Was the murder committed at the height of emotions?
Yes, if on the third day after the death of one’s wife.. but i guess three days is a lot of time to get some sanity!!
Was it committed by an anti-social person?
Yes, he has previous charges filed on him including one for murder and another for an attempt to murder!! And this one was committed under alcohol influence.
Then is it not like any other murder case in the country, given the kind of person who has committed it?
Yes, it is.
Is it certain that he is going to be convicted?
No doubt in that. No one will ever support his crime or the motive.
Then what is special about this issue that warrants a ‘strike’ by doctors ??
It is for the people to understand the…..
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The issue – as apparent from the media – Dr.Sethulakshmi was murdered three days after the death of a patient by the patient’s husband in Thoothukudi. The patient, 24 weeks pregnant, comes to the hospital with severe abdominal pain. On examination, the doctor finds that the fetus has died in-utero and the patient’s life is in danger, takes the patient for an emergency surgery, patient has already developed HELLP syndrome, post surgery – the patient’s vitals keep falling, in a desire to save the life of the patient the doc shifts her to a hospital with better facilities for resuscitation which finally fails to revive the patient.
From this account , the probable events, medically speaking, must have been – Uncontrolled Pregnancy induced hypertension -> concealed abruption and HELLP syndrome -> IUD and Shock that has proceeded to an irreversible stage. To the common man the lady must have developed profuse internal bleeding probably due to high BP even before she approached the doctor and went into a failure of blood circulation to the important organs of the body. Any doctor can say that a patient in this kind of a situation is standing on the wall between life and death.
A human life has the same value, be it a doctor or a patient; an employer or an employee; a prime minister or a slum dweller. And the doctor understands it in the same way as anyone else does. Maybe he might not get disturbed by ‘death’ as it is something he sees often. That doesn’t mean he values it any lesser but in fact it is something that makes him value life all the more. And no true doctor will do any harm voluntarily but only try to the maximum extent of his capabilities to save a life and make a person healthier.
Yes, there is the case of negligence and lately corruption creeping into the medical practice. But in this issue it seems to be neither of the two. Gone are the days when a doctor was thought as a hand of God. Medical profession is like any other consumer service now where the patient is the consumer and the doctor is the service provider.
“I feel the quality of rice provided by so and so company is below standards. Can i go to consumer court?”
Yes.
“I feel the care provided by a hospital is below standards.Can i go to consumer court?”
Yes again.
A negligence amounting to death is as punishable as a murder if proved guilty after a trial in criminal court. True- all these are facts and yes, very much needed to keep the medical profession pure.
Even if this issue is a case of negligence, which it is not, there is always the law and the court. I guess the ‘Anniyan’ example of taking law into one’s own hands is having a negative influence on the people. The issues shown in the movie are accepted as ‘corruption’ by majority of the people. But again, the moral values are relative unless there is a law. This relativity applies to everything in the world. For instance, one may consider smoking wrong while the other may not feel the same way. And here is someone who has committed the act under his own assumption that the doctor was negligent and he is morally right according to him. Thanks to the law, murder whether justified by a reason or not, is considered a crime.
Issues such as this are becoming common now in medical practice. Day in and day out, one or the other person (patient’s kith and kin) threatens, assaults, accuses or uses foul language against doctors, especially true of patients involved in an accident or a trauma. One should understand that beyond a certain point, death is inevitable and all that a doctor can do is just prolong the life, sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes longer. We doctors generally bear this kind of a behaviour understanding the situation of the griever. But when it goes to the extent of killing the doc, it is insanity…an insanity to be treated not with therapy but with severe punishment to prevent further insanity of this kind.
Here the doctor had already informed the police about having received threats for which no proper action was taken and finally has lost her own life for trying to save a dying patient !?!? Imagine the situation when one has to say one day – Getting murdered is a professional hazard in the noble field of medicine!!!
This strike is to emphasize the need for proper protection and to prevent any such future disasters. It is for the people to understand the seriousness of the problem and support us. After all, when it has become just another consumer service, doctors do have the right to strike. Don’t they?
