PALLIATIVE CARE AT ITS WORST

Ms Rebecca George is seventy five. She is a spinster. Her father had passed away when the children were young. Her mother had to look after the four children without much of an income. The eldest was a son and other three were girls. Though her husband had held a job with a Government organization and the wife was eligible for a job under the compassionate appointment scheme of the Government, her husband’s brother tricked her into signing a no objection certificate whereby the job on offer was grabbed by the deceitful brother in law. True to his nature the gentleman never bothered to look after his brother’s wife and the four hapless children. The struggle to make a living and raise her children fell upon the young widow. The family pulled on by little acts of kindness extended by a few.



As High School education was almost free all the children despite abject poverty managed to pass the High School Leaving Certificate examination. Like all Malayalees were doing at that time each of them boarded the train to Bombay armed with the precious certificate. At Bombay all of them had a horrid time before landing a job that paid them very little to survive. As time progressed except for Rebecca all the others married and began to raise their families. Rebecca chose to remain single and take care of her mother. Time flew. Rebecca was fifty two. She was sending her mother whatever little she could save and the two were able to pull on with the little salary Rebecca was getting though they were staying hundreds of Kilometers apart.



One day Rebecca woke up with the message that her mother was sick and needed someone with her. While she passed on the information to her siblings, her brother expressed his inability to look after the mother. He stated that he had to look after his family and was not prepared to meet even a part of the cost of medical treatment of his own mother. The two sisters were prepared to meet the cost in part but were unable to leave their families. Rebecca took voluntary retirement and came down to Kerala to stay with her mother and look after her. Rebecca did a good job with the limited resources she had. Finally Rebecca was left alone when her mother passed away.



Rebecca has now ended up in a home for the aged. She pays for the boarding and lodging. The staff at the home looks after her. She is examined by a Doctor once a week. The stay at the home is alright. Food is alright. But Rebecca is unhappy. What she really needs is someone to cater to her emotional needs. She needs someone to talk to occasionally. She needs a patient listener. She needs someone to take her to a hospital when she is ill. The authorities of the home are not in a position to depute an attendant solely for Rebecca. In the present day Kerala the cost of services are very high. Though the home is in a town in Kerala where the relatives of Rebecca are staying none of them bother to visit her.



Rebecca is now loaded with a problem. There are holidays in Kerala when all the employees will go home. There will not be anyone to take care of the inmates. As the holiday season has approached the authorities of the home have requested the inmates to stay with their relatives for a week or make some other arrangements for their stay as entrusting them to temporary hands is not a good idea. Rebecca contacted her relatives in the town and requested them to allow her to stay with them for a week. The reply was heartbreaking. None of them wanted her. What happens to Rebecca concerns no one.