Crowd watches as man bleeds

I read the following article today
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/
Delhi_Crowd_watches_as_man_bleeds/articleshow/3112346.cms

Crowd watches as man bleeds
9 Jun 2008, 0424 hrs IST,Ashirbad S Raha,TNN
NEW DELHI: Yet again, Delhi lived up to its "callous" tag. A crowd stood watching as a 35-year-old accountant lay trapped and bleeding under an overturned auto for about 15 minutes at Mayur Vihar Phase II in east Delhi on Sunday morning. The auto had been hit by a speeding Maruti that had jumped the red light.

Finally, it fell upon other injured victims in the shared auto to pull the accountant, Praful Chandra Shrivastava, to safety. He was taken to the AIIMS trauma centre by a doctor of the hospital who was on his way to work. "The crowd had gathered minutes after the accident, but everyone chose to watch silently rather than offer a helping hand," said one of passengers of the auto who helped Shrivastava out.

Said Dr Anil Sharma, the AIIMS doctor who took the victim to hospital in his vehicle, "This is not the first time I have found an accident victim lying on the road unattended despite being surrounded by people." Sharma is an anaesthetist at the trauma centre. The condition of the injured is reported to be stable.

Praful Shrivastava, a resident of Ghaziabad who works as an accountant at a private firm in Mayur Vihar II, was on his way to Patparganj in east Delhi from Noida along with three other passengers when the accident took place.

"For us, Dr Sharma was a godsend. Had he not arrived at the right time, who knows what would have happened to Praful?" said Prabhash Srivastava, the victim's elder brother. In road accident cases, the initial "golden" hour is considered crucial in deciding the patient's fate.

This is the fourth time that Dr Anil Sharma, who is also vice-president of AIIMS Resident Doctors' Association, has brought an unattended accident victim to the hospital. "When people see accident victims on the road, they are bothered more about their car seat covers getting spoiled because of the blood. Would they react similarly if their own relative meet with an accident? It's a shame on our society if people chose to kill their conscience by shutting their eyes."

People also fear getting involved in legal tangles, Sharma said but added, "The bottomline is that saving a life should take precedence over anything else."
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News Item ends here

It is indeed sad to see a society which is slowly drifting aways from humanity. We were the torch bearers of a society which was known for being one large family. I remember couple of years back when I had a minor accident near CMH road in Bangalore, my 2 wheeler slipped and i feel down. I had some bruises. couple of nearby shop owners came running and helped me get on my foot. They stopped an auto ricksaw and helped me into the auto. The auto driver took me to CMH hospital. Helped me out of the auto. He did not charge anything for the drive to the hospital. This small incident had instilled in me, a hope, that humanity exists. But such incidents as above go on to prove again and again that we lack empathy.

But I think I know the reason why people do not help in such scenarios
(1) It might involve police (for what ever reason) and people may not want to go to a police station when the person is not your kin.
(2) One does not know the financial status of the guy who is lying on the ground. What if I have to pay for the charges and the injured guy is not able to pay me back ?
(3) No-body else is coming for help. Why should I take the initiative ?

I feel the following reasons stop people from helping others in such dire situations.
I hope and wish that people give their heart a chance to act in such situations rather than their mind to act.