Another LJ-er, some time, described the horror story of his friend’s hospitalization in the US…..last week, a friend was diagnosed as having a block in a major artery….the hospital where he had been admitted for his angiogram did not offer him any options, tried to force open-heart surgery on him when angioplasty, a minimally invasive procedure, would have worked just as well. It was only because I have gone through this scenario myself, for my spouse, that I was able to get him to take a second opinion. The doctor who is noted for angioplasty is at another hospital..which said they would not honour his insurance. We spent an entire day running around trying to find solutions before the matter was simply resolved…by the surgeon telling the administration to accept the insurance policy. Why a doctor should have to interevene in hospital administration is beyond me; why a hospital administration should behave like a government office, is, of course, understandable…..the minute one gets the power of veto over another, there seems to be great pleasure in exercising it. The mindset is never, “Let us see how this can be done”…it is always, “This can’t be done…now you can run around all you want.”….when all the time, the right lever or pressure will ensure that it gets done.

When will we get out of this “babu” mindset?

Well, anyway, the angioplasty is later today. We hope everything goes well.