, and the doctors feel defeated. The doctors do not have supportive work environment, professional autonomy or fair pay.

The first blow was when medical profession was covered under Consumer Protection Act (CPA). Doctors were equated with traders, barbers, bankers, building contractors, insurance companies, transport, suppliers of electricity and the like. Unfortunately now this has extended to the level where courts are deciding on what a doctor is to do in a complex medical situation. The honorable Supreme Court opines that if during a surgery it is found that an additional procedure is required, it should not be done even with the consent of the relatives. Patient should instead be allowed to come out of anesthesia, give consent for the second procedure and then re-operated. Professional autonomy of doctors has been subjugated to judicial and administrative control and interference.

Under CPA, there is no cap on the amount of compensation which can be claimed or awarded to the petitioner. It is the earning capacity of and hence, the loss to the consumer which is the deciding factor. If the doctors of some top-notch businessman of the country start being sued after their death and a claim of Rs. 2,000 crore is filed, though sounding absurd, but legally there is no bar on such astronomical sums being claimed even though the sum maybe equal to the GDP of some nations. Doctors and hospitals do not charge patients on basis of the patient’s earning capacity. No doctor can afford to pay such huge claims, however flourishing his practice maybe. It would be an end-of-career kind of judgment, if not end of life, with doctor having no other option but to of commit suicide.

Under Motor Accident Claims a small car, like a Maruti 800, is insured for a minimal premium, say Rs. 3500. If the same business tycoon had died because of negligence of the driver of this car, the claim under Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) would be calculated as per persons income, amounting to, maybe Rs. 2,000 crore. The insurance company is bound to pay whatever is awarded even though premium paid by the driver is a fixed Rs 3500. When compared with Professional Indemnity insurance of doctors, a premium for a cover of Rs. 10 lakhs is Rs. 2,500, meaning the premium for a cover of Rs. 2,000 crore would be Rs. 50,00,000 per annum. If a doctor takes professional indemnity insurance of Rs. 2,000 crore and pays this premium because he might one day be compelled to treat the likes of some member of the topmost business family, his consultation fee needs to be at least Rs 20,000 per consultation!!!

While there is no bar on the amount of compensation which can be claimed under CPA, there is a limit of a fine of Rs 10,000 fine which can be awarded against the petitioner for a frivolous complaint.

CPA was brought with noble intentions of safeguarding the interests of consumers. Traders selling defective TV sets, insurance companies not paying their customers their due, traders and other service providers were envisaged as targets under CPA. Medical services also started being covered under CPA in 1995 by the honorable Supreme Court. That time only outright cases of negligence like amputation of the wrong limb were decided to be covered under CPA.

Advocates, architects and other professionals were similarly covered under definition of service providers as defined in CPA. Subsequently, advocates have obtained a stay from the honorable Supreme Court on their inclusion under CPA as service providers. Meanwhile, doctors are being dragged deeper and deeper into the quagmire of CPA even in cases where complicated technical issues requiring expert opinion are concerned.

CPA has wrecked havoc on the doctor-patient relationship.

Doctor’s actions are always done in good faith but there is no protection under law given to them as is given to other professions like judiciary and quasi-judicial bodies. A bad decision by a doctor makes him accountable and liable to pay damages, but a bad decision severely criticized by a higher court in appeal does not impose any penalty on the lower court. A bad decision of a court equally causes financial loss, physical and emotional distress to the party concerned. Doctors specially tend to work long and hard to develop a reputation and a single adverse judgment lapped up in the yellow press and prominently reported in headlines destroys their reputation built over decades. Even if after 10 years the decision is reversed, the irreparable loss which has occurred to the doctor cannot be compensated.

AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER

When some couples share that they never had a crisis in their marital life, then there never is and/or was, any love. Crisis is a sign of affection and love. Peaceful marriages are a realistic goal where happiness is a byproduct. Happiness can never be chased nor avoided. Pleasures can be gone after and that is not the same as happiness.

Marriages, like any institution, are in an exciting flux colored by the issues, idiosyncrasies and innovations of the time. As people want more, wanting to live centuries in a decade, the emotions sprinkle and at times burst causing pain, joy, change, and also harm.