But the needy are not left without being catered to. Yes, a child with breathlessness or a seizure, a person injured, or a old lady with a heart attack etc., cannot wait. That is the reason why only out-patient services are closed in TN govt hospitals. All emergency services and in-patients are being cared for. I guess getting a blood test done or BP checked or getting the usual drug for the perennial body-ache can wait for a day for the sake of this important cause. Cant they?
A request to the media especially the news channels – Please don’t create a drama by interviewing a few patients and asking them to tell the hardships they are facing due to this strike. An OP patient who can give an interview is definitely not in an emergency. Right ? Instead you can educate them by giving proper information about the actual situation and showing how people in real need are being cared for even on the day of ‘strike’. And stop misusing your right to write by making comments like – ” lady doctor killed for ‘negligence’ ” before even knowing what medical negligence is and whether there has been any true negligence in this issue. If any, which i doubt is, let it get proved before you journalists write about it. Till then let the dead person rest in peace and those of you journalists who have made thoughtless remarks , please practise true journalism which is actually a wonderful field.
Well said !
The profession of Doctors is more sacred than any other for the simple reason that contrary to your arguement- doctors’s are still thought of as God or an Angel Saviors. More often than not, it has been observed that Doctors take patients for a ride- Ordering a plethora tests, which are not really necessitated and again more often than not they receive cuts for that. Many a times the tests are not even conducted but nevertheless result reports are given.
It has not remained a noble profession at all . Of course many a times the patient’s relatives become hyper and take law into their own hand- which should be dealt with firmly . Nonetheless it is high time the Hippocratic Oath is taken seriously and implemented in true Spirit.
Dilip Apte
Agreed. But the point is many order such tests but only a few do it for monetary gains. Many a times , they have a proper medical basis. The main cause for this is a transition of medical practice to evidence based medicine. Unless you document it, you cant act on it. For eg, if you dont document a bacterial infection , you are not justified in using an antibiotic and that requires testing. Yes those who do it without medical basis should be ashamed of themselves for being in the medical field and it is the attitude of both the patients and the doctors that can help in eliminating these. For eg, if you have an one day fever -moderate , not really sick , and the doc orders tests, then avoid both the doc and the tests. At the same time if it is one week fever, then a number of tests are warranted. And yes, all labs are not reliable. Even the reliable ones are not reliable at times! I have a personal experience of my co-doctor to share – Same test done in three labs and the actual result was like – reports of two tests were contradictory to the usual. And only one lab had the guts to give it as such. The other two either didnt run the tests or changed the results according to the usual – to be highly condemned both by docs and patients. And i guess only the combined efforts can make the health services better.As of now, to be content with the fact that India is not like western countries where you meet a doc only after a battery of tests!
Hope time is not far when people understand their doctors better and vice versa…
In this country people are not able to make an educated judgement on the doctor’s advice and thus blindly follow the same . Most of the times even if a patients asks doctor the reason, 99 times out of 100, the doctor counter questions the patients asking him as to who is the doctor . I have numerous friends in the medical field, right from General Practitioners to Consultants and fortunately have never been taken for a ride though i have heard a lot of stories right from the horses mouth , how their fellow counterparts take the patients for a ride.
There is also another side to it which I sympathize with. The cost of education for a Medical Course has become so prohibitive, that many a times after spending 8-10 years, getting the degree- the doctor is forced to indulge in such nefarious acts to recover his costs . This has become more evident by the mushrooming of Private Medical Colleges- who not only charge exorbitantly but also cut corners
True. And of the percentage about not answering, things are changing for the better now. I would say many are now explaining, thanks to the internet which has done some good in this regard though it explains things way too much which is actually not taken in the right sense and leads to some disharmony in doc-pt relationship. With regards to the uneducated people getting exploited, you can explain only as much as they can understand. Not able to hit the right balance, some ppl totally choose not to explain. Apart from this exploitation is always there as in every other field, but here in medicine even a little does more harm as is not the case in other fields and there has to be a continuing awareness and efforts from all ppl to make things better. The second part is something of a real concern though.
