The physician should not treat the

disease but the patient who is suffering

from it. — Maimonides

There is a peculiar vulnerability that shadows old age — not merely of the body, but of trust. At seventy-seven, I entered a teaching hospital in Karachi, one of reasonable repute, for a procedure that promised relief. The head of the urology department came recommended from multiple quarters, and I placed my faith in that chorus of endorsements. The surgery in question — TURP, for an enlarged prostate — is considered routine, even exemplary, in medical circles. But for someone whose days are measured more by comfort than ambition, it proved to be a monumental ordeal.

I was asked to pay the anticipated bill in advance — a crude gesture that felt less like........

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