The Judge and the Junior Residents

Sometimes back there was an incident involving a senior neurologist of SGPI Hospital and High Court Judge. This jogged my memory of somewhat similar incidence involving two General surgery junior residents of Kota Medical College.

A little background first. There were only six junior residents in the department of general surgery in Kota Medical College at that time. With two residents going on rotation posting in the neurosurgery and the urology department, there were only two junior residents in First Unit and only one junior resident each in the other two units. 

A married female patient with 60 to 70 % burn was admitted in the Burn Ward under General Surgery department. Due to the high probability of her death and to rule out dowry and marital violence, it is the rule get her dying declaration (statement) recorded by a court judge. But before the judge can record her statement, a doctor has to certify that she is mentally competent and physically fit to give a statement. The junior residents of the concerned unit were usually called to certify this.

When the session court judge reached the Burn ward, in the afternoon, he asked the staff to call the doctor to certify that the patient is fit to give the statement. When the ward staff called the junior resident Dr. Danny (Fictional Name), he happened to be suturing (stitching) a wound of a patient admitted in the early morning in the emergency ward. Once he completed the stitching he checked his phone and found the missed call from the burn ward staff. 

On learning that the session court judge was waiting for him in the burn ward he rushed there, but the damage has already been done. The judge had got quite angry at this delay and scolded him for making him wait before recording the patient’s statement. He threatened to put him in jail for ‘contempt of court’ by making him wait. Efforts to placate his anger by Dr. Danny were of no avail. 

Next day, Dr. Danny received an arrest warrant by a policeman to bring him to the judge’s court. Leaving his work, Dr. Danny went with the policeman to court. The judge made him wait for 2-3 hours, then he called him to his seat. Again the judge expressed his displeasure and threatened to put Dr. Danny jail for ‘contempt of court.’ Dr. Danny pleaded with the judge and was allowed to go after he tendered a written apology.

Dr. Danny shared his experience with his fellow residents who got angry with the judge’s behavior.

Sometimes later, another patient of severe burn got admitted in the burn ward. Again the same session judge came to record her dying declaration. Dr. Vicky Rao (Fictional Name) was the lone junior resident posted in the concerned unit. After being on 24-hour emergency call duty the previous day and after finishing his morning ward work, Dr. Vicky went to the hostel to take a bath and freshen up. Being in bathroom Dr. Vicky did not hear the calls coming on his mobile phone from the burn ward staff to come and certify that the patient is fit to give a statement.

As expected the judge got incensed at Dr. Vicky’s non-appearance and demanded to talk to the Unit Head. On receiving the phone call from the burn ward and learning the matter, Dr. Dev (Fictional Name), the Unit Head rushed to the burn ward from his office. 

Dr. Dev hurriedly certified to the patient’s fitness and apologized profusely to the judge for the inconvenience caused to him. But he also explained to the judge that Dr. Vicky is otherwise a hardworking respectful resident, but due to a shortage of staff he is very overworked and he must be busy in some important work to be so delayed.

Dr. Dev phoned Dr. Vicky, explained the situation to him, including warning that this is the same judge who had dealt with Dr. Danny previously. 

Few minuted later Dr. Vicky reached the burn ward accompanied with 10-15 fellow junior residents. Seeing their angry faces, Dr. Dev got worried. Dr. Dev immediately stopped the group from approaching the judge and said that “If you respect me as your teacher, you will please maintain decorum and not shout any slogan or get physical with the judge.

As expected the judge started scolding Dr. Vicky for his delay in coming and that his action constitutes obstruction of the work of the court and he can be held in contempt of court. But due to the presence of the fellow residents, he was not as vocal as he was with Dr. Danny in the past.

Once the honorable judge had left the hospital, Dr. Dev warned Dr. Vicky that there is still the danger that the judge can summon you with an arrest warrant to court and take action against you.

Forewarned, Dr. Vicky contacted his family friend who was a prominent lawyer of the city. The lawyer informed that the judiciary system expects the judges to have a very high standard and if you have a genuine grievance you can give a written complaint to the honorable District Judge (DJ) and the matter may be forwarded to the High Court (State headquarter) for inquiry and disciplinary action.

Dr. Vicky with the help of the lawyer wrote a complaint letter against the judge and gave to the District Judge. The District judge called the Hospital Superintend and Dr. Dev to explain the matter to him. They went to the DJ court, explained the matter to him including the difficulties faced by everyone due to the shortage of doctors. 

After listening to the grievance of everyone concerned an agreement was reached. Dr. Vicky apologized to the judge for any inconvenience caused to him and in return, the session judge apologized to Dr. Vicky for any hurt caused by him. On apology by the judge, Dr. Vicky withdrew his written complaint against the judge.

(Based on allegedly true incidents)

— ND
© Author. All rights reserved. 
If viewing from Mobile, switch to Webpage view to see a list of popular posts and index of topics of previous posts.
 DISCLAIMER: This article is intended only for fun purpose. The author does not promote or recommend any behavior illustrated here or claim it to be useful. Use of the information herein is at you one's own risk. Before trying to emulate or follow anything the reader is well advised to take into account ethical, moral, legal and other considerations. The author recommends that Medical Practice should be of the highest ethical and moral level keeping in mind the interest of the patient as foremost. 

DISCLAIMER: This article is intended only for fun purpose. The author does not promote or recommend any behavior illustrated here or claim it to be useful. Use of the information herein is at you one's own risk. Before trying to emulate or follow anything the reader is well advised to take into account ethical, moral, legal and other considerations. The author recommends that Medical Education should be of the highest ethical and moral level keeping in mind the interest of the patient as foremost and according to MCI and other Board’s norm. 

Please share this post on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, WhatsApp, etc.
Please give your valuable feedback via comments below. Please note that comments will appear after moderation. Please Log in with Google Id before writing comments.
You can receive a notification on latest post by subscribing via clicking on the bottom of the page on the Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)