Couples remind themselves that they are married by watching cozy photographs stored on the cell phones. As long working hours sap the energy and provide very little time to connect; touch, time and talk are the casualties. The soul and the skin, both remain undernourished.  Irritability and anger are the consequences. Lack of sleep also adds fuel to the fire. When time is scarce, emotional contact time replenishes emotional energy. Couples come home and argue over who will pay the bills, help the kids with the studies and so on and so forth.  All they need is simply rest their heads on each other’s lap and share feelings. Energy would be back and bonding better, with tasks completed in record time. Rediscovering soft touch and small talk improves relationships. Emotional contact time and family contact time, even brief, but intense, neutralizes the toxins caused by the rapid pace of life.

As the empowerment of women is the talk of the town, reality power equations are changing.  The wife wants a separate bank account and the liberty to take important decisions. This, when understood and accepted by the husband, helps build relationships and reduces the burden on one spouse. But when this change is resisted, conflicts are visible. Although a man nowadays insists on working wife, he wants her salary to be deposited in his account. The major underlying fear, as commonly discussed by most of the husbands is, “She will leave me and go, my mother always obeyed my father”. These irrational beliefs need to be demolished slowly. Freedom to spend and splurge is a must for the new age woman.

Many suffer from ‘anticipating worry’ all the time. When one partner anticipates worry, there is a conflict. There are negative statements made all the time by the spouse leading to reactions from the other, for example a partner recalling all the negative incidents and sharing it all the time, having little memory for the positive ones. Anticipating joy and recalling positive experiences in life helps marriages rock. Physical intimacy is important and spelling out each other’s needs adds zing to a marriage.

Things tend to change after marriage. Many ladies complain that their husbands were better as boyfriends. Men have similar complaints. Love is not about roses, gifts and about long kisses. Love is also about the pains, tribulations and struggle. It needs maintenance just like a car. It needs engine oil and coolants. Many fail to understand this. Living together would mean parents and relatives, being in contact with all the needs, egos, sermons and quirks. Yet, in some families, there may be conflicts and the couple may do well with each other but not with their families. Here, the proverb of “Minimum Contact and Minimum Conflicts’ works.

Cultures do not meet any more but pound into each other. Globalization and its pace is also a cause. When societies do not meet naturally, it mates unnaturally. Love marriages also face the risk of being challenged and at times, the split is wide open. Many feel that love marriage is a guarantee for lifelong union, which is not true. Living together fosters love, and that is why arranged marriages also succeed. Both need hard work to thrive.  Love has birth, growth and death, and at times, rebirth. If it dies and does not revive it is better to seek a separation rather than simply exist. A peaceful separation helps children to accept the same and remain free from trauma. If a society celebrates birth and death, marriage and divorce, the society will be healthier and enjoy more peace.

Any relationship in life can go sour, be it a marriage, a business partnership or a friendship. In a conflict, there is amnesia of the positives and exaggeration of the negatives. Here the arbitration of friends, family or a counselor may help. There are several institutions of arbitration in communities. Marriage counseling may take weeks, months and years too. Both the partners need to invest time in the same.

Many quarrels begin with simple irritable behavior, leading to confrontations on various issues. The din of the fights submerges the origins of the conflict and the blame game begins. The origin might be in the illness of depression, which one of the partners might be suffering from. Treatment of this generally resolves everything. Depression may hit any one and may not have a trigger. Identifying it early and rectifying it is a must. Shoving it under the carpet can destroy a marriage. When it is mild, exercise can be an antidepressant. Yoga and other forms of meditation help marriages. Yet, one needs to understand that these practices are not a substitute for a healthy communication.

Day-to-day life has changed leaps and bounds. Couples may be thrown in different cities, may choose not to have kids and may be married to their work, where the marital partner may be the second spouse. As long as the couples find a balance, life moves peacefully at a different pace during different times.

Marriage is a mark sheet where a spouse may not score good marks in all subjects, but an average score is the key. One may try to increase the score as far as one can in a lifetime. Marriages do succeed with a little give and take.

And the secret is working towards peaceful coexistence!!!

