Medical fiasco…and the loss of consciousness

I join the voices of fellow Jordanian bloggers in condemning the treatment of who-sane’s father and offer my prayers and wishes for his speedy recovery. This story shows the disgusting level of apathy reached by Jordanians—contrary to their proud heritage of generosity, caring, aiding even strangers, and believe it or not selflessness.

Not to take away from the horror of this particular incident, I am afraid that it is by no means unique! Medical malpractice is so prevalent in Jordan, but as all other ills, it is not seriously addressed and remains a topic discussed in social circles—sometimes as news of the weird.

What on earth is going on in Jordan?! Is it too much to say there is a collective failure in the social system? If it is not driving it is Shawarma; or it is raising prices unjustifiably, dishonesty and theft; lack of consideration; barbaric violence and the list goes on.

You can fix a machine, a building, a street, but how do you fix such wide spread disregard for basic human values? You can fire a few workers for not doing their job, but what do you do when the majority of your workforce is failing? How do you re-engineer a society? Where do you buy essential human spare parts such as a brain, a heart, and a conscious?

Side note: my mother has 30% vision in one eye after several corrective surgeries and a cornea transplant. She initially lost her vision in that eye after what should have been a straight forward cataract procedure at a private hospital in Jordan. Three ophthalmologists in three different states in the U.S. agreed it was a physician error (a butchering job according to one of the doctors). However, my father could not find one Jordanian doctor to provide a testimony of that fact for a potential lawsuit. Off the record, they told him the doctor who did the surgery was “himar” (donkey in Arabic; used as in stupid, dumb, incompetent), but they said the could not testify against one of their own. Talk about professionalism (NOT).

Since that incident, I have thought about starting a web site to document medical cases. However, without the support of at least a few physicians it would difficult. How would the Jordan Medical Association think of such a project? Speaking of that, shouldn’t they uphold members of their profession to basic minimum standards?

Perhaps we can all work at establishing some kind of a consumer reports web site where people share their experiences on various services. Any thoughts?