@dilip apte – so you think because a doctor may have “take a patient for a ride ” or can “cut corners” that we have no right to protest ? Do you know why some of us order a plethora of investigations ? It’s because of our lawyer “friends” who with the patient’s case sheets in hands asks, ” did you do a mri to check if he has heart beat ? ” doctor says “no” so he says ” so the patient could have been alive when you declared him dead without a mri to verify that ?” May be not to that extreme.. But it happens and as they say once bitten, twice shy.. So doctors tend to order investigations not only to treat patients but to protect ourselves too… And nefarious costs ? You pay nefarious costs for an audi or a 5 star hotel room… But when it comes to rooming in at an equally comfortable hospital you call it nefarious costs ? And for actually saving your health ? you’ll readilly spend lakhs and crores for entertainment and pleasure but not for your health ?if the “nefarious” costs bothers you so much then go to a government hospital and get care there.. No facilities available ? Fight your government for them… Not doctors in private hospitals… Do you fight and rave about injustice when you buy an audi ? No you do it when a government bus rises it s cost.. When it’s so for a car then why such double standards when it comes to us ? Did we force you under needle tip to come to us ? I’ll admit it has becomea bit more professional… But it still mostly remains a honest profession… v toil night and day, am sure no other profession needs absolute attention to work 24 hours a day… v have to go from sleep to absolute wakefullness within 3 seconds and start treating the patients who present as emergencies.. v don’t need special awards or recognition or to be treated as gods.. v just ask to be treated as humans.. noone has a right to hack us to death.. in grief or otherwise… don’t ever try to downplay our troubles and exaggerate ur “distress in not getting ur body pain treated ” i am arrogant enuf and rightly so when i say v make the world turn.. the day when no doctor works is the day when the earth shall stand still.. so listen to our greivences.. if v decide not to work which is our right and well within our ethics who do u think is gonna suffer us or yu ? v follow our oath.. don’t try to patronize us…
Do doctors read the terms mentioned in the reports.
It clearly states, this is only for reference and cannot be used in medico legal situations. I have that in multiple reports irrespective of the tests nor the Labs.
In all cases the the Lab was referred by a practicing doctor.
What is the take of the patient in these situations
Will try to find the answer for your question. In the meanwhile, anyone who is experienced in medicolegal issues, a lawyer or a doctor is very well welcome to answer this.
sir, its not the doctor who wants the” plethora test package” to be done.. its the set up that makes the doctor order those.. go to a corporate sector hospital and check it.. its the set up that makes those tests mandatory and doctors are just used as vectors to cater the needs of the corporate organisations which is highly infective and materialistic..we doctors are getting paid by them and at the end of the day when people are ready to throw huge amount of bugs for health care why shouldn’t the doctors(corporate ) make money with those plethora packages.. whats the big deal sir, be pragmatic and to say the truth everything is advertent and doctors are also like every other people and need money for living in this world……
Ya! the fundamentals of journalism should improve the society & interperson relationship. Dr-patient relationship is badly damaged coz of bad/wrong projections
Ofcourse No one will ever support his crime and we condemn the action taken by the patients husband. May Dr.Sethulakshmi soul Rest in Peace.
Contrary to your arguement, we the civilians would have appreciated the doctors, if they would have conducted a state wide protest like this, for the incident where a doctor made his son to do the c section to deliver a baby.
Not only the Journalist, eveybody in this country should be true to their profession especially doctors.
I presume the law took care of it in that case. Didnt it? And protest in the name of what ? – That no other doctor should do like that? Imagine how such a protest is justifiable when that is a rarest of the rarest cases and is the only instance like that and hopefully, will be the only instance. But this is something that happens often , maybe not murder , but at a lesser level. As i said, day in and day out, we bear the brunt of the emotional outbursts. And if one such outburst can lead to this end, and when it is not brought out to the public and let to fly away in the air as just a case of murder, it is bound to happen again. You would not say this also as a rare case.
