Disgruntled mother complains of apathetic hospital staff

Junaidah Harun expressed grave concern and sheer disappointment over the unprofessional attitudes of a private hospital staff who attended to her son in Pasir Gudang, here, recently.

The 45 year old mother alleged that her 23 year old son, Mohd Idrezza Isa who was involved in a traffic accident was accused of being drunk by the attending doctor in the presence of two nurses.

Relating the incident, she said, her son was involved in a traffic accident on last January 26, at about 9.00pm in Taman Scientex, Pasir Gudang and shortly after was rushed to a private hospital for medical treatment.

Junaidah revealed that she found the attending doctor and another two nurses were most unfriendly and rude.

She said, the attending doctor told her that her son suffered some minor injury only and can be discharged even when Idrezza continuously vomitted with a bleeding nose.

The doctor then said to me that my son was drunk in the presence of two other nurses.

Junaidah refuted the remark made by the doctor about her son drunk condition and rebutted by saying that ‘I know my son better than anybody else as my son doesn’t drink or smoke.’

She then continued and said, even assuming that if my son is drunk, there is no reason for the two nurses to raise their voice at us.

Fearing for the safety of my son, Junaidah said, she rushed her son to the Sultan Ismail hospital (a government hospital) in Taman Mount Austin at around 10.00pm to seek medical attention.

“True to my belief, the attending doctor in Sultan Ismail hospital (a government hospital) confirmed that my son is not drunk and has internal bleeding probably caused by a brain concussion,” she added.

My son was warded for three days for medical observation in Sultan Ismail hospital before being transferred to the Sultanah Aminah general hospital after experiencing memory lapses.

Two days ago, my son again went for another medical check-up at the Sultan Ismail hospital after complaining of severe headache and has been scheduled to undergo a thorough medical examination of his kidney on February 9, 2012.

Junaidah also said she detested the way the private hospital doctor for falsely accusing her son of being drunk which has affected my family pride and reputation.

Clearly, the private hospital failed to conduct a thorough medical examination on its patient and is risking the live of its patient, she added.

Elaborating, she said, last week she went to seek an explanation from the private hospital concern but was told that the manager was not in the office and the situation was made worst when she was not able to fix an appointment to see the manager the following day.

She said she is contemplating to initiate legal action against the private hospital concern as her attempts to seek an explanation from the hospital over the incident have not been successful.

I will not hesitate to proceed with taking legal action against the private hospital concern if there is a willing party who is prepared to offer their legal assistance, Junaidah said.

Meanwhile, the doctor from the private hospital was reported to have said that the patient concern was admitted to the hospital at around 8.40pm and was in a state of mental confusion and fluctuating consciousness and with a strong alcohol breath.

The patient concern was discharged at around 10.00pm after the attending doctor found the patient condition to have stabilized and medical treatment given to his slight cheek injury.

The doctor reportedly admitted that there was no blood test taken from the patient concern.

The doctor claimed that he and the two accompanying attending nurses detected a strong alcohol smell from the patient’s breath.

The doctor then explained that after 9.00pm, there was a change in shift duty and he said he believed that the next doctor in charge who takes over the duty will not hesitate to refer the patient to Sultan Ismail hospital (government hospital) if the doctor is of the opinion that the patient’s condition is deteriorating.

Incidentally, the operations manager of the private hospital concern said, their doctors will always do their best to save lives.

He added, the hospital is prepared to meet and apologize to the patient’s family and also to explain and clarify the incident.

Speaking on the probable legal action initiated by the patient’s family, he said, the patient’s family has every right to do so but the hospital welcomes the family in coming to hear out their explanation.

Finally, the operations manager concluded by saying that the hospital hopes to resolve the issue amicably with the patient’s family and reiterated that it has always been hospital policy to offer and provide the best medical care for their patients.