According to a “Mail Online” article of March 6, 2010, an 11 year old boy died of dehydration in a South London hospital due to neglect by hospital staff. The article states that, at one point, the boy was “so desperate for a drink that he rang police to beg for their help.” When the police responded, they were told the boy was fine.
The article ends with, “This week a task force called on nurses to sign a public pledge that they will treat everyone with compassion and dignity.” I find that interesting and, frankly, it makes me shake my head in wonder. Do they really think that will take care of any problems?
Among other things, it is possible that the staff is overworked or that there are severe administrative problems, in which case a pledge won’t address the real issues. But, more importantly, if any of those staff members don’t have a true enough grasp of compassion — enough that it demands expression in their behavior without a pledge - signing their names won’t accomplish anything. That’s because the ideas themselves may have no intrinsic meaning. How can you pledge to do something you don’t truly “get”?
On the other hand, those who do have a genuine grasp of compassion, and who sincerely respect the dignity of others, don’t need to sign a pledge. They will naturally demonstrate such virtues because they are essential to their character.
After observing a similar sort of oversight — albeit one that, fortunately, did not result in death — by the staff of a care facility, I came to the conclusion the problems we’re seeing are the result of both overwork and a general lack of concern. Many nursing employees really do seem to care, but adequate manpower at their facilities is non-existent. And other caregivers, who are also undoubtedly overworked, seem to add insult to injury by lacking the type of work ethic that would lead them to stretch as far as they can.
I’m sure there are quite a few people — particularly those who have not lived as long as some of us have — who will disagree with what I’m about to say, but I believe the impersonal approach and lack of accountability that raise our ire increase in direct proportion to population growth, electronic advancements, and litigious mindsets. There are, of course, other contributory factors, but I can well remember a time when a business call resulted in a conversation with a real individual, and not with a menu or a voice mail message. Those were the days when people, for the most part, were held accountable for their behavior on the job and were easily replaced when they failed to perform.
I guess the kind of growth we’re seeing is a double-edged sword. It’s one that we, unfortunately, find hard to live with, but it’s also one that we refuse to live without.