But just for your knowledge – i ll quote incidents in the last four months alone that i came to know -pls verify the news on the dates mentioned
Sept 4 , 2011 -Assault on MCH doctor: One arrested – Thiruvananthapuram
Sept 9, 2011 -Scion mumbai – patients relatives assault resident medical doctors after the patient died
October 13, 2011 -Imphal- RIMS – same thing repeats
This protest is for asking the Govt to do something in this regard, and in this country, unless you protest nothing happens right? Just like in Assam , they have brought out a bill in this regard (http://www.indianexpress.com/news/bill-to-punish-assault-on-doctors-in-assam/890145/), yes after so much pressure, we need something here too. There is a hospital protection act but what is being done unless the issue has gone out of hands? Even yesterday, the patients husband was arrested after the protest started. And why was nothing done when the doctor in question informed the police about the threat!?!?
You have written it neatly Sir. . You’ve dealt with the Medico-Legal aspects of these sorts of Crimes and How the Newspapers take it for granted and misuse the information and make the story interesting SPICING it up with fake ingredients
. . . .
well done boss
Without going into a debate of whether doctors are good or bad, one must condemn the murder of a fellow human being.
I am with you in your current stand against this act and endorse the need to sensitize the general public about the issue.
I’m totally with you on this doctor.We(assuming there are many people who would agree with me) respect the doctors and understand the importance of the strike.It’s true,how journalists sometimes make an incident a hyperbole and yet make it sound like it’s the fact.thanks for writing about it.Some people need to know.I’m really sorry for the doctor who lost her life and I hope such incidents don’t happen in the future.
Good write – up doc. Hats – off.
Point no. 1: Doctors are definitely not Gods, but we are not servants to anyone either. Respect us – we are not out to cause you harm!
Point no. 2: The money we earn is for our livelihood (which is very less esp for those working at government setups) – we are not robbing you of it, we’re getting what we deserve! (maybe less)
Point no. 3: If something untoward has happened, it doesn’t mean we experience joy out of leaving you in bad shape. It means it was inevitable.
Point no. 4: Doctors spend a lion’s share of their time on patients, and our quality time with spouse and kids is screwed.
Point no. 5: We spend most of our time mingling with patients and hence have a greater chance of catching infections from them!
Point no. 6: For all our time and effort, we only ask for a little more respect.
This strike today, is in hope of a better tomorrow.
A word for the media: search your conscience and you will find what you’re doing is wrong. There are two sides to a coin. Don’t just keep lookin’ at the head.
well said sir !!
well done
expressing all the feelings of indian doctors
good article
DR S.KANDASAMY,TRICHY
please do see this post – http://cmayilan.blogspot.com/2012/01/blog-post.html
a post on facebook which i think everyone reading this blog post should know-
Thangavel Ponravi :
I knew her very well for the past 16 yrs. She has worked with me at GH, Tiruchendur.She is MBBS DA trained in OG by Govt. She has done a lot of Caesareans and Hysterectomies. The incedent happened in her private clinic only. not in ESI hospital.The patient was 6 months pregnant lady with IUD.She induced labour and tried to deliver normally. But she couldnt. Then she did hysterotomy with the help of another anaesthetist giving anaesthesia. The patient went for coagulation failure. She immediately called for the help of an Obstetrician. The obstetrician also couldnt control the bleeding. So the patient was referred to nearby multispeciality hospital. She accompanied the patient in the ambulance. but they couldnt save the patient. All this happened on 31-12-2011. She never demanded any money. The patinet’s husband threatened her that he will kill her. She informed the matter to police. Police pacified her that ‘these are only emotionl threats. you need not worry’. But There are 2 other murder cases pending against the patient’s husband. Police didnt take that seriously. On 2nd Jan. at 10pm a gang of nine members came to her clinic . 4 of them went inside and murdered her in her own consultation room. I went to her home on 3rd Jan ti see her husband and had a view of her consultation room where the murder happened. It was very horrible. The room was a small room. She must be helpless during the attack. I could see the bood stains on her chair and the floor. I can also see blood spurts at a height of 6ft on all the 3 walls and the glass door. The muder was a gruesome murder. This type of death shouldnt have come to nice lady like her.
