The Day a Doctor both saved my life and Almost killed me.

Dramatic Headline I know :P , but if you have been wondering where I was since the past month and why the posts have been all over the place, here is what was happening :

Not wedding related, totally a personal experience of my life, will in no way help you plan for your wedding, but might help you make an informed decision about if you should or should not avoid a certain Doctor. 


2nd June, 2014.

I had gone to the hospital for a regular checkup, I didn't know if it was something major or not, I just knew something was not quite correct. I was feverish for many days, A couple of days ago I had the worst stomach ache EVER. Everyone in the family thought it was some kind of flu, so me and my husband decided to book an appointment, I didn't tell my mom because I knew she would be super worried.

So there I was booking an appointment and the only doctor available was Dr. Meeta Sarkar, I had no idea who she was, so I googled her, although she later claimed that she has millions of good reviews online, on that particular day I only found one good review and the rest were bad....REALLY bad, about how rude she was, and how she screamed at a patient, etc. etc. I don't want to go into details, because I don't want to de-fame her, I just want to mention about MY experience with her.

Picture taken from MAX Hospital Website.

So even though I had been pre-warned about her via online comments I decided to go ahead with the appointment I mean, what could go wrong, it was just a general checkup right!?

Boy was I wrong.....soooo wrong...


I was just about to leave the hospital when Dr. Meeta Sarkar FINALLY arrived 1.5 hours late for our appointment, unfortunately for that entire agonizing time of 1.5 hours nobody at the MAX Hospital, Panchsheel could reach her to find out where she was.

So when I finally got to met the 'much awaited' doctor we found out that something was not really 'ok' with me. I had internal bleeding and had lost around 1L of blood already. Some Doctor told me later our bodies have around 4-5L of blood normally, so that means I was already in deep trouble.

Now up until then I wasn't feeling anything wrong or anything out of place, just feverish. Ofcourse in reality it was kind of an emergency and immediate actions were called for, which is exactly what Dr. Meeta Sarkar did, and I am extremely Thankful for that, I can not stress that enough! But the reason I regret going to her is the method she applied to break this news to me.

The minute she found out, she started screaming at me, about all the wrong things I may or may not have done, and how my life was in danger, and how I was stupid enough to not coming in before, after hearing the doctor go so hysterical about the whole situation I went into shock, my blood pressure dropped and my hands and feet went cold.

Now it is easy to say that I was already loosing blood minute by minute and it was probably the result of that, that is atleast what Dr. Meeta Sarkar describes it as, well maybe she is correct, but darling I was loosing blood since a week, nothing happened to me till you shouted at me.

I remember it really clearly, I mean how can anyone forget something like that. I remember her shouting and I remember me feeling as if someone is gripping my heart, I remember her telling me how my life was in danger and I remember me trying to tell her that I am feeling like I am about to faint, just to make her stop talking. I could feel my heart slowing down with her words.

Am I exaggerating here? No.

I am telling you what I felt, if you have read this blog enough you would know when I write I write from the heart, even now when I write this I can still feel the muscles around my heart tightening. (You know the sinking feeling you get when you are extremely sad, that pain in the heart, that kind) That is what she put me through.

I do not wish to de-fame her in any way possible! I am sure she is an excellent doctor, but the experience I had with her I do not wish it on anyone.

Post that 'Drama' in her cubical, I was quickly transported from MAX Panchsheel to MAX Saket, while that was happening my husband called up my parents and in-laws to meet us at Saket asap!

Now I speak to you, and you girls alone, I hope nothing ever happens to any of you and I hope that with all the power that I have, but if something was to go wrong, won't your parents want the best doctors they can provide to treat you, won't they want to know what is wrong with there little baby? I mean come on parents get hyper when there kids have even the slightest of cold, do you not expect parents to get worried when their angel is sick!?!?

Well my parents did the best they could and contacted the best doctor for my operation, thankfully my Tauji is a Doctor and knows a lot of specialist. Meanwhile I got transported to Saket, upon reaching there I was send to the ICU, my parents had reached there and my mother accompanied me inside. When Dr. Meeta Sarkar arrived my mother asked her "whats wrong with my daugther, whats happening?" A valid question I would think because the last time my mother had talked to me I was discussing if I should order a pizza or not.

To which Dr. Meeta Sarkar screamed at my mother right in front of me that how many times does she have to explain it to people. I was a bit weak at that moment and being held down by a lot of tubes and needles otherwise I would have certainly shouted "About a million times, if my mother asks you what is wrong with me, you tell her what is wrong with me"

Now lets go back in time a bit, so how many people did Dr. Meeta Sarkar actually tell what is wrong with me :

a) Me, the patient, remember how I went into shock.
b) My husband, who although married, in reality is still a kid, neither of us are really old enough to understand medical issues. (and well he was sitting next to me, so she kind of told both of us together)
c) My Father-in-Law, he was the first to reach us and Dr. Meeta Sarkar didn't really talk to him much
d) My Dad, so he could call the right doctor to attend to me.
e) The Right Doctor, well if he was going to do an operation on me, he needs a first hand review on whats wrong with me.

and the last one was my mother.

