Author Archives: deemagclinic
ssri and pregnancy
Pregnancy Complications Following Prenatal Exposure to SSRIs or Maternal Psychiatric Disorders: Results From Population-Based National Register Data Heli Malm, M.D., Ph.D., Andre Sourander, M.D., Ph.D., Mika Gissler, Ph.D., David Gyllenberg, M.D., Ph.D.,Susanna Hinkka-Yli-Salomäki, Ph.Lic., Ian W. McKeague, Ph.D., Miia Artama, Ph.D., Alan S. Brown, M.D., M.P.H. Received: December 21, 2014 Accepted: May 11, 2015 http://dx.doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2015.14121575 […]
Food, Sex, Addictions and Privacy: Seriously!
© Dr. Rajas Deshpande An old man of 82 was admitted in London ON once with stroke during his “regular” morning lovemaking with his contemporary wife. An accurate history and onset time is necessary so we can use a clot buster injection within 4 hours of onset. He qualified and eventually recovered too. I was […]
Why PG bonds only for doctors?
What are the details of actual expenditure in training a PG doctor? If the govt wants them to stay and serve, it should pay. Stop this slavery and exploitation of the meritorious! Why are generations of promising intelligent doctors being held responsible for perpetual poverty, illiteracy and a failed govt healthcare system? A state govt. […]
Lifehacks for the Doctor
With interview of a renowned Cardiologist. © Dr. Rajas Deshpande Lifehack: a strategy or technique adopted in order to manage one’s time and daily activities in a more efficient way. Are you talented, hardworking, hurried, bitter, artificial, irritable, insecure, obsessive, egoistic, money-minded, dissatisfied and longing for a better life? Yes? Then you must be a […]
The only way towards a solution:
A 13 point charter for Indian Doctors Happy Doctor’s Day! © Dr. Rajas Deshpande 1. If we want to survive without being exploited and improve healthcare in India, we must forget all our differences and unite for this cause. We must be able to overcome all personal differences to realize what great strength we are. […]
Humans?
Humans? © Dr. Rajas Deshpande 2 AM, about 20 years ago. Civil Hospital Casualty Nanded. World asleep. In came rushing a crowded jeep. Panicked passengers carried someone in a blood soaked bedsheet. Huge bearded man in 40s. Heavy bodybuilder. White kurta pajama now blood red. Hacked by many with mashetes (kukri), swords, knives. From head […]
Come on India, take a selfie with this daughter of yours!
© Dr. Rajas Deshpande “Will I ever win? I feel suicidal.” said the 25 year old orphan with Multiple Sclerosis. In a world drooling over the stories of “10 Richest” or “20 Most Beautiful” women, there’s hardly any scope for noticing an orphan girl who fights alone against an incurable disease. VS, a dignified young […]
Best Moments In a Doctor’s Life.
© Dr. Rajas Deshpande 1. The sound of restarting heartbeats when resuscitating a patient. 2. Closure after a difficult surgery where only the surgeon knows how he / she has saved a life. 3. A perfect surgery / procedure / stenting without complication. 4. Seeing the beautiful cute face of a healthy newborn. 5. Managing […]
A Mother who killed the Wife
© Dr. Rajas Deshpande “He is angry with us, doctor. He refuses to recognize us, even his parents and children sometimes. It was all my fault, I fought with him so many times over small things. I have said sorry so many times now.. But he is not ready to talk again like he did.. […]
Doctors and Religion.
