Case reloaded: Was Ram guilty?

[mayurpathak]

Case Study:
Hello all, kindly read on and answer the question below.

There was a municipal hospital in old Sion, Mumbai where worked a guy called Ram. He was 65 yrs old and had devoted all his life to this hospital. Ram was a very nice, jovial and polite person. He was very popular in the hospital not only because of his nature but also because of his ethics and honesty. He had stood by the hospital through its thick and thin and done all types of work.. starting from sweeping the floors to actually managing the patients in doctors absence.

However as he grew old, his efficiency to work started declining. So he was no longer able to take care of all his responsibilities. However, instead of booting him out, hospital management offered him a new task.. that of registering the patients who came in the outside patients department. His job was to note down the details of the patient, take a brief history and depending on the illness direct him to the concerned doctor. Now as he was a disciplinarian, during rush hours he would request patients to queue in front of the desk irrespective of the severity of illness.

One day on a crowded afternoon, as Ram was busy attending patients.. one elderly woman approached him and requested that her son to be attended first. She said that he was badly suffering from a heart ailment and was lying in the corridor. However Ram refused to let her in. He has spent 45 years in that hospital and was aware of such gimmicks. He asked her to stand in the line. So as a result, the woman's earnest pleadings fell on deaf ears. Finally she left and never came back.

On his way home, Ram kept wondering about what happened to that woman. He couldn't get her out of her mind. But he continued working like all other days. 2 months passed. One day, he saw a mad woman in the market. She was pelting stones on a doctor's dispensary. Some people were trying to cool her down. When Ram enquired, he came to know that the woman's son died 2 months back because some hospital refused to attend him. She got a terrible shock and lost her senses. When Ram went nearer, he was astonished to see the same woman. Ram was terrified, he lost his concentration, lost his sleep.. and 15 days later, lost his life as he fell down from the 8th storey of the hospital building.


Question: Was Ram guilty??

[The_Big_K]

Good case study, thanks Mr. Editor

Here comes my analysis:

The first paragraph tells a lot about Ram's nature. He is no doubt an old, wise man. Ram is a dedicated & loyal employee of Hospital. This is also confirmed by the management's decision to keep Ram on the staff even if he couldn't perform well because of his old age.

The second paragraph of the CS confirms that Ram is an asset to the hospital & has a good record.

Check out the following line from third paragraph :

He has spent 45 years in that hospital and was aware of such gimmicks.

Couple of things must be considered. It is evident that the Hospital did not have a separate ward to handle emergency. In past, there might have been numerous cases where people gimmicked their way into the hospital.

In given situation, it was the best choice for Ram to rely on his experience. Yet I'm not convinced that Ram never had such a situation during 45 years of his career with Hospital. It can be ignored for the analysis's sake ( )

Overall, Ram did his duty. I'm convinced that he would have handled the situation differently if the hospital had arrangements for handling emergency.

Therefore, I think Ram is not guilty.

-The Big K-

[aashima]

Nice case study!!
Well Ram proved himself as big asset for the hospital by working there for over 45 long years and might have witnessed numerous emegency conditions. He made a good decision of attending the patients in a regulated and organised manner asking them to be in a queue.
As mention that he might have came across the emegencies then he also might have observed the way doctors handle them and the consequences if they go ignored. When a patient arrives in the hospital due to a mishap, its a human nature that he/she will be impatient and nervous. It becomes the duty of the attendant to satisfy the visitor, calm him'her, and satisfy him by giving a rough look to his/her acquaintance. This can make the person a bit satisfied. Majorly in case of something serious doctor can be informed as well.
But if its the case of many patients at the moment, then arrangements must be done to tackle them all intead of playing with people's lives.

[Neha]

In my opinion,Ram wasn't guilty at all. What ram did,was his duty and nothing else.As he is connected to people only thats the reason this question came to our mind.Had he been connected to some Gas Agency or somewhat like that and someone asked him to free him(customer) first coz he was in hurrry and if he did it we would have strongly opposed him..isn't it??
Now,most of you would reply the post saying we are talking of persons/human beings here and not materialistic things but the thing is duty is the same.If he had allowed the lady then someone else's life might be at stake..Well that was my opinion lets see what do CE-ans have to say!!

