Indian Journal of Medical Ethics

For the poor patients who thronged our hospital, our doctors were the last resort, their last hope for help. The private hospitals in the state were out of their reach. The consultants who staffed the hospital and medical college also had booming private practices. These practices benefited from the description 'lecturer, government medical college' on their shingle.
The doctors here exerted a great deal of power over their patients. However, we could see only too clearly that this power was misused by some of them who did the most horrible things. I cannot forget one man, a surgeon in whose unit I was posted during my internship.
Medical college faculty were allowed to have a private practice. It was common for the honoraries to see a patient in their private practice, charging consultation fees, and then if surgery was needed to admit the patient to the government hospital where they worked. However, once the patient was admitted to the government hospital, treatment should have been free of charge. But it was not.
I was disturbed by many corrupt actions by my seniors but one of them was most traumatic. Some weeks into the surgical rotation, I was in the OPD when a woman came in complaining of severe pain in the anal region and was taken to the examination room by the surgeon. Male doctors are expected to have a woman nurse or medical student present when examining female patients. I was asked to be present during this examination. The rest of the incident I cannot bring myself to describe. I was horrified to realise that my senior was molesting his patient, and with the full knowledge that I was watching.
I have asked myself over and over again why I did not protest, but I know the answer. For one, while I have no doubt that this senior doctor molested his patient, she did not appear to realise that it was not a part of being examined. Most people, especially the rural poor, still trust their doctors. Besides how could she imagine that he would do anything bad with another woman watching?
Second, even if I wanted to protest on my own moral
grounds, I knew it would be my word against the word of this senior doctor, and no disciplinary action would be taken against him.
However, I did tell all my friends about what happened, and swore I would never again sit in the OPD with him. I got my male co-interns to sit with him and did their duty in exchange.
This man was known for preying on female medical and nursing students and patients. He used to abuse female medical students without fear of punishment. Unnecessary physical contact was a known risk for women posted in his unit. No one ever spoke against him as they were afraid he would tamper with their marks during practical examinations.
Women are trained from childhood to be subservient to men, and especially older, powerful men. Fear and conditioning were both at work in his favour. Interns may have been better off because they didn't have to worry that he would fail them during the examinations. If he got fresh with an intern she would just avoid him and his work wouldn't get done.
I had to continue working for him for one month after this incident.
Witnessing this act was bad enough. Add to that the fact that I couldn't do anything to stop him, mostly because I was afraid of the repercussions of opposing a politically and medically powerful man.
I am sure he knew that I understood what happened. He probably knew, too, that the patient did not understand. So who was his target?
I feel what he did was both abuse of a woman patient and an indirect way of intimidating me. He effectively put me in a catch 22 situation. "Complain and you must furnish proof which you don't have. Don't complain and you live with hurt, rage and self-doubt."
If medical students expect the system to change we will have to reveal skeletons most doctors keep in the closet. Maybe tomorrow another intern facing a similar dilemma will find a way out because such stories are told. Maybe medical college administrations will think about what they should do to prevent such things from happening.