Now ok, lets take her side and say these are a lot of people to talk to, I mean telling 5 people about whats wrong with me is a LOT of work. Maybe she is not use to seeing so many people concerned about someone, but really YOU tell me was any of these conversations unnecessary?!

Was is wrong for my Dad and Father-in-law to understand whats going on in order to provide me with the best health care facility or was it wrong on the other doctors part to call up and understand what is wrong with the patient he is about to operate upon.

or was it wrong for my mother to ask Dr. Meeta Sarkar, after all maybe something 'womenly' was wrong with me that it couldn't be discussed openly with both my fathers.

Lets take her side, maybe it was 'wrong' of my parents to get all worried after all MAX is an excellent hospital, but shouldn't she have handled the situation a little more calmly, she could have told them calmly to please wait, or she could have briefed a nurse who could have further informed all my family members.

Shouldn't there have been a way to get information across, I did meet other doctors, and they were very good with there words, very calmly told my parents to not to worry, they understood the situation and handled it beautifully, but I had the misfortune of being a patient of a doctor who didn't like to talk.(I guess)

I don't know for sure but I heard that Dr. Meeta Sarkar got even more hysterical once she found out that we did not want her to operate me and we were calling in some other doctor.

Girls, I wasn't even a teensy bit afraid during the whole situation, the ONLY thing that was worrying me was the fact that Dr. Meeta Sarkar might do a surgery on me, and THAT scared me to death. I don't care even if any doctor less qualified than her might have performed that surgery because if nothing else I would at least not have any mental stress.

Finally the doctor my parents had called arrived just in time and I had a successful surgery by one of the best doctors Dr. Dash. (ye!) .

Now while all this was happening some fight apparently took place between Dr. Sarkar and my mother, I do not know the details but I do understand why my mother was upset with Dr. Meeta Sarkar, I mean I am sure most mothers would be. Dr. Meeta Sarkar was also upset that we called in Dr. Dash, and wanted to get the operation done by him and not her. But hey, I wasn't present there so lets not go into details because I do not know and I don't want to make up stories, or tell you something that I heard from someone else.

So post operation my little one day stay at the hospital was kind of enjoyable, I mean as enjoyable as hospitals can get and I had a speedy recovery! (ye!)

The rest of the hospital staff was excellent and beyond helpful! So would I recommend MAX Hopital to anyone, well up until yesterday I might have.

I went today to meet Dr. Meeta Sarkar to get a certificate for some insurance work, I had earlier thought I would complain and write a post about her, but I hadn't because its ok, the situation was such that its ok for people to get hyper and over-excited about thing, so I let it go.

However Dr. Meeta Sarkar surly holds a grudge against me, and as soon as she remembered who I was she started to give snide comments on how rude my mother was, or how my family troubled her for information.....errr....what!?  She said that in her 32years of career she has never faced such a family.

Hmm.....really?! I refuse to believe that you have never faced a family who cared about their daughter, my main readers are girls, and girls can you vouch for me that your family would be equally worried about you if you ever fell sick?  

I finally decide to complain about her, because enough is enough, I called up Max Helpline, and talked to someone named Nancy, who couldn't find anyone to whom I could register a complaint, and promised that I will get a call back asap. This was at 3pm.

I called back again now at 5pm and was finally put across to Dr. Nalini Kaul, who listened to my entire endeavor and ensured me that she shall speak to Dr. Meeta Sarkar regarding this case. She also assured me that I shall not face such a 'drama' next time I was at MAX.

Do I ever want to go back to MAX?? hmmmm.... well the rest of the doctors and nurse were excellent and extremely helpful and nice! But because MAX is associated with such a doctor as Dr. Meeta Sarkar, No I will NOT go back and neither will I recommend ANYONE to go.

This is my personal experience and my personal views only! I do not wish to de-fame any doctor or hospital using this blog, all I want is for my readers to be able to make an informed choice!


Regards
Roli Gaur Vashisht
Crazy Indian Wedding


Here are some links to what other people had to say about Dr. Meeta Sarkar, both good and bad:

http://www.justdial.com/Delhi/dr-meeta-sarkar-%3Cnear%3E-Panchshila-Park/011PXX11-XX11-100429153237-W1B1_BZDET

http://www.ratemds.com/doctor-ratings/3746485/Dr-Meeta-Sarkar-Delhi-DL.html
(the first comment on this link above, OMG, I just read it and it sounds like this poor girl had the same experience as I did)


 I can't find any other links with reviews on them, although Dr. Meeta Sarkar did say to me today about how there are millions of good reviews online about her...hmmm.....wonder where they are :/