“I do not want to die with my legs open and my hands in the air.”

Over the past few months we have been faced with an absolute national crisis. According to a 2018 Crime Against Women in South Africa Report by Statistics SA, a woman is murdered every three hours. More or less 3,000 women were murdered 2018, this constitutes to one murder every 3 hours – which is more than five times higher than the global average, according to the World Health Organisation. South Africa’s rape statistics are double the country’s murder rate over this (275 day) period with 53.8 cases per 100,000 people in the country. This equates to one person getting raped every 13 minutes, Writer,(2019).

These shocking statistics brings me back to one of my blocks where I was exposed to a story of brutal agony.

I was given a patient, A young girl only 17 years old. The referral stated she needed assistance with ROM and passive stretching as well as strengthening exercises. The referral also stated that she was wheelchair bound and had developed bilateral flexion contractures in her hamstrings.

Upon reading her file I noticed that she was HIV positive and suffered from severe depression. In my mind I thought to myself, how can a 17 year old already have gone through so much in her life to be diagnosed with severe depression?

Upon my first encounter with the young girl, she was lying in bed with her face covered. When I greeted her she just opened her face and looked at me. I went through her doctors notes and observed her actions whilst I was doing so.

At that moment a male nurse entered the room to check her vitals, he was also a student nurse and this was his first day working in this ward. When the girl saw him, she started trembling, tears streamed down her face as she resisted and pushed the nurse away, she started screaming with so much fear, the nurse was so shocked, he tried calming her down but the more he tried the more she shouted. She then looked at me with a dull, helpless expression and reached out her hand, “help” she uttered but the words could barely exit her mouth. I immediately ran to her, grabbed her hand and asked the nurse to come back later. As soon as he left she cried out “not again, Lord! Please, not again.”

I did not understand what she was talking about; I just remained quiet as I rubbed her hand.

She asked me if she could tell me something, at first I was hesitant because I knew if it was a serious issue I would have to report it. I explained to her that I would have to tell a grown up if it was serious, she hesitated at first but eventually she started speaking.

This girl was at this exact hospital, 2 years ago, after she was raped and nearly stoned to death paralysing her from her hips down. She was in a wheelchair ever since, and to make matters worse, thereafter she was diagnosed HIV+ .

This traumatic event led to her resenting all men “He was a man in my community, when I told my mom who it was she did not believe me, she told me I was lying.” Once she was discharged her aunt took her in, she did not want to attend any of her Doctors appointments in fear of being treated by a male, she did not attend physio – she did not want to be touched. She hated her stay in the hospital, the nurses washed her and she felt uncomfortable, even though she pleaded to be left alone, they washed her anyway.

As she was speaking she grabbed my hand even tighter and stared into a blank space with tears pouring out, she was shaking as she spoke, and the words were barely clear. “I just can’t go through it again, my life is ruined.”

I asked her if she had told the nursing staff about how she feels and that she would prefer a female nurse. She spoke to them and told them, they knew why she felt that way, yet the male nurse still came to see her. “They don’t understand my fear; they think I am over reacting”.

At that moment I felt so helpless, angry, disgusted. How could a man do this to her, why would the hospital allow a male to still see her despite her trauma, despite her fears? Why would they violate her rights like that? Her rights to safety; to choice?

According to the patients’ rights charter, all patients have the right to a safe and healthy environment that will ensure their physical and mental health or well-being, the right to special needs care, especially newborn infants, children, pregnant women, the aged, disabled persons, patients with chronic pain, people living with HIV/AIDS, as well as the right to Choose their own health care provider or health facility, Refuse treatment verbally or in writing. As seen above, more than one of the patients’ rights was being violated. Although it might not have been on purpose, the hospital staff could have taken better care to ensure that the patients’ rights are respected, by informing the student beforehand or even placing a notice on the door or above her bedside.

As the conversation was ending, she told me that was planning on becoming a chef, she had dreams, she wanted to build a better life for her mother, and for herself. “I wanted to be great, not die at the hands of that man. I am dead, he took everything!”

https://www.instagram.com/p/B2AEZH8HBtQ/ 

After speaking to the girl, I immediately went to speak to the nurse, the staff knew exactly what she was going through, the social worker was also present and claimed that her case is still in process and I should not get involved. The sister in charge assured me that more will be done to prevent this from happening, this nurse was new and he did not know he shouldn’t see her. The student nurse was then called in and explained that due to personal reasons he should no longer see the patient.

Although the student nurse also has the right to learn, as he is at a teaching hospital, he understood that this was still possible upon seeing other patients in the hospital. He did not in any way feel disadvantaged and he understood that patients have the right to choice.

Research has shown that nursing is still a female dominated profession, and although the hospital was short staffed there are still more female nurses employed than male nurses, thereby making it nearly impossible to say that there are no female nurses that could have seen the patient instead of the male. (Buthelezi, Fakude, Martin & Daniels, 2015)

I still could not get over what had happened; I could not erase the pain in her eyes, the fear, the trembling, the anger. I could not even imagine what that young girl was going through, and all I could do was say “I’m sorry”.

Thousands of women are raped, killed, kidnapped, and assaulted by men. It is time that we as health professionals take a stand to help protect our women. We are more than capable of doing something about it; it is time we take a stand.

#HandsOffOurWomen

https://web.facebook.com/groups/412764729350710/

Reference list

Permission was obtained from Jesme Swartz for the use of her instagram video post

Permission was obtained from the “SA women fights back” facebook page for advertisement of their facebook link

Buthelezi, Sibusiso F., Fakude, Lorrain P., Martin, Penny D., & Daniels, Felicity M.. (2015). Clinical learning experiences of male nursing students in a Bachelor of Nursing programme: Strategies to overcome challenges. Curationis, 38(2), 1-7. https://dx.doi.org/10.4102/CURATIONIS.V38I2.1517

Crime stats revisited: Murder, rape and violent crime – these are the numbers. (2019). Retrieved 16 September 2019, from https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2019-09-10-crime-stats-revisited-murder-rape-and-violent-crime-these-are-the-numbers/

Here’s What You Need to Know About the Patients’ Rights Charter. (2015). Retrieved 29 September 2019, from https://www.westerncape.gov.za/general-publication/heres-what-you-need-know-about-patients’-rights-charter

Writer, S. (2019). The shocking truth about rape in South Africa. Retrieved 16 September 2019, from https://businesstech.co.za/news/general/163503/the-shocking-truth-about-rape-in-south-africa/