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Wounded by the lack of humanity
According to the woman, during this pandemic, we made all the medical heroes, we lift them into the shadows, but what happens behind closed doors will not be called heroism or the ability to show elemental human compassion.
“My mother was taken by ambulance because she couldn’t breathe due to shortness of breath (to the second level hospital in Vilnius – ed.). When I picked it up, I couldn’t believe it could be. In the hospital, she was outraged why He came without diapers, although he does not need diapers, he does not wear them. Water had accumulated in his lungs.
Until the water was cut, for her to put on diapers, and after the procedure, which, by the way, is painful, so keep that wet pampersu. Although they brought her in all night, none of the staff came in and offered to drink water, not even talking about food. For me, this is a manifestation of humanization. After all, all of these doctors have loved ones. Didn’t they think of them? Thought the interlocutor.
According to her, remote consultation is another mockery of a deaf, old and sick person. Therefore, she speaks for herself all the time, especially since, as her mother’s health deteriorated, she brought her home from the district city.
AFP / Scanpix photo / Woman talking on the phone
As long as the “patient’s” voice is vivid, mountains of gold are promised
“When I speak, I look healthy in my voice, so I speak to myself very happily. She urges him to come, to bring his mother, assures him that he will go to the hospital, he will do tests, he will treat him.
I pack things for my mother, I bring them and I say: this is not my patient, but my mother. Communication changes immediately. So while I was driving with my mother and her basket, so was I. No one knocked her down, although we did not turn to her, but because her health had deteriorated greatly.
She did the promised research for her, but after that, unlike talking on the phone, she sent her barely alive and stifled: Let’s go home while we wait for the results. I have the impression that the old man is not even trying to heal: you see, the old man cannot bear any treatment.
But this does not mean that the human condition cannot be alleviated: it is possible to administer oxygen, inject vasodilators, painkillers. We do not have an oxygen machine at home. Sure, I can buy it, but I need to know what it takes to be able to use it, so I still need medical advice. Another thing that his research is not complete is that water accumulates in the lungs, but the cause has not been determined.
Now that real help is really needed, I have no idea where those bed days and taxes are falling and where the Hippocratic medical oath is. The woman asked.
So you bring a landlord home and what can you do? Feeding, lying down or planting and painfully watching. Nothing else. I never worried about my mother, she only stayed in the hospital when she gave birth to us with her sister. She really didn’t use her bed days and paid taxes her whole life. I myself also teach them by working various jobs. And now that real help is really needed, I have no idea where those bed days and taxes are falling and where the Hippocrates of the doctors are, ”the woman asked.
Erika lives on the third floor, where climbing her suffocated mother is a real challenge. Sometimes this can take half an hour. Therefore, there can be no doubt that she will be transported to a polyclinic for procedures to alleviate her condition. The only way out is to hire a nurse yourself.
“Didn’t she win, after paying her taxes for life, those few days in the hospital to inject medication and calmly, without stress, did she investigate? Then I wouldn’t have to walk that far. When I talk to the doctors on the phone, I explain everything perfectly, they tell me what kind of research is needed, references, what to do, promise to accept, etc.
If I were the patient, I would receive everything promised from the communication, as I understand it. But when I see my mother, the promises end. My mother at least has loved ones. What if the old man is alone and lives somewhere in the village? He is simply left to die because only general and formal things can be learned through remote consultation. How will you go to the doctor or go to a bigger city because you haven’t finished in your city? Erika said.
Didn’t she deserve, after paying taxes all her life, those few days in the hospital to inject medication and calmly, without stress, to investigate?
The biggest problem is home services.
President of the Board of the Lithuanian Patient Forum Ieva Drėgvienė is convinced that there is no age discrimination in the treatment of cancer diseases. Although there has recently been a growing trend that if treatment can do more harm than good, it is not prescribed, but efforts are being made to improve the patient’s condition by other means.
“Other illnesses actually make us hear similar stories at times. In my opinion, it mainly depends on the doctor the person is going to, how much they are willing to help and how active their loved ones are in this process. It is also important if the patient willing to accept help. Sometimes loved ones bring a really serious patient and expect something to be done for him. But the doctors talk to the patient, who refuses to receive treatment and asks to be left at home where he is. Feel better.
Photo by J.Kunigiškytė / Ieva Drėgvienė
With home services and it is the biggest problem. Also, providing information to loved ones, for whom it is very important to know how to care for and help your grandfather, receives very little information. You can understand the doctors they are busy with, but this information is vital. I fully understand the fear of loved ones when you bring a seriously ill person home, see how they are suffering, and don’t know how to help and what to do. In my opinion, the chain of family doctors is also not working in this place.
