Nagpur: As hospital clashes escalate, doctors say communication gaps between medical teams and patients’ relatives are increasingly fuelling distrust, particularly when treatment doesn’t yield desired results or critical cases deteriorate. Doctors say clearer, repeated, and empathetic communication is essential to prevent anxiety and grief from turning into confrontation.
Senior radiologist Dr Mustafa Bivji said doctors must communicate in a clear and simple manner, even when relatives raise the same queries repeatedly. It is better to not admit a patient with feeble chances of survival,” he said. Renowned orthopaedician Dr Sanjeev Chaudhary said the easy availability of medical information through artificial intelligence had changed the nature of doctor-patient interactions. Yet, I feel, a doctor must have a cool mind and explain or dispel all myths to avoid confrontation or distrust,” he said. Aejaz Shami, head of branding & communications at a private hospital, said hospitals should ensure regular, structured counselling, clear escalation channels and documentation of major discussions. Families should nominate a primary contact to ensure continuity of communication, he said. Pulmonologist Dr Rajesh Swarnakar said private practitioners were already “silently withdrawing” from acute care, with critical-care consultants moving to “soft practice” and neighbourhood hospitals becoming reluctant to take serious cases. Doctors and patients are on the same side, the side of human life,” Dr Faisal said.
“Sometimes, doctors are not able to reach on time in emergency situations. In critical cases, doctors avoid speaking to relatives who may be asking the same queries as it is a matter of life and death. Doctors must also avoid giving any false hope. “Nowadays patients come in with AI-generated knowledge and begin grilling senior doctors. Relatives go to the extent of raising questions on the line of treatment to someone who has decades of clinical practice. “We urge strict and swift enforcement of the laws protecting healthcare workers. We, as doctors, should ensure compassionate communication with every family.
Dr Mohammed Faisal, dean, Govt Medical College, Gadchiroli, said: “Medicine is a science of probabilities, not guarantees; even our best efforts may not have a favourable outcome. violence against doctors turns a place of trust into a place of fear, and it is the next patient who suffers most Although grief over a loss of a loved one is understandable. Docs will deter from high-risk and complex cases which eventually lead to a vicious cycle of increased mortality and morbidity and violence. ”