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Category: Correspondence
January 01, 2004
The October – December 2003 issue of IME carried two interesting articles that raise some interesting questions. Prolonging life at any cost in the terminal state is definitely not justified. Medical practioners have subtly practised this art of palliation where prolongation of life is abrogated,...
October 01, 2003
Twenty students are huddled around a patient trying to auscultate a cardiac murmur. Others try to percuss the chest of a patient with emphysema, oblivious of the patient's agony each time the plexor strikes the pleximeter. An elderly gentleman complaining of difficulty in passing urine finds that...
October 01, 2003
In India drug companies are the major sponsors of local, state and national medical conferences, paying speakers and their travel and accommodation costs, as well as individual registration fees for certain doctors.
October 01, 2003
A recent visit to the United States included visits to dentists, general medical practitioners, consultants and university hospitals. Three things impressed me vis-à-vis the rights of patients.
July 01, 2003
I have read the article entitled 'Why I don't believe in referral commissions' by Arun Sheth. What struck me as odd about this piece was the fact that we now need to justify the 'right thing to do'. The very fact that doctors who don't give or take 'cuts' are a minority nowadays speaks badly enou...
July 01, 2003
Waikar et al. in their diatribe against ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) in general, and unmodified or direct ECT in particular, were shocked that our institutional ethics committee permitted an 11-year 'study' of unmodified ECT, where patients whose 'fearful refusal of a hazardous and life-threat...
July 01, 2003
This letter refers to the article by Chittaranjan Andrade regarding the use of unmodified ECT. The author has discussed the obvious advantages of modified ECT over unmodified ECT. He also highlights the ground realities and difficulties in practice of modified ECT. The author concludes that the u...
July 01, 2003
aval has correctly indicated that, when prescribing a treatment, it is necessary to be aware of the views of the recipients of the treatment. There is much literature on patients' experiences with and attitudes towards modified ECT in developed countries as well as in India.
July 01, 2004
Irrational, useless and even dangerous drugs flood the market. A certain company's rubs and iodide products for local application do business worth crores of rupees every year in India. Both multinational and Indian companies are involved in such practices. Since we do not raise objections, the m...
April 01, 2003
Please refer to the January 2003 issue of IME. The letter from Sevagram was positive. There has been a palpable change in medical conferences over the years. The number has increased manifold, the venue has shifted from medical colleges to five-star hotels.