Another important thing missing is the services of home medical staff. For example, a patient suffers from pain, has difficulty moving and going to the outpatient clinic on his own, and the number of times a nurse can see him is very limited, although the nurse must periodically take him home for testing. of blood to adjust the treatment. However, there is a lack of doctors, a lack of nurses, a lack of money, so a closed circle is formed, “said the interlocutor.
According to her, some relatives could pay for such services, but not even that opportunity. It is very expensive or free but it is not available.
“One could think of some kind of partial, intermediate compensation for these services. I think many loved ones could really contribute. However, it is not allowed as it discriminates against those who will not be able to contribute. No one receives services that way,” he said. the patient’s representative.
Quarantine opened the wounds of society
According to the chief researcher of the Institute of Sociology, deputy director of administrative affairs and development dr. Sarmitė Mikulionienė, 15min of life The event described by the interlocutor is a clear manifestation of age discrimination when deciding whether treatment is worthwhile depending on the age of the patient.
According to the sociologist, there has not been an exhaustive investigation in the medical community because it is relatively closed and difficult to admit someone from the country, but some small studies, as well as the personal experiences of each one of us, provide a basis to talk about the age discrimination in the health care system. when doctors decide for themselves or internal patterns circulate that restrict services to the elderly.
Is it normal that we have locked older people between four walls and that we already feel cared for their safety?
The Ombudsman’s Office for Equal Opportunities, for example, has received complaints about preventive screening programs that suddenly end at the age of 74, although older people are fewer, so their services don’t really require much. money.
“I would like to point out that during the pandemic and the coronavirus quarantine, older people are at an even higher risk of being excluded in various areas, starting with social ties to loved ones. There has always been a misrepresentation of the need to respect social distance, when in reality only physical distance is needed, and social solidarity only needs to be strengthened. Is it normal that we have locked older people between four walls and that we already feel cared for their safety?
Yes, because of the virus, they are safe, but when they die from loneliness, they no longer care. They don’t care about their spiritual or social status, nor the amount of information they get. Let us remember our own condition in the first days of quarantine. After all, we all feel a little confused, not knowing what would happen next. It was even more difficult for older people to catch up. As a result, they felt even more lonely and abandoned, riddled with justified and unfounded fear. It is good that there have been initiatives and civic organizations that have contacted them, but certainly not all older people have received that help.
In Italy, where the situation was particularly difficult, there were even cases of overt discrimination. When there were not enough doctors or places in hospitals, there were actually attempts to classify patients by age, which caused outrage among researchers and public organizations, “said the interlocutor.
Age discrimination remains the norm
According to S. Mikulionienė, although it seems understandable that an older person has the same rights to health, life, treatment and care as anyone else, and no one can decide who has the right to live and receive treatment, and who does not. The need to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Elderly has been debated worldwide for the third decade, as discriminatory treatment of old age is entrenched. And with the pandemic, the conditions arose for it to take root and spread further.
Age discrimination is the most common in our society, but we are so used to it that we don’t even realize it.
“There is already talk that during quarantine there may be an increase in deaths from other diseases, because people simply did not go to specialists, they did not have access to them.” After all, not everyone has such active relatives. Great care must be taken not to establish the rule that older people in the health sector are undesirable for one reason or another. If a person suffers a lot, they have the right to receive the treatment available in this country, “urged the sociologist.
As for the attitude in society that older people are not treated or treated with less care than younger people, according to S. Mikulionienė, it should be mentioned that two extremes intertwine here. On the one hand, doctors too often hear unfounded expectations when a person has five chronic illnesses and awaits treatment that makes them feel healthy. In this case, the person must take responsibility for himself, but for that, of course, he must be able to control himself and control his disease.
Doctors, on the other hand, sometimes abuse of not providing services because they have a preconceived notion that an older person complains unnecessarily. And unfortunately, there are sociological studies showing that doctors treat patients of different ages with the same chronic disease differently. So this is not just a problem for Lithuania, but for the whole world.
“However, I am glad that there are already people in Lithuania who notice that something is wrong. Okay, each of us in our old age would not want to experience such discrimination, so we should look at older people not as a burden, but as equal members of society. There is a good example.
If you are trying to discriminate based on age, try putting gender or race in there. Would a doctor ever say that there is a woman here so we don’t give her one treatment or another? But it says so about age. By the way, age discrimination is the most common in our society, but we are so used to it that we don’t even realize it, ”summarized the interviewee.
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