A physician is called to attend to his gravely ill friend. Will he tell his friend the truth?
narayan-short-stories_incl-The-Doctors-Word-pages-5827-33Narayan, The Doctor’s Word (with highlights)
Narayan, The Doctor’s Word (vocabulary)
Vocabulary Games
Crossword (nouns and adjectives)
Discussion Questions
- What does the title “The Doctor’s Word” mean to you after reading the story? Can you trust Dr. Raman’s word? Why or why not?
- What does “The Doctor’s Word” mean to Gopal? What does it mean to Dr. Raman? What about Gopal’s family?
- Under what circumstance is it best to lie to a patient and their family? Is it justifiable in this case for Dr. Raman to lie if he really believed his lie would save Gopal’s life?
- Why do you think does Dr. Raman find it so difficult to decide whether or not to tell Gopal the truth?
- Why doesn’t Dr. Raman want to tell Gopal’s wife the truth? As someone who cares about Gopal, arguably more so than Dr. Raman, why does he feel that she should not know the truth about the seriousness of her husband’s illness?
- Could Dr. Raman have saved other patients if he had resolved to hide the truth from them, as he did with Gopal?
- Dr. Raman seems to believe that Gopal will die, but risks Gopal’s family’s inheritance by telling him that he is going to live (22). Do you believe that this is ethical behavior? Is it ever ethical to go against a patient’s wish?
- Do you believe Dr. Raman’s decision to make Gopal believe he is not in mortal danger contributes to his eventual survival? Why or why not?
- Does the intent or the outcome of Dr. Raman’s lie matter more? Would the lie have been ethical or acceptable if Gopal had died, rather than if he had lived? Why or why not?
His friend’s doctor should be the one to tell him so most likely the physician wouldn’t especially knowing the medical fields laws.
What makes The Doctor’s Word by R.K. Narayan so powerful is that it tugs at the reader’s emotions; at least that’s what it did for me. My emotional state was conflicted throughout this tale. The first time was, in the beginning, when I found out the doctor’s patient was his own best friend. I reflected on how I would feel if my best friend’s life was in my hands. I don’t think I would know what to do or handle it with composure. I was next conflicted at the practices that the doctor used. Were the doctor’s practices ethical? Do ethics matter when someone’s life is on the line, and is it okay to break those ethics to save someone? I found myself questioning what the doctor did, both agreeing with him and disagreeing with him at the same time.