LOVE THY PROFESSION: LOOKING DEEP DOWN A DOCTOR’S HEART

Pretty much on a weekly basis the author writes an article about how awful life is as a practicing doctor. Articles focus on how unhappy medical practitioners are with their jobs, with their working hours, with their pay or with health care reforms. Also, reading and judging from various articles, social media surveys and blogs, the medical profession seems to be extremely demoralized. Doctors typically complain of “feeling like a beaten dog” to “living in humiliating servitude”. The public response to these complaints is largely indifferent. The prevailing attitude (if the comments sections of online articles and blogs are to be believed) seems to be less than sympathetic. Comments like “Poor doctors, making a little less income and not being treated like gods anymore, have to work long hours, welcome to the real world, you grumblers” do not make an attempt to understand a doctor’s psyche.

Thankfully, practicing medicine is poles apart than the online stream of hostility that the doctors are subjected to on a daily basis. Should patients also talk to their doctors the way online comments read, they would have quit practicing years ago. The reality remains that a large number of patients are still generally grateful, attentive, and respectful.

But the fact remains, doctors, somewhere in their hearts, like their jobs. Is it the perfect job? The answer is “Absolutely not, in fact quite far from it.” There are certainly many times when being a doctor seems like a very difficult task. The long hours, high pressure and emotionally charged environment can take its toll on anyone. Although practicing medicine is certainly a challenge, doctors love their profession, and are thankful for the privilege of practicing medicine every single day.

There is something very special about being a doctor.

All doctors take the Hippocratic Oath on the day of their graduation, promising to help the sick, and in doing so we shoulder a profound responsibility. For a doctor, helping a really sick person to get better is absolutely the best thing about his job. Not many professions can experience the true satisfaction that a doctor feels when he knows he has made a significant and positive change in a person’s life. The enormous wealth of training, investment and opportunity that has been given to a doctor is fixated on one goal, i.e. to attend to the patient in front of him.

A special feature of this profession is that one gets to experience and understand the entire spectrum of the human condition. Doctors may be privy to a secret the patient entrusts to no other. They see people at their very worst and their very best. They are present when babies are born and when patients die. Although these moments can be intense, it is to be remembered that the patients entrust a doctor with seeing them at their most vulnerable.

Another great aspect of this profession is that it hones skills which are useful in many other areas. For example, doctors become adept at prioritizing tasks. They learn to troubleshoot problems and make critical decisions under pressure. They learn how to interact with children and the elderly and everybody in between. They learn how to manage other people. In short, a doctor learns a lot of really useful life skills.

The attitude of the treating doctor also shapes the work environment to some extent. Patient and peer temperament are in part a reflection of the doctor himself. If a frightened, sick patient is approached with an arrogant, dismissive tone, the professional relationship with the patient (and his family) develops accordingly. There is a negative cascade that doctors can trigger (perhaps unwittingly) when they are rushed, curt, or inattentive. Beginning every new patient relationship with a caring, respectful, detailed history and physical exam lays a foundation of trust for future interactions. Once a positive rapport has been developed, the daily grind can be much more bearable.

Doctors have, to an extent, the power to make their careers as meaningful or soul-sucking as they choose. The relationships built by allying themselves with patients, and shepherding them through this broken system, are where the rewards lie. Patients hold the keys to the professional fulfilment of doctors because nothing can beat the joy of helping those in need.

How does a doctor know that patient appreciation is enough to make this profession worthwhile???

“Because he still loves being a doctor.”

I AM A DOCTOR!!!

I am a doctor, a human,

I am no God…

Just living to serve you,

I am no fraud …

I was active with my books,

When you were busy in your life…

Understanding a human body,

Struggling with an internal strife…

We extend a helping hand,

Do not ask your cast or creed…

You label us shady and corrupt,

Full of hunger, voracity, greed…

We look after you,

Be it midnight or noon…

And then get abused and beaten up,

By some cop or a goon…

Your mother brought you in this world,

I helped you get born…

I stand between you and death,

Your life I adorn…

When I ask for my rights,

I am labelled rude…

When I open a hospital,

You call me shrewd…

All you out there,

Do note one thing…

Yes, I am a doctor,

But first a human being…