My mum went into hospital five weeks ago with terrible neck pain. It turned out that, despite complaining of neck pain when she had a fall in July which broke a bone in her foot, she'd also cracked a vertebra which was never investigated or discovered. We were told she could leave on Friday that week; it took until the following Wednesday to get anyone to take a decision. Nurses were sent to change mum's neck brace, until after a few days one came in who admitted she didn't know what to do and took five goes to get it right, and the following day after consulting with the specialists they decided they should never have been doing it in the first place.
I and my sister wanted to write to the hospital pointing out how unsatisfactory this all was, but Mum will not hear of it. 'I could have claimed a lot of money off people over the years', she says. There was the time she was overdosed with gold for her arthritis and had such a severe reaction she might have died. There was the unguarded roadwork hole she fell into, breaking a hip. There was the time she went into the same hospital in question for two knee operations, was told to stop making a fuss when she screamed with pain trying to walk, and was left for two hours on a commode despite calling for help. (We could add the birth of my sister's second child when she was cut without anaesthetic despite having an artificial heart valve which the officiating doctor seemed completely unaware of - the midwife practically begged her to lodge a complaint but she refused.) 'But I asked God to help me and he did. Complaining may make *you* feel better, but nobody will do anything. Those people were only doing their job, and even if they behaved badly it won't change. Everyone just closes ranks'.
St Teresa of Avila wrote that whenever she obeyed her superiors despite believing they were wrong, somehow the situation changed and things turned out how she wanted; it was only when she was assertive that she failed to get her own way. I can't just dismiss the idea that perhaps God rewards submissiveness and the refusal to 'stand up for oneself'. My instinct is that 'if you don't complain things never improve', but do things ever improve through complaining? Professional people will always make mistakes no matter how well-intentioned they are, and even if you got the ill-intentioned people sacked they would only be replaced by the same mixture of good and bad apples. It's only when you are in a position to affect policy that this kind of information could make a difference.
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I think there is a huge difference between complaining and sueing and the attitude of both. One can complain without aggression or anger, but with a motivation that is holy and pure.
ReplyDeleteSurely it is the responsibility of the patient/family to report back on care received (or not). This evaluation process not only allows for people to improve their service, but to ensure, in this case, that the same thing doesn't happen again albeit to someone else.
Accepting that nothing is done following the mention, I would have thought, is more in line with ST Teresa's teaching than not saying anything at all.
Complaining sensibly isn't ever about making anyone feel better, but is a way to improve service, once you have said something at least then you can sit back and watch nothing happen, but it is rather fatalistic to assume no-one will do anything, after all, we are vessles of God and I suspect a letter from a human would be a bit easier to stomach than a thunderbolt from God?
The people weren't doing their job, and sometimes being told something, even if it is obvious, can help someone improve themselves.