This distant relative of mine had to through a few nasty weeks. First she developed some kind of an infection affecting much of her anatomy. Painful as it was even painkiller medications didn’t bring much relief. Anyway after days of medical attention her condition gets better though she still was on medical leave. Then with her out of circulation of full-fledged daily life, fate struck in its usual horrid way.
Her three year old son was involved in a self-inflicted accident forcing her and two relatives to rush him to some hospital where a middle-aged doctor attended on him. The part of his body partially mutilated by the accident needed some stitching up work. To see anyone, let alone a three-year old toddler in that condition wasn’t easy on the nerves. The kid’s ailing mother who by the way lives for her kid was beyond herself. She was sobbing uncontrollably despite attempts to cool her down.
The kid’s father who worked on a poor-paying job was so touched he was left numb unable to utter a single word. Now the doctor seeing the mother so hysteric should have done the most humane, and in his case professional, job was cooling her down. That is what all medical professionals are expected to do and most of them do. Unfortunately, this one did anything but that. To the surprise of everyone around he flies off his rails and shouts at her, “Shut up!” and though she didn’t shut up relatives accompanying her say she was as if she was struck by some unseen object. He went into some narratives of being poorly treated by his employers and things like that. He went as far as throwing his gown away and some staff member had to pick it up and take it to his office! His actions scared almost everyone around. A doctor acting like village bum! Not a very familiar scenario. The kid’s mother somewhat cooled down though her tears never stopped.
Next morning she, the boy’s father and a couple of relatives were at the kid’s bed lost how to calm him and make him stop crying. With his condition even a macho guy would probably have gone close to tears. Then the doctor enters. There’s that feeling of good things coming when a doctor is present. Everyone would feel somehow relieved; but alas this was one doctor who maybe in a final duel with life. Seeing the kid crying uncontrollably he goes into another round of rage. He scolds the kid as a troublesome being as the shocked and scared parents and relatives looked on. He then looks at the body part he stitched up the previous day and discovers he didn’t do a complete job. “I have to stich up this part…” he says and orders them out of the room.
An hour or so later he comes out and with no word to those waiting he hurries past them. The distraught father for whom life was anything but nice hurries after him. Now a little explanation is needed here. It was a terribly cold morning and the father had his hands into his jacket. He calls in barely audible voice, “Doctor…” the doctor spins around and as the man was about to ask his son’s condition the doctor was once again full of bulging blood vessels across his forehead. “You talk to me with your hands in your pockets!” he shouts and goes off mumbling things that sounded as expletives according to those present.
One argument here can be after all the doctor himself was a human being and couldn’t be taken as an angel or some out-of-this world being. He has the same feelings as the rest of us have and the fact that he was angry was no big deal. But what has that got with this! We are talking about one of the most humane professions in the world.
Yes, the doctor probably might be in the midst of some hard times in his private life. Maybe he is in the middle of the most challenging times of his or his family’s life. Well may God bring him good times. But all this couldn’t be justified for the way he treated the distraught family and a toddler of three years.
If you’re a Premier League fan you must have seen how Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp acted when his team scored the fourth and winning goal against Spurs. During all the game he stayed furious that, according to him, the referee was denying his team justice. So when Jones puts the ball past Spurs’ goalie Klopp practically races to the fourth referee and says something in rage with the cameras rolling. Of course when he hurries back he must have pulled a hamstring as he hobbled for a few steps. Now that action had put Klopp one of the best and respected coaches in the business in hot waters.
The fact is no amount of the feeling of injustice could justify the way he acted. He thinks the referee was biased against his team even before the particular game. That’s the general feeling if the social media is anything to go by. Calls are for the English football hierarchy to throw the book at him. In fact some call for him to be kicked out of the league. It might be easy to kick such far-fetched comments out of the waters. But it remains that Klopp himself admitted he was in the wrong acting as he did. That doctor should have called that family and asked for their forgivers for his unprofessional and inhuman acts.
It was hard to find commentaries which try to justify his actions. Because no amount of the feeling of injustice could justify his actions under the very eyes of millions across the world. Whatever hardships that doctor might be facing in life he should have been wise enough to harness his temper.
Are we talking here about the confident and the unconfident, the good and the bad, the blessed and the cursed? Well in a way we might be. But here it is not only about those humane genes which should have been in play but about professionalism expected from the medical professional.
“Dear Doctor, take it easy!”
The Ethiopian Herald may 7/2023