The endocrinologist and my guts

If you have the guts publish my reply in the same paperrdquoThe lsquosame paperrsquo was midday and lsquomy replyrsquo was the letter Irsquod received moments earlier from the endocrinologist Though he has publicly identified himself both in his email to me as well as on various social media platforms like X and YouTube I will respect his privacy and refer to him just as Dr BHis reply took exception to my column of two weeks ago in which I spoke of todayrsquos corporate doctors their commercial goals and interests and the need for a patient to be careful when putting their lives into an unknown doctorrsquos hands I cited several cases of patients either misdiagnosed or misled by their doctors The main case concerned a man wrongly diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and recommended a costly and difficult treatment called the Whipple procedure After 15 biopsies failed to confirm the cancer he was set free to get on his lifeDr Brsquos letter explains why my statements which he dismissed as typical shoddy journalism aggravated him so much1 You have made accusations regarding surgeons in general which are mere generalisations and biased opinions without any databased study Taking one example commenting on it without any knowledge of the subject you have allowed your bias free reign3 The Whipple procedure is standard surgery and not something very complicated as described by you The operation description given by you is an exaggeration made to scare the reader who isnrsquot a medical professional This too shows your inherent bias and lack of objectivity4 Taking one very very rare occurrence to bash the medical profession is typical of opinionated selfappointed knowitall guardians of society like yourself6 I take strong objection to the tone and tenor of your article and lack of respect for a noble profession You have absolutely no idea of anything remotely to do with medicine but the lack of respect shown by you and the misleading generalisations and conclusions made are abhorrent8 If you donrsquot respect or trust doctors you should treat yourself in the future with the help of Google quacks like acupuncturists or maybe tarot card readers astrologers and palmistsThe doctor is upset Thatrsquos strong language and stronger emotions But ad hominem attacks are never good strategies in any discussion so rather than hitting back I did the very thing Dr B deplores I googled himHe is a surgeon with 36 years of experience if not eminence He is employed by a large corporate hospital chain in Chembur whose website describes him as an endocrinology specialist His other occupation is making money through playing the stock market As founder owner and Chief Technical Analyst of an investment consulting firm he regularly dispenses his wisdom insights and predictions on his YouTube channelI couldnrsquot talk with Dr B but I did find a freewheeling interview he gave on YouTube about a year ago in which he unwittingly admits doctors ainrsquot what they used to beThe interviewer asks him about his views on Indian healthcareDr B In todayrsquos society if you have money you have respect The doctor too is part of that same society Once we had no private colleges and 75 per cent of doctors made it on their own merit without paying anyone money and came to serve their patients These days medical colleges are private and parents pay money to make sure their children become doctorsDoes he believe todayrsquos corporate doctors serve their employersrsquo corporate goals rather than patientsrsquo Yes he says but you canrsquot blame them for itDr B A private hospital will force the doctor to do tests on certain machines and if he doesnrsquot meet a certain quota of tests and bring in a certain income they threaten to remove him from the position If he starts a private practice those who refer patients to him will demand a commission of 30 to 40 per cent What is he to do Nobody thinks about these thingsWouldnrsquot it be unethical for doctors to put their corporate masters before their patientsDr B Everyone blames the doctor which is wrong Irsquom not saying doctors are not at fault but you have to understand the background The doctor is forced to start following certain bad practices against his will and later that becomes habitual for himIf he starts his own hospital like any other business it will require investment going into crores How do you think he will recover the moneyIs Dr B himself pressured by his corporate employer to ldquouse certain machines and perform certain tests following practices against his will until they become habitualrdquoDr B I am against all that I have never done any such practicesRight got it Doctors are not all that noble any more but thatrsquos because they are the systemrsquos victims Dr B though doesnrsquot want you to think hersquos like them Hersquos a nobletype oldschool doctor just very good at making money But if a journalist says all that scream like hell So thatrsquos all right thenYou can reach C Y Gopinath at cygopigmailcomSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper