Trick or Treat - a survival guide to health care
19 Why Accountability The Bee-keeper:
A thief once stole all the honey from beehives when the
bee-keeper was away. The bee-keeper was upset when he returned to find empty
hives. Soon the bees also returned and gave vent to their feelings by stinging the bee-keeper. He cried, "You ungrateful bees! You let the thief go scot-free and then
show your anger on me for taking such good care of the beehives till now."
Kumar, a 10-year old boy, developed fever, headache and vomiting. A local quack
prescribed him 'fever set', a concoction of many medicines. Initially he responded well but the symptoms returned on the fourth day. The quack then told his parents to take him to
a hospital. At the hospital, no definite clinical signs were found except mild fever. He was sent home as a case of 'viral fever?' and asked to stop all the drugs and watch.
Kumar worsened dramatically over the next 24 hours and was again taken to the
hospital for review. By then, signs of advanced acute meningitis (acute infection of the membranes covering the brain) had developed. Despite intensive treatment, he died three
days later. The angry parents accused the hospital of negligence and sued them for damages.
Comments In acute illnesses, proper initial management is the most important step. If wrongly
done, it can miss, mask or modify the disease. Quacks (and incompetent physicians) practice polypharmacy, ie, using many medicines so that at least one of them might 'cure' 57