[mayurpathak]

Thank you all for replying and submitting your views. I'm glad you liked my case.

In my opinion, Ram was guilty. Although he was doing his job, I think his job was also to take of the patients and guide the new ones. So wasn't his responsibility to direct the patients to correct doctor? There might be other occasions when Ram had tackled emergency patients... as it says he worked for 45 yrs. So was that experience less for him to find out who was genuine and who was a gimmick?

He was guilty... although I think he did wrong by committing suicide.

[Neha]

Okay let us assume that he agreed to see her son first but what about other ones who were standing in queue for a long time and secondly, there are lots of emergencies approaching in a hospital everyday, if every one is taken care of then there would be no time left for the normal cases.
Its not that I am not thinking about the person's life, I am but the question is "Is Ram guilty or not?" and thats no because what he did was his duty.

[mayurpathak]

May be...

I'm not saying that he should have left other patients in tatters and allow the woman to go. But he could atleast have arranged for some one, just to check whether the woman was genuine or not. Which he didn't do. So he must accept his mistake for not taking any appropriate step.

Well, CEans will have their own say on this.. Lets analyse all replies and the poll results.

[Neha]

Yeah! he could have done that I agree...lets see what do CE-ans say and as u said wait for the results

[integratdbrains]

The case represents a bitter fact of life.
Hospital is a place where each patient is to be treated equally.No matter his religion,social class etc but that is rarely seen.But what is generally observed is each hospital tries to abide by the rules it lays down.And had there been no rules to follow the patient would have ran from one place to other with no clue as to where they should go.So Ram who was an old and polite person was a man who liked to follow ethics and thus worked more efficiently(implied by the fact that he progressed from the sweepers job to the current job profile and that the management didnot consider a layoff but re-positioned him .)
And he was just following his ethics and doing his job.It is not clearly stated as to how much time did the lady spend and how effectively she conveyed the message that her son was serious.I know many must be wondering over the time and seriousness relation.Friends it is directly proportional. The more serious problem the more time we tend to spend to convince.Had been the lady standing there and had ram not attended her then it would have been a fault of ram.But in the case the lady didnot stay back. And if she stayed back it was only his duty to consult the doctor because deciding wheather the paitent is serious is no way his job just because he doesnot have the knowledge. But yes he can leave the decision to Dr. after telling them about the scenario.
Besides it is stated that Ram worked in sion,now this area has a lot of hospitals.So the lady could have approached another hospital but again not given in the case wheather she did or not.
And in the climax it is just been given that he fell not necessarily mean that he commited suicide.Considering his age he must have felt some giddiness or may be he went near the window and must have suddenly felt nausectic of the depth since he was on 8th floor or may be anything else.So this the analysis from my part.Ram was not guilty.

[The_Big_K]

Originally Posted by integratdbrains

The case represents a bitter fact of life.
Hospital is a place where each patient is to be treated equally.

Muwahahaha ! Are you against the human race

Joking, sorry!

I just had a chat with my Grandpa who is a doctor (retd.). This case study, indeed, is a real one! I admit, I think differently now. This is how my Grandpa analysed it -

Ram is not a newbie in the medical field. He must have gone through various difficult situations during his career. Now any man, who has worked in a hospital for 45 years, should be able to judge a heart patient just by observing his facial expressions.

When the woman requested Ram to let her see the doctor, Ram should have cared to see her son. He would then have had a clear idea if the woman was lying to him. But he did not.

He asked her to stand in the line. So as a result, the woman's earnest pleadings fell on deaf ears.

This is stupid. An experienced man in Medical field would never do this. In the given CS, Ram wasn't busy attending other emergency. He should have at least cared to see the woman's son. He did not live up to his profession. He realized the same when he heard about woman's story. It was no wonder that he lost his consciousness.

Ram was of course, Guilty.

-The Big K-

p.s: I'm flexible enough to change my opinion . What my Grandpa said, perfectly makes sense.