During one of my blocks I came across a patient who was willing enough to tell me her life story. The patient grew up in a rough environment where drugs and gangsterism ruled over the neighborhood. She and her 4 siblings were raised by their single mother and she never had the opportunity to finish school. During her teenage years, she could not fight the urge of partaking in drug activities, and at that point her life took a turn for the worst. A few years into her drug addiction she was raped and got pregnant. After the baby was born, the only thing she could see in him was the man who raped her. Anger turned into violence and one night she went over to the man’s house, who raped her, and set the house on fire, with him and her baby in it. She ended up killing both of them and is currently living out her sentence in prison. Our session ended up with the patient in tears, remorseful of what she did and not being able to turn back the clock. Her words at the end, “this too shall pass”, stuck with me for a while. These words immediately jumped into mind when I saw this mural (the storm always passes) on the Lentegeur Psychiatric Hospital one afternoon, during one of my clinical blocks.

During my encounter with this patient, I realized that as a health worker, we will come across a lot of different patient with different backgrounds and stories. During the session with the patient I first had a lot of mixed emotions, since this is not stories I hear every day, but immediately felt a sense of sympathy towards the patient. I knew that her background and what she had done in the past, should not play a role in the type and quality of treatment that she requires. At that point, she was just like the patients sitting next to her, waiting to be helped.

Working with patients with a criminal background should not influence your treatment towards them. Every person has the right to the best possible and equal health care. Although this patient took someone’s rights from them, I do not have the authority to take her rights from her (Miller, 2013). Social reasons also play a role in the health care system for inmates. The clear majority of inmates will return back into society when their sentences are over and proper health care assists their physical function. This makes reintegration process of ex-inmates back into society easier and helps them to partake in productive activities (Joseph, 2008).

Professionalism should also not be influenced by a patent’s background. Each patient deserves to be treated with respect no matter their age, race, gender or background. As a health worker respect and dignity should always be equal throughout your engagement with patients, since they deserve to be treated to the best of your ability (Millett, 2017) .

Although this patient was an inmate, she still deserved the best possible care at that time. I realised that we all face certain storms in our lives, some bigger than others, but that with the right mindset and courage to move forward, that the storm will always pass.

References:

Joseph, E. (2008). Why prisoners deserve health care. AMA Journal of ethics, Volume 10, Number 2: 113-115.

Miller, A. (2013). Providing principled health care in prison. 183-184.

Millett, R. (2017). Physio in prison: The inside story. Volume 23, Issue 6.