anonymous

13th October 2018

THE PASSAGE OF THE DENTURES - 9

THE PASSAGE OF THE DENTURES - 9

DR H.L. CHULANI

Over the years generally a doctor becomes immune to the sights of disease and disfigurements usually associated with the sick. But two incidents still engraved in my mind and make me turn whenever I think about them. In the year 1962 (if I recollect correctly) an Alitalia plane crashed near Pune. I was then a medical student. The bodies were brought to the Government Hospital in various stages of decomposition. It was a grotesque sight seeing the mangled bodies, some without a head, others without limbs, kept in the post mortem room and the relatives filing past each body (or part, to be more correct), trying to identify their loved ones. It was a sight I will never forget. The second incident occurred when I was a senior resident. A woman was brought to the casualty with a history of having fallen from the first floor balcony. She lived in a chawl and unfortunately the railing overlooked the common water tap. The railing had given way when she leaned on it and she had fallen on the tap which had penetrated the rectum along with the lead pipe. The lead pipe had entered the abdominal cavity. She could not be extricated from this impalement by the pipe and the tap. The pipe had to be cut and she was brought to the hospital in this condition. She was taken to the operation theatre and the abdominal cavity opened and the tap and pipe removed. Fortunately, the damage was only caused to the rectum. Other organs were safe. She recovered after some complications of infection.