Mr. 'X' is a friend of mine. He is educated, a rational human being. In practical aspects of things, he can be described as an averagely smart individual who can navigate in this complex world of ours without much fuss. He is not too naive or not overly endowed. All in all a general citizen.
.....Now, the dilemma faced by Mr. X that I am about to describe started a few months back, when his father Mr. Y suddenly fell sick. Mr. Y is an octogenarian biding his time among family & friends as a retired public servent. He is diabetic but otherwise of average health. One day, while playing with his grand son at home, Mr. Y felt a suddent but acute chest pain; he is not totally unknown to pains in this long life of his, but this was something different. He was left breathless by the sudden attack, and sweating profusely, clutching his chest, he almost fell to the ground. Fortunately, his son Mr. X was close by....
Once in the hospital, all the usual tests were duly completed. The doctors had no doubt that something serious was afoot concerning Mr. Y's heart. So, came the ECG, the EET, and the angiogram. To cut the long story short, doctors diagnosed 'angina' in two of the major arteries in his heart. Upto this point, everything was pretty straight forward!
...Mr X, now consults a number of heart specialists to find the right treatment for his ailing father. But, alas! specialists through at him a number of options-
He can either choose angioplast, which does not require a surgery, but is expensive and not sure to cure his father; or he can go for the major heart bypass surgery, which will almost definitely cure the heart condition but, itself is a risky procedure, and it does not help the fact that Mr. Y does want to face the horror of an open chest procedure; or there is yet another option called EECP, which is totally non-invasive and an exercise of the heart, but for which the efficacy is not proven.... Mr. X is in real dilemma... what to do or not to do or yet another option!
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