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WHERE WAS THE COMPASSION?

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Sally Bengtsson / 2009-09-04 11:20:03

Mick Cole passed away at the end of August.  He knew he was dying, but thought he had another three months left. 

The reason for this article is the sad way in which Mick left this world. The treatment he received from the nurses at Torrevieja Hospital was unacceptable, and Mick’s wife Carol was so traumatised and shocked by the inhumane way that he was treated she felt she had to do something, even if it serves as little more than a warning for other people who are hospitalized in Torrevieja. 

Mick was 51. He loved Spain and he and Carol had decided to come and stay with Carol’s sister for two weeks. Despite being terminally ill the doctors in the UK gave him the thumbs up to travel. Carol had all the medication he would need, and their insurance policy covered Mick to be airlifted back to Ireland should he take a turn for the worse. Unfortunately, in the second week of the holiday Mick’s health did deteriorate rapidly. He had a very aggressive type of cancer.  It was the third type of cancer he had had in three years.  He was rushed to hospital, and right from the start the nurses were cold and showed no compassion whatsoever.  The doctor who treated Mick was great though.  He suggested they write a letter of complaint about the way Mick was being treated, as even he realised it was unacceptable.  The problem wasn’t the language barrier, it was the way the family were made to feel like a number.  As they point out afterwards, “It wasn’t just us either.  There was an elderly couple in the bed opposite us and the nurses had no patience with them at all.”  In the end Carol’s sister went over to try and help. 

Carol says she thought the National Health Service in Dublin wasn’t brilliant, but she now realises they are lucky to have it.  “They had always treated Mick with respect and compassion.”

There is a whole list of examples of the mistreatment, such as the fact that they were in a room with no air-conditioning for four days.  When Carol asked why the air-conditioning wasn’t on all the nurses would do was point at the unit, which they couldn’t get to work.  Eventually she asked a maintenance man to have a look at it, and he had it on in two minutes!  All this time Mick was sweating profusely and was just left in his wet sheets.  The nurses sniggered at Carol and her sister, saying “English” under their breath.  Even when they asked if they could borrow a wheelchair to take Mick into the bathroom it took for ever!  The food was just left in the room and not cleared away, and nobody explained anything to them.

We all know that hospitals work differently here and that family members often step in to do much of the nursing care we take for granted in the UK and Ireland, but the lack of information or explanations was unforgivable.  The nurses would come in and out without saying Hello or even acknowledging the other people in the room.  Mick had a Hickman in his chest in which to receive his medication, transfusions etc.  Carol would clean it out and flush the lines through, but because the nurse couldn’t get it to work immediately she refused to use it.  Watching them try to find a vein in Mick’s poor arms made Carol’s heart break.

In the last few minutes of Mick’s life he started to fit.  Carol pressed the emergency button, imagining a nurse would come within a few minutes.  They waited what seemed like ages, and eventually Carol went out to look for a nurse.  She was sitting with her legs up on her desk chatting on the phone.

“We believed he would be made stable enough to be airlifted back to Dublin, but this wasn’t the case.”  When Mick passed away they weren’t asked if they wanted a priest, and family members couldn’t get into the hospital to be with them.

The whole experience has been shocking. Let us hope that the letter of complaint that Carol sends to the Hospital serves as a wake up call. We all know the nurses work long hours and perhaps get fed up with patients and their families who speak little Spanish, but they are dealing with people who have feelings, who are at their most delicate, and something as simple as a smile of a pat on the back can make a world of difference to that person’s experience. 

Tags: Cancer, Torrevieja Hospital