Doctor caught ‘beating up patient’ reveals what caused argument

The Indian doctor accused of beating up a hospital patient has asked if he is supposed to ‘silently accept’ abuse just because he is a medic.

Dr Raghav Narula, a senior physician in the Pulmonary Medicine Department at Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC), Shimla, northern India, allegedly attacked the patient, named as Arjun Panwar, in an argument on the hospital ward.

The patient claimed he was assaulted after asking the medic to treat him with respect, alleging Dr Narula had been rude to him.

Video footage of the incident allegedly showed the doctor hitting the patient repeatedly while he lay in a hospital bed.

Dr Narula has now denied any wrongdoing and appealed for a fair hearing.

He said: ‘Yesterday, around 12 noon, a patient named Arjun Singh was admitted to our ward. As part of our routine procedure, whenever a new patient arrives, we review their previous medical records, X‑rays, and CT scans to decide the course of treatment.

‘In line with this process, I went to his bedside to examine his CT scan and speak with him. While I was reviewing the scan, I noticed he was on the phone. At that moment, I felt I had seen him before and thought he might have been admitted to our hospital earlier.

‘I simply asked him, “You [tu] look familiar. Were you admitted here before?”

‘This remark upset him. He suddenly became angry, started shouting loudly and objected to my use of the word “tu” (informal ‘you’ in Hindi/Urdu). He said, “How can you speak to me like that? Who are you to call me ‘tu’?”

‘I calmly explained that I had not spoken to him in a wrong manner, nor had I used a harsh tone or said anything offensive.’

Dr Narula said the patient continued shouting and questioned why the medic was speaking to him, adding that he then began using abusive language.

The doctor said the patient then asked him whether ‘you speak to your father this way?’ and claimed insulting remarks were made about his mother.

Dr Narula continued: ‘I have been working here as a doctor for the past eight years and have treated at least five to six thousand patients. Never has anyone spoken to me in this manner.

‘And tell me, what kind of doctor would simply walk up to a patient and start insulting them? If I had spoken rudely, used abusive words, shown arrogance, or used a wrong tone, then I would have been at fault.

‘But I did none of that. In fact, I was trying to calm him down and explain that the matter could be resolved through conversation. It was not a big issue at all.’

Dr Narula alleged that the patient then pushed him and tried to hit him with an IV stand near the bed.

The medic also accused him of kicking and punching him.

Dr Narula said: ‘We are being told that if a patient is mentally unstable, we cannot raise our hand or speak harshly. Fine. But if I had been injured, if I had bled, would that have been acceptable?

‘Does this mean patients can say anything to us, do anything to us, and they are always right, while doctors are always wrong?

‘If someone insults my parents, abuses me, pushes me, and physically attacks me… am I supposed to silently accept it just because I am a doctor? That is completely unfair.’

He continued: ‘I have seen thousands of patients and I have never encountered such behaviour, nor have my colleagues in other wards. What you all saw was only half the story.

‘In the middle of this incident, the patient called 200–250 people into the ward, creating chaos, breaking things, shouting and spreading fear.

‘The situation escalated to the point that my hand was fractured, and I am still suffering from back pain due to the push.

‘Afterwards, I had to wait in the same locked room for seven, eight hours just to receive first aid and medical clearance.

‘Is this acceptable? Should such an environment exist in a hospital for a doctor? Do we study for years, work tirelessly and spend sleepless nights treating patients only to be treated this way by them?’

The patient previously claimed the doctor questioned his admission status after undergoing a bronchoscopy and was struggling to breathe.

Mr Panwar alleged the medic started speaking to him in a rude tone without any provocation.

The patient said he complained about the doctor’s behaviour and an argument broke out.

‘I requested that he speak to me with respect but he became confrontational,’ he said.

Mr Panwar added: ‘When I asked if he spoke to his family in such a manner, he claimed I was getting “personal” and began hitting me.’

A large crowd gathered at the hospital following the confrontation to demand that action be taken against the accused doctor.

The hospital has now set up a three-person inquiry to investigate.

Dr Rahul Rao, medical superintendent of IGMC Shimla, said the committee will imminently submit a report, adding that a report against the doctor was also filed with police.

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