Broken

A woman named Esmin Green, a 49 year old woman with mental illness (and children and a family), died lying on the floor of a waiting room at Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, on June 18.  A lot has been said about the hospital, the callous employees, the tragedy of her death, the fact that she was black, Jamaican, immigrant and poor.  There’s a story and link to a video here.

The healthcare system is broken.  For a million reasons, it’s broken.  One of the more egregious reasons is the apathy of healthcare workers.  If I’m feeling charitable, I would call it compassion fatigue or burnout.  If not, I’d call it neglect or malice.  I’ve seen ER docs yell at “frequent fliers”, I’ve seen office receptionists snap at patients on the phone, I’ve seen pharmacists roll their eyes at elderly patients who have questions about their meds, I’ve seen nurses say to people “I can’t help you, go somewhere else”.  Healthcare workers act like they are under siege and threatened by the patients.  It’s got to stop.  If you find yourself getting irritable at the patients, stop.  If you yell at the patients, get out and don’t come back.

She died in a hospital, feet from “trained professionals”, noone to hold her hand, in God-knows-what kind of mental state.  It just makes me more tired to think about stuff like this.

~ by ashok on July 8, 2008.