The people attending a recent discussion on consumer experience organised by Worxwide Consulting would have been stunned had they known that Geetha Panda, who was on her feet constantly moving around had a partially prosthetic leg. I knew it and marvelled at the poise and quiet confidence with which she navigated the room. I have known Geetha, currently the COO of Karsun India Solutions, as a corporate leader who’s broken many glass ceilings. She was initially a client of our publishing company, and we developed a good rapport. Being single mothers was another bond.
We had met for lunch a couple of weeks before the event and being considerably shorter than me, she had to stretch upward to hug me. I joked about how she couldn’t reach me even on her high heels. She removed her left shoe, pulled up the leg of her jeans and pointed to her shin. “All this is cement”, she said. “Here, I can poke it with a fork and there’s no feeling”. It looked natural as her own skin had been used to cover up the prosthetic. To say I was gobsmacked would be an understatement. Geetha said it was a celebratory lunch as she had emerged after a three-year health journey that began with a misdiagnosed shin bone pain that led to multiple surgeries and consultations before she found successful treatment. The day her doctor told her she could wear her heels again was when she knew she would be fine.
She had begun experiencing throbbing pain on her shin bone and consulted an orthopaedic doctor who, despite her worsening pain and inability to walk, pronounced that nothing was wrong. He did not take an X-ray and prescribed a broad-based antibiotic which did not alleviate the pain. She sought a second opinion from another surgeon who diagnosed a lesion after an ultrasound. This surgeon broke the bone to remove the infection and applied antibiotic gel. Despite following recovery protocol and staying off her feet for 90 days, Geetha experienced chronic pain again, which the second surgeon dismissed.
Frustrated, she consulted an oncologist in the United States of America who said her bone was severely compromised and questioned why a needle biopsy wasn’t performed initially. Fortunately for her the treatment he suggested could be done back home in Bengaluru by a prominent orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Pramod Chinder. This specialist orthopaedic oncologist found a severe infection in Geetha’s shin and replaced the affected bone with prosthetic cement. Following the 12-hour surgery, Geetha was encouraged to walk the next day and she gradually regained full mobility without aids within two months. She was able to resume normal activities, including wearing high heels, with no pain or discomfort. While she continues treatment for osteomyelitis, she has chosen to keep the scar on her shin as a reminder of her resilience.
Hearing Geetha narrate the medical ordeal that she’s been through underlined the fact that if you ever need medical treatment you have to be lucky to get a doctor who really sees, hears, and treats you right. Geetha’s case resonated strongly with me as I recently went through a ridiculous experience with a male orthopaedic. I felt he didn’t pay attention when I described my issues as he had preconceived notions about my problem. A young woman once told me she consults female doctors as they’re more attuned to female patients. It made me reflect that while I have consulted gynaecologists, general physicians, paediatricians, dentists, dermatologists, and even physical therapists who are women, I haven’t encountered female orthopaedics. I couldn’t find any nearby when I searched. Is orthopaedics still a male dominated field?
A 2023 study published in the Indian Journal of Orthopaedics on found that ‘Orthopaedics, commonly referred to as an “old boys club”, has only 4% of female Orthopaedic surgeons in the US. The number of female orthopaedic surgeons in India is even fewer, trending at only 1%.’ I found an illuminating post by Dr Suchitra Gopinath, paediatric orthopaedic surgeon at Great Ormond Street Trust, the UK’s biggest children’s hospital. In response to a query on Quora, she wrote, “… there is a lot of resistance and prejudice attached to this field…A woman is still considered as a second choice. (A) lot of people imagine orthopaedics as a subject that needs brute force. I can’t help but pity their ignorance. The world is changing. Science is evolving at a pace we can’t even fathom. Yet, we are fondly living in a Neanderthal period of orthopaedics with a saw and hammer in hands waiting on a bone to crack…Advanced procedures like joint replacements, intra articular visualisation with an endoscope need fine hands. Finer calculations. Skilled mind and trained instincts. It comes by practice and experience. Not by gender. I stand with my hands steady and my mind free of doubt every single day. It might be a male dominated field, but I can assure you one thing, the place for a woman is no less in it. The field has changed already. Tomorrow the perception will change.’
I am not claiming all male doctors and surgeons are tone-deaf to female patients, but these experiences show male doctors and surgeons could be more open-minded. Patients are increasingly treated merely as customers and if we have to accept that, then we can rightfully insist on customer satisfaction.
Sandhya Mendonca, author, biographer, and publisher, casts a female gaze at the world in this column.