15 Wrong practice at the wrong time

The Crab and the Fox: A crab once migrated from the seashore to a meadow that was green and full of life. It seemed a good place to feed. One day, a hungry fox came along the meadow and caught hold of the crab. The dejected and dying crab thought, "This is what I deserve for leaving my natural homeby the sea and living here as though I belong to the land."

A doctor trained in homeopathy slowly and steadily started using treatment options from other systems of medicine. He did quite well too, if one considers economic success as the bench mark of doing well. The arrival of consumer protection act did not change his practice. One day, a patient died of adverse reaction to a powerful allopathic drug prescribed by him. The court passed strictures against "cross-practice" and awarded damages to the patient, as the doctor had "no business to behave as though he was a qualified allopath."

Comments

Cross-practice could be of two types: a) across systems, for example, an Ayurvedic physician prescribing a homeopathic remedy; b) within a system but across specialities, for example, a surgeon practising gynaecology or a physician practising paediatrics.

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