© Dr. Rajas Deshpande “You are in our prayers everyday”.. one of the greatest achievements in becoming a doctor is hearing this sentence. But hey! You all are also there in our prayers every day! Whatever the religion, whichever faith one may come from, whether rich or poor, whether our concepts, philosophies or traditions match […]
A Murderer’s Family That Almost Killed Us
© Dr. Rajas Deshpande The whole city awaited a murder, just like in the book ‘Chronicles of a death foretold’ by Mr. Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It was during my internship. I was posted in the civil hospital casualty along with Dr. Anwar and Dr. Junaid, my batchmates. The postings were phenomenal in that we got […]
Most horrible days as a Doctor: Part 1
© Dr. Rajas Deshpande “Ready?” As I held the knife, Dr. PTJ said: “Hold the knife like a pen, keep the tip on the skin, and with a controlled but firm pressure downwards, swipe its edge down as you feel the skin resistance. Don’t go deep at all. I am here. Start”. Sweating a little, […]
The suicide note of a doctor
© Dr. Rajas Deshpande “Insecticide Poisoning. Needs intubation. Quick” I shouted and started suction from the frothing mouth of this 27 year old Ayurvedic Practitioner. The casualty servant rushed the primitive version of crash cart that had bare minimum upon it and relied upon the cosmic arrangement of two emergencies at a time, with enough […]
Psycho
(c) Dr. Rajas Deshpande Time and again, relatives dump the invalid, disabled, psychotic or infectious patients in govt. hospitals, provide false addresses or names, and disappear. By default, the ward staff (mainly nurses, servants / ward boys and resident doctors) look after such patients. We sometimes help by shifting them to wards where there are […]
Ban Bloody Everything.
© Dr. Rajas Deshpande Recently there was a study saying that Doctor’s Aprons may (not definitely) spread infections. This inference is quite established and proven many years ago, and solutions for this have been discussed at length. One must congratulate that this is proven again in India. However, the news headlines “Ban the Doctors from […]
A ‘Poor’ Indian Patient.
© Dr. Rajas Deshpande Alcohol addiction and heavy drinking for decades. Over 5 packets of Gutkha / tobacco per day for many years. Few accidents due to drunken driving, once head injury after a bike accident, without helmet. Poor diet control. Diabetes, blood pressure, heart disease, obesity. Rich landowner. Came to OPD with a personal […]
Business of Loot, Proof of Illness.
(c) Dr. Rajas Deshpande “Is the patient Dying? Operated? Bleeding severely? Dead?” “No” “Then we will not pay his / her medical bills”. The insurance companies (most) have been giving a hard time to both patients and doctors: no patient’s bill is fully paid even if they have a genuine illness. OPD bills and investigations […]
The Side Effects of Education
© Dr. Rajas Deshpande “Doc we have come for a second opinion. We think the earlier specialist was wrong.” said the patient’s daughter in law. Complicated case of Parkinsonism. 82 years old. “But the earlier Doctor (a senior bigwig) has in fact written the probable diagnosis here, and started correct line of treatment.” I said. […]
Doctor-In-Law
© Dr. Rajas Deshpande “Doc I have severe headache since last three days, with nausea, vomiting, and giddiness”. Young girl of 24. Recent break-up from first love, changed job. Completely normal physical examination. Accompanied with a caring new boyfriend. Both work in same software company. Simple, common problem. A few years ago, just a painkiller […]
Save My Teacher Please!
© Dr. Rajas Deshpande From primary schools in inaccessible villages to metropolitan Universities, almost all teachers in India suffer poverty, neglect, transfers, non-teaching dumped duties and multiple tasks that the administration forces upon them, immense bullying and insecurity. Living in different hells, these angels still smilingly create heavens for their students. Suffering due to honesty […]
The Suffering After Death
A friend’s wife was once admitted with severe burns, she had caught fire while cooking alone at home. After admitting her at a govt. hospital where I was a student, my devastated friend called me for help. Their whole family was in a wordless shock. The couple had married a year earlier. The doctors had […]
The Last Medicine
The Last Medicine © Dr. Rajas Deshpande “Do you love someone too much, DucKtoor?” asked this Iraqi student in hesitant words with an awkward face. He was just translating what his countryman had insisted him to ask me. A young lady in late twenties was paralysed below neck, and her husband had risked his life […]
free treatment
“The Free Fetish” © Dr. Rajas Deshpande “I want to treat all patients free all my life, Sir.” I told my most beloved professor on the day that I passed my MD Medicine exams. Always fair to me, my Prof. did not brush away my words as overexcited blabber of a passing student on the […]
Painful Injection
© Dr. Rajas Deshpande “Anyone Treat Anything” and the “Add-On complaints”. “Doc I have come to you for this severe headache since last five months”. Examined, investigated, prescription given. 5 days later: “Doc there is no relief. This back pain is killing me”. “What about the headache you had?” “Oh that went away the next […]
God help the Indian Doctor.
