To paraphrase another man caught in another tragedy, if Dr. Suresh Katakkar committed a grievous fault, than grievously he has answered for it.
And it is possible the former chief oncologist of the BC Cancer Agency for the North is an irresponsible quack who flouted convention, common sense and proper protocol so he could use his patients as his personal petri dishes for whatever bizarre therapy struck his fancy.
But, from the limited picture we have of the final days of Dr. Katakkar`s career in this community and province, from the words of colleagues, his patients and their family, such a judgment would be wrong. Instead his story appears to be one common of most tragedies, of a good, well-intentioned man trapped, then crushed, by circumstance and principle.
The story so far is this: according to his patients, Dr. Katakkar is a gifted, devoted physician who has the talent and will to access the latest in cancer treatments. His skills and those techniques were sometimes in advance of the legal, political, and administrative rules even doctors must abide by. That gap - between what Dr. Katakkar knew he could do and what the authority he answered to, the B.C. Cancer Agency, allowed him to do - is where it appears he fell.
Now, quoting the Hippocratic Oath to medical practitioners is a writer`s charlatan trick, but, nevertheless, the modern version of the pledge doctors ostensibly follow says ``I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures that are required... `` Yet, in the case of one patient, Holly Hill, the rules of the BCCA may have clashed with that pledge.
Hill, a 33-year-old woman, had an advanced case of cancer. According to a letter Katakkar sent to his patients, he seems to have first clashed with BCCA rules regarding chemotherapy - she didn`t respond to a regime of drugs, he tried a different set of medications that weren`t approved by the agency after being denied permission to do so.
Hill got worse. So Dr. Katakkar, with the consent of Hill and her family, including her father,Jay, a former area Tory MP, they tried an even more radical course: a vaccine created from the patient`s own fluids that Dr. Katakkar had created from his research in the States.
Naturally BCCA regulation frown upon doctors using such experimental procedures and for good reason. Dr. Katakkar knew this, knew the risk to his reputation and his livelihood, but went ahead because he didn`t want to tell the Hills there was nothing that could be done when something could.
That`s why the quack theory is probably wrong. The main motivation for Dr. Katakkar`s actions wasn`t money or fame; indeed he gambled what modest amounts of those he had for little else but the hope his radical treatment would work.
It didn`t. Hill responded to the vaccine but her body was weakened by the chemotherapy and she died of a blood infection. Dr. Katakkar`s superior reported him, according to the letter, and the BCCA launched an investigation.
Again, Dr. Katakkar could have stayed silent and probably could have slipped to another practice somewhere should the BCCA found him at fault. But, instead, he resigned so he could speak to his patients about Holly Hill, something he couldn't do as an employee of the BCCA.
It is an intensely sad affair - a young woman dead, a doctor`s career in tatters and the future of cancer treatement both in Prince George and northern B.C. under a cloud even as it starts a new chapter with the opening of a new multi-million dollar facility.
Now the BCCA is not the villian in this piece - it`s trapped just as much as Dr. Katakkar insofar it can`t ignore his actions and has to sanction him somehow. So grieviously he has committed his fault and grieviously he was answered for it.
So, like any tragedy, everybody`s the audience because everybody`s hands are tied as they watch a good man wronged for all the right reasons. And it seems like such a waste. Because, by all accounts, Dr. Katakkar is a person who was willing to sacrifice his practice and future in this city on the chance he could save Holly Hill`s life.
That sounds like a doctor who should be involved cancer treatment in Prince George.
One wonders if the BCCA can find someone with the mixture of commitment, courage, and skills to replace Dr. Katakkar. Instead, they should follow his example: untie their hands, open their eyes, damn the consequences and find a way to do the right thing.
Convincing the man to take his job back would be a good start.
