The Brahmin, the Cow and the Cardiologist

There is an ancient story of the Brahmin and the old cow. The Brahmin had a lovely garden which he had designed, constructed and took care with great love and labor. He used to proudly show his handiwork to the people who used to come from faraway places to view his garden. 

Once an old cow entered the garden and started eating plants. The Brahmin on noticing this got enraged and started beating the cow with a stick. The old sick collapsed from the beating and died. Once the fit of rage had passed the Brahmin realized his mistake and got guilt-ridden. 

There was an uproar when the villagers learned of the cow’s death, considered a holy creature. The Brahmin being a learned person thought of a way put the death of the cow on someone else. 

When the villagers gathered to punish the Brahmin for his crime of killing the holy creature, the Brahmin explained, ‘Lord Indra (Hindu God) is the deity presiding over the hands. The cow died due to Indra’s fault as he was the controller of my hand. So Lord Indra should be blamed for the cow’s death and not me.’ 

The villagers got convinced by the brahmin’s argument and the news spread like wildfire that Lord Indra was responsible for the cow’s death.

When the news reached Lord Indra ear, he was mortified to be blamed for the holy cow’s death. Taking the form of a traveler he reached the brahmin’s village. 

On reaching the brahmin’s garden, he asked him to show him the garden of which he had heard so much praise.  The disguised Indra asked, ‘Who had designed this garden?’ the brahmin proudly replied, ‘I did.” When they reached the lovely flower beds the disguised Indra asked, ‘who had planted these lovely flowers?’ The Brahmin proudly replied, ‘I did.’ When Indira asked, ‘who had planted these tall trees? The Brahmin again proudly replied, ‘I did.’ 

Similarly when Indira asked, who had watered the garden, removed the weeds, constructed the flower beds the Brahmin proudly replied ‘I did!’ to all these questions. 

Reaching the spot where the cow had died, the disguised Indra asked, ‘Who had killed the cow at this spot?’ The Brahmin caught at this sudden twist in the questioning replied, ‘Err, Indira killed the cow.’

Showing his true form, Lord Indira asked the Brahmin, ‘When you take personal credit for the construction and upkeep of this lovely garden, how can you blame me for killing the cow?’ ‘The praise and blame are both yours alone,’ saying this Lord Indira vanished.

Now let’s come back to the present times. I was visiting a friend admitted to a large multi-specialty hospital. I noticed an old lady sitting with tears in her eyes and prayer on her lips in front of the angiography cath lab. It appeared that her husband was undergoing emergency angioplasty procedure to restore the blood supply to the heart after a severe heart attack (MI – Myocardial Infarction). 

Shortly afterward, the door of the cath lab opened. The cardiologist who was performing the angioplasty procedure walked out with a swagger and style which would have been difficult for even Salman Khan or Shahrukh Khan to copy. Putting his hand over the lady’s shoulder like a God bestowing a boon on a supplicant, he said, “Don’t worry Amma (old lady). I had done an excellent operation and saved your husband’s life.” The woman gave a look of gratitude and effusively thanked the cardiologist. 

But mishaps can happen, and if perhaps the woman’s husband had not recovered and died in the hospital, would the same cardiologist have come and said, ‘I had botched the operation and killed your husband?’ 

In the above story, we see how the Brahmin wanted to take all the credit for himself but in the case of accusation, he didn’t want to accept it and he wanted to blame others. This is a perfect representation of our nature.

Doctors today are quick to take credit for a patient’s recovery, perhaps as; compensation for the long hard work they do, pride in their skill and knowledge acquired through years of hard work and study, to satisfy their egos or to justify their hospital charges.

 The patient’s general condition and immunity, the disease stage, facilities available in the hospital and the city, the help and effort of the other staff members and even the patient’s relatives, and if you are so inclined then God’s grace or luck factor should be also routinely given credit for patient’s recovery so that the public become conditioned that the outcome of patient’s treatment is not due to the doctor’s treatment alone. Other factors may play a more important part in the death or recovery of patient.

If a patient’s death cannot be blamed on the doctor alone, likewise his recovery cannot be credited to the doctor alone.

 (Based on an allegedly true incident)

— ND
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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.