© Dr. Rajas Deshpande A court recently awarded a compensation of 12 crores to a patient because that’s what she would have earned if alive, as she held a job in the US. While human life is invaluable, there has to be a logic / discipline to such punishments. What compensation was ever awarded to […]
I’ve finally accepted that all doctors are uniformly and completely corrupt.
I’ve finally accepted that all doctors are uniformly and completely corrupt. There’s no hiding from this obvious truth. It must be true because the greatest intellectual of the modern era, Bollywood superstar and busybody Aamir Khan, says so. Another great humanitarian Akshay Kumar has confirmed it in a movie called ‘Gabbar Is Back’ which showcases […]
Living wills and advance directives for medical decisions
Living wills and advance directives describe your preferences for end-of-life care. These documents speak for you when you’re not able to speak for yourself. By Mayo Clinic Staff Living wills and other advance directives are written, legal instructions regarding your preferences for medical care if you are unable to make decisions for yourself. Advance directives […]
Living wills and advance directives for medical decisions
Living wills and advance directives describe your preferences for end-of-life care. These documents speak for you when you’re not able to speak for yourself. By Mayo Clinic Staff Living wills and other advance directives are written, legal instructions regarding your preferences for medical care if you are unable to make decisions for yourself. Advance directives […]
predictions of kaliyug
In the last canto of the Bhagavata Purana there is a list of predictions and prophecies about the dark times for the present age of Kali Yuga. The following 15 predictions, written 5,000 years ago by sage Vedavyasa, are amazing because they appear so accurate. Despite the negative tone of these prophecies, there is still […]
The Brain-Alive Heart-Dead.
(c) Dr. Rajas Deshpande “We don’t want her to suffer. We don’t want any ventilator etc. treatments”. Said the calm son, no traces of emotional tones in his speech. His mother was admitted last night with stroke. Quite a sophisticated family, this son owning a company of repute. His teenager daughter was sitting by her […]
The Yearn
© Dr. Rajas Deshpande It was raining hard as I started on a Sunday noon for my escape long-drive. Staying on the outskirts of town has the advantage of lower noise and longer roads. On one such long road I always saw an elderly couple sitting on the footpath selling vegetables, not plenty, but two-three […]
I have to walk my life alone. Always.
I can deceive myself and others by pretending to understand.. Hold hands and falsely reassure myself and someone else of things being shared, but then we both choose to close our eyes to the reality: that no pain ever can be shared. No happiness, no personal achievement, no mental evolution, even peace cannot be shared. […]
We the Great!
When we set out to perform and dazzle the world, we seldom analyse ourselves: a cause of great discomfort and pain to others, and mostly, ourselves! Much as it is impossible to dislike oneself (we cant hate ourselves, all said and done!), it would be worth a try to atleast analyse. On the inside, we […]
The second side of the story of “Unnecessary surgeries and stenting”:
Stop “Doctor Bashing”!! The said firm in this news is said to have conducted research about this. What is its standing in medical research? Has it obtained permission for such research from ICMR/MCI/local medical councils? Has it obtained permission also to publish such studies in the general press/media? Who has verified the statistical/medical authenticity of […]
Do we have a “Parenting IQ” ?
Parenting is the most difficult career, don’t know when it became unfashionable for some who claim success “outside” parenting. However successful one may have been otherwise, if they have neglected growing kids for want of money/ fame / career they have committed a crime. There is no greater insult to childhood than a parent NOT […]
Forced tasks, deadlines and suspension of Govt Servant Doctors.
