Is this life imitating art, or art imitating life? You be the judge. The tv show Doogie Howser, MD (video above) was about a whiz-kid who becomes a doctor at age fourteen. And, yes, I do admit to watching the show when it was around. Little did we know that something like this would happen in real life.
The Associated Press this morning is reporting that Dhileepan Raj, a 15-year-old kid in India, performed a caesarean section "under his parents watch." Can you believe that?
How did people find out about this? Well, first of all, the entire thing was filmed. And, second, the kid's father showed the video at their local medical association meeting. How's that for being a proud father.
Of course, there is shock and outrage over this incident. I hope this guy's medical license is taken from him. Plus, there is talk over criminal charges being brought forth. Does this guy regret what he did? Absolutely not!
[Dr. K] Murugesan, who could possibly be prevented from practicing and face criminal charges for allowing his son to perform the operation, expressed no regret and accused the Manaparai medical association of being "jealous" of his son's achievements, [Dr. Venkatesh] Prasad [secretary of the medical association] added.Wait a sec. All this over getting into the Guinness Book of World Records? To jeopardize your medical license and international embarrassment, just to get some kind of world record? Sheesh! We'll have to see how this all plays out...
"He said this was not the first surgery performed by his son and that he had been training him for the last three years," said Prasad.
Murugesan told the medical association that he wanted to see his son's name in the Guinness Book of World Records [as the youngest surgeon].
5 comments:
You know, this almost sounded like the case of a little Indian boy I saw on TV a few months ago. The kid is like just over 10, maybe older I can't really remember, and he's got one of the highest IQs in the world and he's been studying medicine since he was like 3. He performed surgery to fix the broken finger of another kids hand when he was, I think, around 8 or so. The parents had pictures.
He was taken to England because his claims that, given the right kind of lab and assistants, he could cure AIDS and cancer in 5 years. These English doctors brought him into Britain and showed him around, let him sit in on some lectures and talked about how he felt he could cure both cancer and AIDS. He said something, darned if I remember it now, that floored one doctor.
They said he had the potential of being a very skilled physician but that in a first world country, his intelligence and skill was better than many people's, but not ultra extraordinary and that in India, in his small region of it, there'd be a bigger concentration of people who were not as intelligent or skilled and so he'd be way better than the norm. They also worried about the potential damage the 'celebrity' status would bring to him if he continued on as he had in India with people constantly harassing him for medical advice.
I think now he's going to a top university in India and I don't think he's even 13 yet.
But yea, performing surgery, as a teenager is not a good thing. A father should have known that but I suppose parental joy and pride gets in the way. I'm not sure if he should lose his medical license or not, definitely he was irresponsible but if he videotaped it then he was in the room and could have jumped in should there have been a problem, no?
Definitely interesting.
Hi Dr A! I heard this on BBC International. There is an obsession in this part of the world about getting into the Guinness World Record.
What were the parents thinking? Both doctors? Intelligent yet foolish! Have they gone mad? Sad indeed what parents do to live out what they had hoped to be ay?
Doctors are badly needed for the huge population. Will they both lose their licence?
It'll be interesting to hear Vijay's view on this?
SuperStenoGirl said..."They said he had the potential of being a very skilled physician but that in a first world country, his intelligence and skill was better than many people's, but not ultra extraordinary and that in India, in his small region of it, there'd be a bigger concentration of people who were not as intelligent or skilled and so he'd be way better than the norm."
i don't know why you or the tv station that presented that story would assume that people in a small region of a first world country would be more intelligent than people in a small region of a third world country, but India has systems of technology and science education that would certainly prove you (or the nebulous "they")wrong.
but yeah, the c-section story is incredibly disturbing.
Anonymous, yea you go right ahead and think whatever you want.
By 'small region', I meant small village of about 200 people in the middle of nowhere India. Oh but of course, we're all the same despite a first world country having better access to school and such. But yea, kids in a 200 population town in Dustbowl Saskatchewan 400 miles from anything, are exactly like those in that small village even though the Canucks have access to a school.
Yea. Great argument there. :/
I'm ashamed. My wife and I are both doctors and we have a 7-year-old daughter who is in second grade. How pathetic! I'm going to take my daughter out of school and am going to home school her in radiology. You wait and watch, I'll have her reading x-rays and CT scans by the time she's 8. I'll make her the top radiologist in Salem by the time she turns 15.
Jokes apart, I'm truly appalled :(
That this should have happened in Tamil Nadu, my home state is even more distressing.
If you've kept up with the news feeds, the cover-up process seems to have begun. Read this.
I can guess where this is going to go. The father is going to allege professional jealousy as the motive behind the charges as he has already hinted. Then he may try to get support from some political party or a caste/community outfit. As Dr.A says, let us wait and see how this plays out.
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