Band Day, Bad Day (Part II)
Came home tonight. Asked my mother how our servant was doing. (Check out http://numpanglewat.blogspot.com for a related entry, but it's in Indonesian).
We just found out last night that she might have a tumor in her uterus. But it had not been ascertain whether the tumor is dormant or malignant. I wish it's not a dangerous tumor. But there's also the possibility that it's a cancer. She had to be hospitalized today. One of my father's men is standing by at the hospital tonight (Ciptomangunkusumo Hospital), should something happen. Heard from my mom that she's lost a lot of blood. Mom had to go to the Office of Indonesian Red Cross to get some blood. For now, she's resting.
Hearing the story from my mom, there's a couple of thing that made me mad. When they (my mom and my servant) was in Husada, my servant came out of the doctor's room crying. She said that the doctor had insulted her by saying "Are you sure you want to be treated here? It's really expensive you know? How could you, a mere 'babu cuci' (basically harsh words to describe a servant, whose work usually involve washing/laundering clothes), could afford it?" This, of course, enraged my mom. When the doctor came out of her room, she approached her and asked her opinion. My mom deliberately used medical terms. When the doctor inquired how my mom knew such terms, my mom said she's a dentis so she was very familiar with medical terms. Only after that that the doctor's manner changed. She suggested that my servant should go to Tarakan Hospital where she could get a letter that could help her by lessening the treatment cost, and take that letter to Ciptomangunkusumo Hospital.
My poor servant got another insult when she got to RSCM (a well-known abbreviation for Ciptomangunkusumo Hospital). A nurse asked her why she transfered from Husada. She said that she couldn't afford the treatment cost there. The nurse said, "Oh, so you think that our treatment is not expensive? You're very much mistaken. Do you think that you, a servant, could afford it?" My mom defended my servant , saying that, "No matter. I can pay for it." My servantcould only say, "How could you not treat a sick person?"
It is well known here that medical treatments are not cheap. But what got me angry is that the psychological (or 'human') treatment they give to the patient. A servant is still a human, and that's not an excuse to treat them differently. At the very least, they could have chosen softer words, and not using insulting tone of voice. And aren't medical people supposed to know that psychological conditions could affect a person's biological condition? It is not becoming for a medical staff to use intimidating approaches like that.
Has money become more important than how we treat other human beings? I know that this also serves as a reminder for me not to forget how to treat other people, especially when it comes to financial matters.
It just angered me. Please, anyone, is there anything I could do about this besides writing this whole thing in my blog? Maybe write it up for 'Surat Pembaca' in Kompas (or Suara Pembaruan)? There must be so many cases of bad interpersonal treatment like this in the medical business, but I don't know whether anyone has spoken up yet against it. I don't know, I just feel like there's something we could do. At least to 'sting' these people a bit. Remind them that such behaviour is not acceptable, especially when dealing with people who are inflicted by life-threatening disease. I think any one of you would be hurt to see yourself or your loved ones being treated like this.
Well, at the very least, I hope this could serve as a reminder (for others, and especially for myself) not to lose sight on what's important in this life.
We just found out last night that she might have a tumor in her uterus. But it had not been ascertain whether the tumor is dormant or malignant. I wish it's not a dangerous tumor. But there's also the possibility that it's a cancer. She had to be hospitalized today. One of my father's men is standing by at the hospital tonight (Ciptomangunkusumo Hospital), should something happen. Heard from my mom that she's lost a lot of blood. Mom had to go to the Office of Indonesian Red Cross to get some blood. For now, she's resting.
Hearing the story from my mom, there's a couple of thing that made me mad. When they (my mom and my servant) was in Husada, my servant came out of the doctor's room crying. She said that the doctor had insulted her by saying "Are you sure you want to be treated here? It's really expensive you know? How could you, a mere 'babu cuci' (basically harsh words to describe a servant, whose work usually involve washing/laundering clothes), could afford it?" This, of course, enraged my mom. When the doctor came out of her room, she approached her and asked her opinion. My mom deliberately used medical terms. When the doctor inquired how my mom knew such terms, my mom said she's a dentis so she was very familiar with medical terms. Only after that that the doctor's manner changed. She suggested that my servant should go to Tarakan Hospital where she could get a letter that could help her by lessening the treatment cost, and take that letter to Ciptomangunkusumo Hospital.
My poor servant got another insult when she got to RSCM (a well-known abbreviation for Ciptomangunkusumo Hospital). A nurse asked her why she transfered from Husada. She said that she couldn't afford the treatment cost there. The nurse said, "Oh, so you think that our treatment is not expensive? You're very much mistaken. Do you think that you, a servant, could afford it?" My mom defended my servant , saying that, "No matter. I can pay for it." My servantcould only say, "How could you not treat a sick person?"
It is well known here that medical treatments are not cheap. But what got me angry is that the psychological (or 'human') treatment they give to the patient. A servant is still a human, and that's not an excuse to treat them differently. At the very least, they could have chosen softer words, and not using insulting tone of voice. And aren't medical people supposed to know that psychological conditions could affect a person's biological condition? It is not becoming for a medical staff to use intimidating approaches like that.
Has money become more important than how we treat other human beings? I know that this also serves as a reminder for me not to forget how to treat other people, especially when it comes to financial matters.
It just angered me. Please, anyone, is there anything I could do about this besides writing this whole thing in my blog? Maybe write it up for 'Surat Pembaca' in Kompas (or Suara Pembaruan)? There must be so many cases of bad interpersonal treatment like this in the medical business, but I don't know whether anyone has spoken up yet against it. I don't know, I just feel like there's something we could do. At least to 'sting' these people a bit. Remind them that such behaviour is not acceptable, especially when dealing with people who are inflicted by life-threatening disease. I think any one of you would be hurt to see yourself or your loved ones being treated like this.
Well, at the very least, I hope this could serve as a reminder (for others, and especially for myself) not to lose sight on what's important in this life.
1 Comments:
At 8:47 PM,
Anonymous said…
kalo gue, udah gue tampar kali 'rie tuh dokter!
Post a Comment
<< Home