Doctors, especially surgeons should stop all forced “deadline and ultimatum-based” government programmes unless and until: 1. All the world-class standard equipment and theaters are available for every surgery / procedure, and the number of procedures that can be done without stress and hurry is decided by the treating doctor / operating surgeon. 2. An “All-is-well” […]
Question from a young Indian doctor who just passed out MBBS:
GM Sir. I am pursuing PG after MBBS. I follow your posts regularly. I have a question: Does the passion we have to actually become doctors and serve society and those who need us actually fade away? Many of my friends tell me that there’s nothing like passion, only money matters after a while, and […]
Using Brain Correctly
I can’t ever adequately express the beauty of the neuronal organisation within the Brain, realising once again that it feels far more rewarding to study than to explain it, to understand its poetic yet mathematically perfect logic rather than to describe the names of its components, to know that it functions as beautifully without one’s […]
The Unsafe Pilot / Driver:
We don’t even grasp the threat! (c) Dr. Rajas Deshpande Imagine someone without consciousness / awareness of self / self control handling a gun around you or driving a truck / train or flying an airplane with you in it. The recent claim about a pilot “deliberately” downing his plane with many others will make […]
Drug Quality, price and risk: repost
(c) Dr. Rajas Deshpande Sir, What about the responsibility of quality of drugs used for the treatment? These are the only weapons with which we fight a disease. Does it make pharma a share holder of responsibility in case of adverse outcome ? This is another grey zone to elaborate. Dear Dr. Sachin Jaybhaye, Thank […]
The Murdered Angels of India
(c) Dr. Rajas Deshpande This simple looking girl in her early twenties walks into my OPD with her parents. They all are dressed up typically worker/ lower middle class, just enough to avoid obviously torn clothes. Everything humble, barely touching middle class, but very well behaved. She starts telling her father’s complaints in perfect English, […]
Medical Dream
(c) Dr. Rajas DeshpandeIt was still raining after the college, but that was never an obstacle. We still reached “Mangesh”, our pet tea (plus ahem!) joint, just outside the college campus, a routine religious for many reasons. Ofcourse the steaming hot tea was crucial to rejuvenate brains exhausted by the extensive and complicated knowledge bombarded […]
Plight of of a a common Indian Doctor.
Letter to a beloved Teacher: (c) Rajas Deshpande Respected sir, Yourself and most other teachers are my Gods, I am what I am largely because of teachers like you, and cannot argue with your opinions. Like any normal man, I wanted Porsches and Ferraris, a bungalow by the beach, a calm and quiet life of […]
Doctors under duress: Stop the violence
Make a law against “Interference in patient care” Should the docs leave casualty if they sense hostility / arrogant and threatening relatives? Every doctor cannot make correct decisions under duress, and patients suffer. © Dr. Rajas Deshpande Doctors who work in any emergency ward / hospital in India are exposed to two great risks: violence […]
Medical Gods I met upon Earth: Part V
Patients who taught me life. The breathless grandpa. © Dr. Rajas Deshpande This octogenarian Mr. Abaji was admitted for the umpteenth time in the general ward for sudden breathlessness due to a respiratory condition called COPD. In general ward at govt. hospitals, there’s barely three feet distance between beds, without any privacy (No embroidered / […]
Suicide / Homicide of Patients
(c) Dr. Rajas Deshpande Tuesday 3 pm. OPD “She needs urgent admission and treatment.. she may be developing a stroke.” I told the relatives of this 70 some year old lady who was having recurrent episodes of tingling / numbness all over her body, with slurred speech. Otherwise healthy. The disturbed family was displeased: a […]
Medical Gods I met upon Earth: Part VII
The Mother Brain © Dr. Rajas Deshpande “Get out of the ward, Rajas!” said Dr. Pravina Shah. Although many of my teachers may have thought of these words school onwards, it was Dr. P. U. Shah who finally said them, in the first month of my joining the D.M. Neurology course at KEM hospital (Seth […]
Medical Gods I met upon Earth: Part VIII
The Messiah of Medicine © Dr. Rajas Deshpande “Sir, many times last night, I felt it was so easy to slip in some wrong drug to that rapist: if that criminal is allowed to go back in the society, he will just continue to rape more women”. Said the devastated intern with tears in her […]
The Guarantee of Life
© Dr. Rajas Deshpande What is the Guarantee, Doctor? Best of the Doctors internally react like metal on sandpaper to this question by the patient or relatives. While surgeons are the most common victims of this question, physicians also often succumb to these innocent words. It’s not that the doctor wants to hide or lie, […]
The new medical villain on the block “Medical Meddler”
The new medical villain on the block “Medical Meddler” © Dr. Rajas Deshpande There are more than one options to choose from in the treatment of most medical conditions. Although doctors may differ on the exact diagnosis in some cases, they usually agree upon the “umbrella” or parent medical condition, and usually prescribe similar molecules […]
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