Trick or Treat - a survival guide to health care
16 It is your company that counts The Farmer and the Stork: A farmer set traps in his corn field to catch the cranes
that ate up the corn seeds. When he returned in the evening, he found a stork
among several cranes that were trapped. The stork said, "I do not eat corn seeds. I
am a stork, not a crane. Please set me free.� The farmer replied, "I do not care who
or what you are. These cranes ruin my crops. You are in their company. So you shall also be punished like them."
A specialist centre doing plenty of transplants got notoriety for exploitative and
unethical handling of donors. Dr Rahman was the first assistant of the surgical team. He
was disturbed by the bad media reports about his centre but kept his concern and feelings
to himself.
Once, a Police Commissioner set a trap and exposed the 'transplant scam'. The whole
team involved in the procedure including Dr Rahman was arrested. Dr Rahman said, "I
only assisted in the surgical procedures. I had no other role.� The Commissioner replied,
"I have to put you all in. You have been a part of the team. Let the court decide on the individual responsibilities," and took him away with the others. Comments
Assume that you are a part of a team that may be indulging in unethical acts. It is easy
to disown personal responsibility if you are not doing the abominable parts of the activity like misguiding an organ donor or exploiting the recipient. You may well think, "I am 49
