At the Horizon of Life & Death by Dr Pankaj Kumar, an internist and Director, Critical Care at Fortis Hospital in Shalimar Bagh, Delhi throws light on the relationship between doctors and critical patients (those who face death). It has 20 short stories, each talking about the psyche of a doctor, what he goes through while treating a critical patient.
The stories depict real issues and talks about how vulnerable a doctor feels in the current scenario wherein slapping medico-legal suits by the patients’ kin is a norm. Through the protagonist Dr Anand, Dr Kumar talks about how the situation turns more critical for doctors when the issues are blown out of proportions by the media or when a “naïve” celebrity comments “for publicity”.
The demoralization of doctors that may even lead to suicide (as has been seen in some cases), the plight of nurses, and assault on the healthcare workers makes it very difficult for doctors to work. Doctors get no reward if they win the match of life and death, for “it is their duty” but a sword hangs over them if they were to lose? says the author.
Is this what the patients actually need? Would the entanglement of doctors in such a maze help patients in real sense? asks the author, stating that eventually it is the patient who has to decide if he wants to be treated as a patient or turn into a consumer, which, after all, may be a loss-making deal for him.
The stories though fictional, depict the real problems that healthcare staff working in this atmosphere of growing mistrust against them face. Written in easy English, they tug at your heart.
Dr Pankaj Kumar, Director, Critical Care, Fortis Hospital, Shalimar Bagh, Delhi
“With this book, I want to bring to the forefront the real issues and hardships that doctors have faced/ are facing. I am hopeful it will serve its purpose, and bring back the focus on the treatment of the patient as opposed to the mistrust, legal frameworks and policies surrounding the healthcare practice.”
