“Last Wednesday morning, my wife Prathibha had severe pain in her lower abdomen and we went to a renowned hospital where we were directed to the general surgeon. The usual drill followed where she was subjected to blood and urine test and ultrasound (Rs. 4,500). The doctors informed us that they found some fluid in her abdomen and took her for CT scan (Rs. 8,000). It was evening by now and the doctors got back saying the same that some fluid was found in her upper abdomen and it was causing infection leading to pain, and they also found pelvic inflammation that needed to be further investigated. They said a laparoscopic surgery was needed to remove the fluid as medicines would not help and that sample to be send to lab for further diagnosis. The insurance guy steps in with estimates of Rs. 75,000 and Rs. 90,000 depending on the room we choose.
Finally, on advice from our parents, we decided to take a second opinion though the doctors at the hospital kept persuading us to go ahead with the surgery which they planned to do first thing the next morning, stating that they knew better and things would aggravate if delayed. However after further consideration, we decided to take a second opinion and visited a gynecologist the next day. It turned out that it was nothing serious and the fluid they kept referring to was blood clots that is formed in some cases post ovulation, and it heals on its own without any medication. Prathibha is doing fine now.
I would have left the whole incident behind happy that nothing was serious until I learned later that there was no need to schedule a surgery in such haste when she had no fever and the pain in fact went down rather than aggravating as the day progressed, which suggests that they should have observed a bit further and be 100% sure before taking such decisions. It seems the intention was just to make money out of our ignorance and the fact that we work in IT sector with healthy salaries and medical insurances. It makes me wonder if these doctors have targets to meet and practicing medicine is just business. Every time I think of it, the fact that these doctors (don’t intend to generalize) wouldn’t mind cutting someone open to make some money fills me with rage and I wish there are authorities to look into such cases and take necessary action as it is someone else’s life at stake. “
The Logical Indian requests our community members to always take 2nd opinion or if the case is really worrying then more opinions, it is very important to take second and third opinion where cutting of our body is the option. We want to emphasise that the intention of the post is not to malign doctors, we just want to make our community members aware of malpractices few of the doctors do.
