‘Deteriorating doctor-patient relationship in India is an issue of serious concern and I have to commend Dr Anita Bakshi’s beautiful attempt at a reflective examination of a difficult topic.’
Deteriorating doctor-patient relationship in India is an issue of serious concern and I have to commend Dr Anita Bakshi’s beautiful attempt at a reflective examination of a difficult topic. As she elegantly sums it up—there will be no winners in this war. There is an urgent need for both the medical profession and the society at large to introspect and take corrective steps before it is too late.
Modern medicine has a long past, but a short history. The current phase of ‘techno’ medicine, and the infiltration of ‘marketingdriven’ ideas and overly litigious atmosphere, creates a tension between the older historical tenets and truths, and a rather less inspiring contemporary reality. The author’s journey, from a young, hopeful and optimistic medical student, to an older, wiser and often sadder and angrier clinician is described in a breezy and heartfelt manner.
This book is a timely contribution to the ongoing debate by doctors and the public on the importance of ethical medical practice. There is a movement within the professional community for greater self reflection and this book raises many ethical dilemmas that doctors have to grapple with in their day to day practice.
The author has described the situation of doctors in India very well. Clinical practice is now looked at with fear by medical practitioners and the respect doctors used to get from the society in the past has been reduced to a great extent. It was imperative to highlight this burning issue and that has been done through the medium of this book. It is sad that prospective students of medical science are now deterred by this situation and they avoid medicine as a career whenever an alternative is available.
This timely book captures the life experiences of a clinician from primitive to advanced tertiary care hospitals highlighting several burning issues. Dr Bakshi talks about, ‘Is being a doctor a license to kill or cure’, the poisoning of private practice, the corporate mafia and the big pharma. She also dwells on medical negligence and cut practice, prescriptions of numerous investigations and treatment to please relatives and avoid law suits and treating a suffering patient as customer.
The last few decades has seen a rapid deterioration in the patient—doctor relationship. While doctors are increasingly being seen as having financial motives that compromise the interests of the patient, the easy access to the internet has meant that patients now have a way of checking each and every decision and prescription of their doctor. Trust, which is so integral in such a relationship is being rapidly eroded.