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Year 1986, Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal.
I had just moved in one of the hostels as a second year MBBS student. Located adjacent to the beautiful Upper Lake in Bhopal, it was a lovely place to be in. However those days ragging used to be rampant in medical colleges and most of the time we remained cocooned inside our rooms. One of the largest rooms was occupied by a grand senior who entered the college in 1968 and had still not cleared his MBBS! There was no college regulation that could be invoked to "see off" such perennials.
He had been there for time immemorial: Although unlike another grand old man, he hardly spoke to anyone, we were still a bit scared to be around his room. I saw him exchanging words with only a cook who prepared food in his mess.
This guy was not always like this. "Legends" circulated about him. He had topped the first professional examination of the MBBS amidst a group of 140 students.
Then came the biggest blow of his life. He was (mis)diagnosed to have leukaemia!
Years passed by. There was no counselling available for him.
He awaited what we call death in vain for years, untill one fine day, he was declared not to have leukaemia at all!
However life had changed irreversibly for him. I believe he had been a drug addict.
A year after I graduated, he also finally managed to get his degree.
Dr. D.L Aren was an MBBS in around 1991 or 1992. He soon perished not because of leukemia but a generalized debilitation as a consequence of his addictions and alcoholism.
A beautiful life came to its end after a miserable journey.
Dr. Aren lived with a disease he never had, but ironically met his freedom from illness in his untimely death. I normally change the names of the subjects in my posts, but call it whatever, this as a delayed obituary to a man who would otherwise be a great doctor, but for a medical error.
Block A where he lived is now a girls' hostel.
The garden is there, but the "selfish giant" of O. Henry who unintentionally prevented us (kids) from playing there is not there.
You are missed Dr. Aren!
Manish
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(Please read my epilogue to be posted separately in a subsequent post.)
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Year 1986, Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal.
I had just moved in one of the hostels as a second year MBBS student. Located adjacent to the beautiful Upper Lake in Bhopal, it was a lovely place to be in. However those days ragging used to be rampant in medical colleges and most of the time we remained cocooned inside our rooms. One of the largest rooms was occupied by a grand senior who entered the college in 1968 and had still not cleared his MBBS! There was no college regulation that could be invoked to "see off" such perennials.
He had been there for time immemorial: Although unlike another grand old man, he hardly spoke to anyone, we were still a bit scared to be around his room. I saw him exchanging words with only a cook who prepared food in his mess.
This guy was not always like this. "Legends" circulated about him. He had topped the first professional examination of the MBBS amidst a group of 140 students.
Then came the biggest blow of his life. He was (mis)diagnosed to have leukaemia!
Years passed by. There was no counselling available for him.
He awaited what we call death in vain for years, untill one fine day, he was declared not to have leukaemia at all!
However life had changed irreversibly for him. I believe he had been a drug addict.
A year after I graduated, he also finally managed to get his degree.
Dr. D.L Aren was an MBBS in around 1991 or 1992. He soon perished not because of leukemia but a generalized debilitation as a consequence of his addictions and alcoholism.
A beautiful life came to its end after a miserable journey.
Dr. Aren lived with a disease he never had, but ironically met his freedom from illness in his untimely death. I normally change the names of the subjects in my posts, but call it whatever, this as a delayed obituary to a man who would otherwise be a great doctor, but for a medical error.
Block A where he lived is now a girls' hostel.
The garden is there, but the "selfish giant" of O. Henry who unintentionally prevented us (kids) from playing there is not there.
You are missed Dr. Aren!
Manish
::
(Please read my epilogue to be posted separately in a subsequent post.)
::
Posts
5 comments:
Such a tragedy. Not an uncommon problem even today to be a vicitim of medical errors. Medical community has to police itself and be the biggest critic of how things can be done better.
We do not take our criticism well (I know I dont). but if you think about it, I feel, I never had any training or incentive to be compassionate during my years in ... Read Moremedical school.. only when the clinicals started (internship in Hamidia) when I could grasp concept of empathy. until then it was all about how to pass and score marks.
Mistakes will happen but to acknowledge them and learn from them will help us serve our community, our profession and ourselves better.
Ranjit Tamaskar
its sad MJ,
but i wonder what prevented him from taking second opinion. why, even inspite being in the medical field, he lived with the fear for so many years? ( what was the time gap between his wrong and the correct diagnoses.
kaustubh.
I saw this doc when I was in B Block and always thought he is one of those old Babas we used to have in those times. Really a sad end.
Kaustubh, do you think the name of the doctor in this last post needs to be protected? I don't know why he did not seek a second opinion and other details. We were too scared and somewhat unconcerned to find out. I guess, he was into a chronic depression...
Worse, I would say was that the system outrightly discarded him. Now that I have beeen an Assistant Professor at a medical college myself, I feel, I would intervene/ meet/ try to comfort if my student were to be diagnoosed with a serious problem.
what a waste of life.
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