The recent typhoon "Yolanda", international name Haiyan, has reeked devastation in the Visayas region. And the only thing I can feel when I saw the images, children drowned, people homeless, the entire city of Tacloban wiped out, is despair. As a human being I am deeply saddened by the meaningless loss of life. As a Filipino citizen, once again I am mad at the idiot in Malacanang following this news. He is totally unfit to be a leader but that is for another post. He is once again proving the need to correct the 1987 Constitution. Anyway, I digress.
This is not going to be about how the typhoon could have been prevented by a benevolent and omnipotent god. It would be like rubbing salt in a recent wound. This would just be about how I felt and reacted to the news.
It can be summed up by a feeling of helplessness and hopelessness. I feel for the people affected by this super typhoon.
Which brings me to another point: how do I deal with religious patients. Currently, we are meeting patients and asking their history. One part of asking a patient history is asking for the patient's religion. There is a medical basis for that; for instance, a religion might not permit blood transfusions. No matter how dire the consequences if the patient does not allow for blood transfusions then we must refuse. Patient choice and autonomy.
A patient's religion goes beyond the medical because sometimes it is through religion that these patients find relief. An 18 y/o pediatric patient goes blind suddenly. In his history, he mentions that it is through his religion that he found hope. Prior to his blindness he was an athletic person so imagine how he initially felt and remember he's an adolescent. Remembering psychological developmental stages, it is around this time that a human being strives to be independent.
A mother of 33 y/o patient with recurrent urinary tract infections (UTI) is stressed with her son's condition because urine culture has shown that the strain responsible for the infection is resistant to the first-line antibiotics necessitating more expensive medicines. The patient himself finds relief in serving in church activities.
There are many more stories of such patients. Who am I to strip these patients of hope? So as to avoid challenging these patients, I create a space within myself. In those moments, I become a doctor, nothing more and nothing less. Their stories pass through me.
In conclusion, I'm not going to deny that religion gives some people hope. I'm not superior nor inferior to religious people just because I don't rely on religion for hope. It's just that I have other sources of hope. Anyhow, let no one use the recent tragedy for any end whatsoever. At the end of the day, we're all human beings capable of empathy and feeling. Let us not ever forget that, ever.