I am very sad that a nice human being like her had to be butchered in this cruel way,when all she did was a human attempt to cure a suffering fellow human. Your report after personal inspection of her clinic and on what must have transpired sends chills up the spine. A few barbarians take the law into their hands and the society just watches. The press,always out for titllation and sensationalising trivia looks to publish new items every day-never keen to explore facts. Very sad again…May the noble soul of Dr.Sethulakshmi rest in peace!
clean hit bharath..regarding this issue,both our views goes in the simlar way..and thanks fr sharing ur link in my blogpage..http://cmayilan.blogspot.com/2012/01/blog-post.html
By losing her life while doing her professional duty Dr. Sethulakshmi has now galvanised and created an awakening among the practitioners of medical profession.The media which rushes with a camera and mike to report even minor incidents has chosen to completely blackout this horrible crime ,has not reported the anguish of the family and the medical fraternity but has chosen to condemn the protest by this profession which had no other go but to use this to sensitize the public that they have every thing to lose by such irrational acts.Many will lose their life and their loved ones if doctors refuse to take up risky cases for management.Is it becoming mandatory that we will have to take the police history of the relatives of patients and insist that they produce a clean chit from police before taking up for any risky surgery.One person from a profession which protests by boycotting their duties even for trivial reasons forgetting the hardship of their clients has now gone to the court for interfering in our legitimate protest.
Yes. Maybe that person wants some publicity and this is an ideal issue. Along with the media, he can get famous and get the public to his side in this. Instead of filing a case against medicos protesting, he can file a case against the state to bring some law for protection of the medical fraternity against any such future happenings! That way also he can get publicity and it will be something actually good for the society – on the contrary to what he has done now!
Every doctor tries to do his or her best for the patient but then unexpected complications especially in this case are not rare. Police didnt do their duty by ignoring Dr.Sethulakshmis concerns. This murder only shows the element of risk doctors have to take while practising in small towns and in hospials with limited facilties. Already with the Consumer Proection Act hanging above our heads, we are resorting to defensive medicine.This will become even more widespread.The unprecedented support that the entire medical fraternity gave to todays strike shows that as doctors we are really worried and upset. I am not sure what the government will do or can do to avert similar (hopefully never again) situations in future.
Pls pass this msg across… Well said by writer
dear friend,both our views are same but check this link http://thenmazhaii.blogspot.com/2012/01/blog-post_05.html there are few dissimilarities in views.thanks for publishing..
@chitra :
After checking out the link, i could see that the views are not the same at all. It pains the heart to see how something done for a genuine reason can take such a negative route thanks to the media…or is it due to the attitude of people towards doctors in this country?!
The author has done so much research into the subject but fails to correlate them in a genuine way with the issue mainly because of being carried away with half baked and biased news from the media. It is totally disheartening to see how the views get changed when truth doesnt reach properly.
I hope all the answers are there in my post and the comments here, especially the comment containing the post of Thangavel Ponravi from facebook! (See six comments earlier)
And please do edit your post if your conscience pricks after the truth is known. I will do the same in case mine is against the truth, which i hope is not
Lets introspect. Instead of starting a fight with the entire public which the media can easily utilize for their benefit, look why this happened and how to prevent further unfortunate events. The issue is our health system have huge deficiencies in protecting both the physician and the patient. To my knowledge in this case, a private hospital without facility to handle HELP syndrome or complications particularly with intrauterine death should have transferred the patient immediately to a well equipped facility than during middle of some procedure. Often Private hospitals take up cases without facility to handle complications and later transfer them to Govt or Big hospitals which is not correct.
The need of the hour is not just evidence based medicine but also better equipping both the physician and the system. We have to set the limits for taking a case in private clinics and hospitals rather trusting solely of the Physician who is just another normal human and you cant ask him to work better without providing the tools.
