Thread by @FoolzWizdom

#violenceagainstdoctors
Doesn't make sense at all, but somehow feel compelled to.
What could it be due to?
1. It is Ok to hit someone:
Physical retribution for perceived wrong has been acceptable in our society (thrashing in schools/police with lathi/spanking kids for eg)
1/n

2. Bipolar perception of the profession:
Noble profession - not a job that should pay the bills (expecting anything in return for job well done makes it less noble)
Doctors deified (can perform miracles, bring back from dead) + vilified (fleece patients, take cuts, looters)

3. How dare they make money?
We celebrate young techies, IITians making big money: they are meant to.
Doctors - no!: It is ok if they make some, but we really don't like them making a lot
An entrepreneur hitting gold - must be a genius
A doctor well off - must be fleecing

4. Poor perception of how medicine works: (mysticism is better understood)
If a business fails - Idea that didn't work, if treatment 'fails' - must be a botch-up
Broken gadget - tried to fix, but couldn't: it's ok. But ill patient, has to get better

5. A rather 'unwanted' profession to deal with an unwanted condition - ill health:
If possible we would wish away death and diseases, hospitals and doctors. Out of pocket spending for healthcare only adds to the undesirability factor.

6. Medical Professional organisations do not take up patient advocacy:
'Associations' function more as trade unions for doctors and less as patient advocates. This could be one factor that has missed out on generating goodwill

7. Lack of usable good grievance redressal mechanism:
A bipartisan, fair, swift redressal system would benefit both doctors and aggrieved patients. The first two are ignored and violence becomes a 'swift' retribution

8. Obnoxious portrayal in popular media:
Movie scenes where a cadaver is put on ventilator for money. Far less incriminatory stuff is censored. Pre- release screening is done if a communally sensitive subject is taken up. But doctors are easy target, even for crass entertainment

9. Unethical practice in medical field:
It is undeniable that this happens, that there is no transparency when such matters are dealt with. On the other had it maybe sensationalized : use of words like 'crackdown' on hospitals etc

10. No 'Zero tolerance' policy:
Any workplace, let alone hospitals should have zero tolerance for physical or verbal abuse policy. It should be a no-event. To this effect such instances should be non bailable offences.

11. Training in managing patient expectations and communication skills:
Doctors understand diseases and medicines well, but not people or society in which these illness occur and outcomes have to be managed. Medical curriculum should include working the shopfloor skills too

12. Inadequate and dysfunctional Govt healthcare:
The desperation arising out of poor access to emergency care and life saving interventions for a kin of a moribund relative (Lack of awareness/distance/poorly equipped and manned facilities) can be very acute

13. Will it change?
No non-medico is really disturbed by these events: so change is uphill task. As a start need zero tolerance + categorise any workplace violence/assault on HCW to be classed as non bailable offence. (Recent utterances of a fake yogi/baba is no less an offence)

In the meantime : We need to train doctors in soft skills, demand bigger expenditure on healthcare, our IMA and other associations should become active patient advocates, should demand better grievance redressal system for patients - that will only help us doctors

n/n
Either you are on a pedestal or you have 'fallen' / you will be garlanded or throttled should simply go. Neither of those please!

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