When doctors stood witness to confessions of dying patients

When doctors stood witness to confessions of dying patients

Amrita.Didyala@timesgroup.com

Hyderabad:02.03.2021 

What is a dying person’s last wish? Doctors at Hyderabad’s Gandhi Hospital got unique insight into this painful aspect of the Covid-19 pandemic which completed one year on Tuesday.

It was on March 2, 2020 that Telangana had recorded its first Covid-19 case. With Gandhi Hospital becoming the nodal healthcare facility in Telangana for the pandemic, doctors here were witness to many of the nearly 2,000 deaths in the state. Before dying many of the patients confessed to the doctors their fears and disappointments and also expressed their last wishes which the doctors tried to fulfil, sometimes unsuccessfully.

In fact, a yearning to correct a wrong they had done to loved ones often occupied their minds on the deathbed. A 45-year-old patient who knew death was awaiting him told his doctor he had not spoken to his brother in 10 years after a tiff over property. “The night before he died, he confessed that he had done wrong by misappropriating property and wanted to hand over a portion to his brother. He requested me to find his brother, but we were unable to trace him despite all efforts,” said Dr M Raja Rao, superintendent Gandhi hospital adding that he had shed tears almost every day during the pandemic.

Another young couple which parted ways on a bitter note last year, lay in two different isolation wards in different cities, one dying and wanting to find the other. “The patient had felt it was his mistake and had ignored all attempts for a reconciliation. He wept bitterly requesting us to find his partner and let her know his feelings. He died before he could tell us how,” said a post-graduate doctor who heard the confession. He had also been requested by a few to help them slip out of the hospital to meet their families one last time. Most confessions circled around property, money transactions, sharing of responsibilities, ego clashes and ‘wrongdoings’ that were not specified. There were other last wishes too, which included their favourite food and even a sip of their favourite tipple. “A VIP patient, who never adjusted to the facilities in a government hospital, requested for exotic dishes that he was used to at parties and was craving for these after having plain food,” said Dr Ajay Kumar Joopaka, assistant professor of psychiatry. He added that for some who wanted to meet their families, the doctors made video calls. But during the end stages a few could not recognize their own families as they had developed psychosis and were away from reality.”

ONE LAST TIME: Most confessions circled around property, money transactions, sharing of responsibilities, ego clashes and ‘wrongdoings’ that were not specified. There were other last wishes too, which included their favourite food and even a sip of their favourite tipple