billstankiewicz,(mastodon.social/@billstankiewicz)

I completely understand why this doctor felt compelled to write this. I hate to write this publicly, but something that happened in my own neighbourhood two Sundays ago has stayed with me. An elderly neighbour fell in the bathroom and apparently passed away. His wife called doctors living in the neighbourhood, at least two of whom went over and found him unresponsive. But an ambulance wasn’t called. Instead, his body was brought down from their second-floor duplex with the help of local car cleaners and drivers, including mine. And this is the part I still cannot get out of my head. His body lay outside, in the heat, in his night clothes, without even a white chadar covering him. For us, that white chadar isn’t some luxury. It is perhaps the simplest expression of dignity we give someone after death. Eventually, neighbours arranged one and moved him to the side, where he lay for a full 3 hours while other procedural delays were being planned to help get a slot in the crematorium. An ambulance was finally called because the necessary medical certification was still required before the cremation could proceed. It arrived, but was apparently turned away because of the expense involved. So everyone waited again for a doctor who could provide the required certification. Nearly three hours passed before a hearse eventually took him away for the cremation slot later that afternoon. And this is what has bothered me ever since. A man who had worked all his life and left behind substantial assets ( a couple of million dollars, easy) spent his final hours lying outside his own home on the road in full public view without even a safed chaddar, because a few thousand rupees were being saved. What exactly did they save? ₹5,000? There are times to negotiate. There are places to economise. I am Indian enough to understand our obsession with both. And I’ve been through this exact calculation 5 years ago (embarrassed to admit) and these were the worst few hours of my entire life. But surely a medical emergency and the dignity of someone who has just died cannot be among them.

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