We have been hearing many incidents of callous medical behaviour over the past year in the country. The incidents that came to light were of the 7-year-old patient with dengue who was given a bill of Rs. 18 lakh. And the other one where a set of twins thought to be dead were dumped in a plastic bag but one baby turned out to be alive.
In another incident, a hospital in the United States has been caught dumping a patient out on the road. It was during the middle of the night while the city saw freezing temperatures.
The woman was only covered in a hospital gown and the temperature was -1 degree Celsius.
The incident was highlighted when Facebook user Imamu Baraka, a doctor of Healthcare Administration (DHA) student shared videos of the woman helplessly wandering the streets.
Imamu hurried up the sidewalk with a camera as four security guards walked passed him with an empty wheelchair after just having left the woman out in the cold. He screamed saying, “So wait, y’all just going to leave this lady out here with no clothes on?”
The video shows that the woman is still ill and also may have a speech impairment. The Facebook post has gone viral after it was posted on Wednesday. In his sorrowful post, he wrote,
“I just witnessed this with my own eyes. I had no choice but to give this young lady a voice in this moment.”
Imamu also called the hospital out for its blatant disregard for the patient’s health. He called them out for their hypocrisy in what they stand for and what they are actually doing. He said,
The incident is being called ‘patient dumping’ which is done with mentally ill patients who are either not insured or don’t have the money to take care of their medical expenses. However, it isn’t clear yet if this was the case this time.
According to the Washington Post, the hospital’s chief has pledged to investigate what he described as “a failure of basic compassion and empathy.”
Netizens have now raised their voices against this condemnable act.
1. It truly is a horror.
2. Is this what the world has become?
3. It was so heartbreaking.
It is extremely sad that hospitals are being so callous about human life. It’s almost as if there is no humanity left in the world. We hope that justice is served to the patient and maybe medical authorities become more sensitive about the lives they are handed over to care for.