Lack of security at the hospital facility to allow drunk people with weapons come to consulting room, kill a person and escape is height of defective system. Its time we have to strengthen our working environment and health system than creating a false impression of entire public is against the Doctors. We are always in a symbiotic relationship with them. RIP Dr
Good Job Bharath
Impressed 
Excellent writing 
It is agonising to see media reports which question why Dr.Sethulakshmi did private practice,why she didnt refer the case to a bigger hospital or to a gynaecologist.Remember this patient did not die due to a surgical error;rather she died because of complications from the dead fetus which triggered a coagulation failure.The fact of the matter is that she died because she tried to save her patients life.The fact that she accompanied the patient to a bigger hospital shows she had no malafide intentions. This could have happened in any big hospital also and to any experienced gynecologist. As medical doctors we should only
ask for protection while we discharge our duties. The fact that the police didnt give Dr.Sethulakshmi protection when she mentioned about the threat that existed to her life shows that the police were negligent in this case.This is what the IMA should take up as a follow up legal point to get the authorities do something about.I hope the IMA state office will move forward in this matter. Media is well known for distorting facts and that is what they are good at. Though we need public support, we should not be shy of stating facts or fighting for our rights!
Good job Bharath !!!!!
1.In this case we don’t know since how many days earlier IUD had occurred
2.For a man who had a history of 2 murders on his head, doing a third murder is a simple job
3.Media should publish only after clearly understanding the true picture of the case
4.Doctor is God?? No,he is a simple human being first,he gives only medicines, He(GOD) is the healer,Doctors can only help for comfortable living,he cannot create or give life to the dying or the dead
5.Death is inevitable on each and every living being on earth,the public should understand and should not shed their responsibilities on doctors branding them for Medical negligence.
6.In day to day practice many doctors are facing many threats and abuses inspite of their commendable work
7.The TV commercials and movies for their financial gain and publicity have created a bad impression in the minds of the public,and we don’t raise any voice against these atrocities.
8.Commercialization and legalization of medical profession has poisoned the minds of the public,gone are those days when there was holistic approach.
9.In the days to come all treatment modalities have to be well defined legally and doctors will have limited scope to take patient specific individual decisions.
10.A patient with simple ailment have to undergo a package of diagnostic tests and procedures for a simple clinical diagnosis by the doctor perse for fear of legalization and medical negligence,it will be an embarrassing situation to take decisions in case of emergencies.
Reading the comments in this amazes me! Especially once related how much doctor charges. When a plumber (10th pass or even fail) visits my home and inspects put a 10 rupee nuts and charges 150 rupees. The computer technician charges 400-500 Rs for simple formatting of the computer. He has done probably a diploma in computer technology. And don’t even ask me about electrician. A finance consultant (CA)charges me xxx amount to do tax analysis. But all of them want a free advice and prescription and some times free drugs not just for their ailments, even for their families. Why is that everyone cries when a doctor put up hard work, money, time and stress for 10 and more years charges a good amount of money. Isn’t his or her right to make a good living after all this years..I understand medical services may not be affordable to most of the population. They need to dealt differently for example providing good health insurance coverages rather than asking doctor to charge less.
Valid comments!!
Public as well as doctors moan the good old days when doctors were Gods and enjoyed a great amount of respect, Let us accept it, those days are gone for ever!!
Incidents like these will make practice of defensive medicine even more rampant;ultimately
the poor patient will suffer!
But I dont see anything wrong in this approach, after all doctors have to save their skins ( of course save their lives too!!)
Very true!
Crimes against doctors r bcomin too commonplace to even notice
my co intern was assaultd ( along with d ward staff on duty) by a prison ward inpatient when she went to request him to quit bothering fellow patients… this inspite of two police constables being on duty!
2 yrs latr, another hospital, same situation. this time by attenders of an RTA victim…
n each time, v were asked by hospital authorities to resume work without even markin our protest
the settings will differ, but i believe the public is yet to awaken to the fact that doctors , too , are human beings, flesh n blood, jus like them… that v too have families, n loved ones… jus like they do…that no one treats with an intent to harm…