Health (s)care
I was in chinatown,SF on friday (trying to finish up some immigration medical requirements) and was hurrying up a street, when a woman from a temporarily parked car called out to me saying “excuse me, can you please help that man? He is trying to goto the doctor up the hill”.
I looked towards the direction she was pointing, and saw an old man who I had just passed by, with one arm resting on a pole, breathing heavy and looking distraught.
I turned around and went over to him and asked him if he was ok. The man looked a little dazed and confused and did not respond to me. His lips were dry and sore at the edges. I dont think he understood english very well. I asked him if he could walk, and again, no reply. He just stood there, breathing with his mouth open and staring straight ahead. I’ve never called 911, so I didnt know if I should. He didnt look like he was dying, but I’m no doctor to make that judgement either.
Soon another person who understood chinese came over and decided to help. He said that he would hold the man on one side if I could hold the other. He said something to the old man in chinese, and the old man mouthed a few words. The doctors office was about 30 steps up that slope. Together, we were slowly able to get the man to the waiting room and have him sit down.
I went upto the nurse/admin, who was looking at some paperwork, and told her about this man and that I wanted a glass of water for him. She told me to wait a minute, while she continued to read her paperwork. I was about to shout at her, but decided not to.
(I wonder if she was aware of the recent death of a woman in the emergency waiting room while everyone ignored her and her 911 call did not help either.)
Anyway, she got me a glass (a tiny tiny medicine cup) of water, which I gave to the old man. After a few minutes, when he looked better and I “assumed” he was in a place where he would be cared for, I left for my own lab appointment.
As I returned from the lab, about half an hour later, I decided to check if the old guy was attended to, and went into that doctor’s waiting room. the old man was still sitting in the same place, holding that now-empty cup of water, still not looking any better.
I went upto the nurse (who was looking busy) and waited a while for her to finish with her current patient before opening my mouth. As soon as I started speaking, she raised her hand and told me to wait. She was clearly not going to be disturbed, but I was clearly not going to let her ignore me. I told her, that all I wanted to know was if anyone had tended to the old man. So she asks me, “which old man?”
I pointed to him, sitting out in the waiting room, and she shouted something in chinese to him. He replied something in chinese and she told me that the doctor has already seen him and he can go. I wasnt convinced, but I thought that perhaps the old man did not have health insurance, and hence the neglect. I cant really force a doctor to diagnose a patient.
I asked her if anyone was coming to pick him up, because clearly, he couldnt make it alone. I asked her if she knew his emergency contact person details or if she had asked him for it. She looked at me as if this had never occured to her. Or maybe that was the look of “who the fuck are you to ask?”
She was also clearly getting tired of me, because it had become a bigger scene than she would have wanted. Realizing that I wasnt going to go anywhere until she had done something, she decided to shout across the hall to him and ask him.
Again, he mouthed a few words and she told me that someone was coming to pick him up. I didnt know what else to do (clearly calling 911 isnt going to help, is it?!), so I took her word for it, and told her that I was leaving, and that hopefully he will be taken care of.
I thanked her generously, not wanting any bad feelings to linger. She thanked me too, and I felt a sincere sense of caring that I had probably guilted her into. I left.
Now Im wondering if I did the right thing (which is?)
Initially, I had missed/ignored the old man huffing next to the pole, in my rush to get work done. I think a moral to this story is to be “present” and acknowledging of things that are happening around you.
I’m saddened by the total lack of humanity displayed by the nurse, and the doctor who was in the back, and watching this drama unfold in his waiting room.
Is there a medical ethics oath that doctors take? As engineers, we took an oath of ethics, and I am guessing other professional jobs have similar oaths.
I was glad about the woman in the car (who was aware of her surroundings and recognized the old man’s needs), and also glad for the other man who helped getting the old-man up the slope.
I think people can make a difference. If we can care for strangers and stand up for each other, maybe we can …
….guilt-trip the medics into taking care of the needy.
