Two Different Coins

By Rajiv Khandelwal

The Hospital staff

Had us sign a sheaf of sheets

                                             As waivers 

To absolve them 

Of any medical negligence

Whether intentional or not

With treatments or procedures 

That might result in death

On the operation table 

The young anaesthetist 

Queried us again 

Without quite saying it,

Whether we were sane enough

To truly grasp 

The possible consequences

In our grief-stricken state

When we firmly assented 

He forced us to pen the consent

In our words

So that later 

If any death occurs

We will not be able to say 

‘We did not understand what we had signed”

And later arrive 

With a dozen ruffians

Brandishing hockey sticks 

To vandalise the hospital

Or to assault the operating doctors 

Not fully grasping

The irony of their own procedure

That signing papers in India

And honoring those signatures

Were two different coins

That legal documents

Could not stop

What they truly feared

That if grief turned to rage

The papers would mean nothing

Legal recourse would come

Years too late

After the violence was done

By Rajiv Khandelwal