Taken For Everything

This morning I had another patient, Angilee, who nearly died when her house fell down. Her entire side had been slashed from front to back. She was very lucky that she was not a very skinny girl. The slice was about 3 inches deep, 4 inches tall and went nearly all the way around her waist, but it did not reach her organs. She said her house fell on her and she was trying to roll out of it. It had been over a week since the earthquake, and her wound was extremely infected. I wondered why she hadn’t come earlier. Her mother explained that she took her daughter to a doctor out in town. She gave this doctor $3000, her entire life savings, in hope he could heal her daughter. The doctor had not cleaned the wound properly or given her any antibiotics. He just stitched it and it got very infected. This mother was sad indeed. Her husband and sons had all died in the house, and her daughter barely escaped only to suffer this injury. She then lost her life savings with no cure. All she wanted was for her daughter to be healed. The wound was deep, but through a painful cleaning process over several days, antibiotics, and prayer, Angilee started to recover. We kept her overnight in our clinic. Her mother was so happy the next day because it was the first time her daughter had slept all through the night. Eventually Angilee was healed and went home with her mother. We documented Angilee’s injuries and case and took a few photos to give to her mother. We pointed her in the direction of legal advice so maybe she can sue the original doctor and get some money back.