The Footscray Hospital Feedback Form

On the back of a feedback form, I saw written in very angry capital letters with a grey-lead pencil indicating the absence of preparation:

“I THINK THAT YOU SHOULD PUT UP POSTERS
NEXT TO THE ‘CALL NURSE’ BUTTON IN THE
EMERGENCY ROOM SO THAT WHEN ONE’S CALL IS
“ILLEGITIMATE” THEN THEY WILL NOT BE FACED WITH
A BALD-HEADED BUFFOON WHO DEEMS HIMSELF A “DOCTOR”,
ANGRILY YELLING AT THE PATIENT THAT THEIR SICKNESS
IS NOT LEGITIMATE ENOUGH TO HAVE THE PRESENCE
OF A NURSE UNLESS THEY ARE VOMITING.

F**KING PATHETIC.

KARMA EXISTS.”

I must note that the only way that I saw this anonymous piece of writing of outrage whilst standing in the hospital waiting room with my mother just before we were about to leave was because I was the writer, and I decided to proofread my work of art, even though I need not ever proofread a piece of angry writing because of its perfection, just before inserting it into the box, to make sure that I memorized what was said for the purpose of this essay before the people who are meant to read it and report back to the hospital so that they will ensure change will not. Yes, person who might actually be doing their job reading feedback forms, I wrote that, and if you want to come and find me then chase my surveillance trail because the government decided to invest in that rather than invest in a better healthcare system.

It was absolutely ridiculous. My mother had had five nerve spasm attacks before the ambulance took her off to the hospital, me tagging along in the front seat, and we just sat in the ‘fast’ chairs eavesdropping on people with broken toes receiving their diagnoses, while I sat there having to watch my mother wallow in pain. “Please, press the nurse button, I need to check if I can take my medicine, the pain is kicking in,” so I did, and the bald eagle of hell incarnate decided to stroll in after over five minutes.
“Did you press the button?”

“Yes,” I replied, stating the obvious as my hand was right beside the flashing panel.

“Are you going to vomit?” he blurted out to my mother, in the likeness of vomit, three times because she was barely conscious.

“No,” I replied on her behalf, “she wanted to know whether she could take her medicine. She is due to take it.”

His response? He merely threw the medicine bag we brought along at her and said “do not press it again unless you’re vomiting,” before storming off. How I wished at that moment that I had vomited. All over his expensive attire and all over his desk and all over the insides of his car, a vomit so acidic it would burn right into his bones and deplete all of his flesh like the absence of hairs on his stubborn head.

Before I could utilize what I had learnt from the Grand Theft Auto franchise on this buffoon and the entire hospital, my mother had asked some random nurse to pull the IV out of her wrist. I asked for a diagnosis, which we had been waiting over two hours to receive and he merely said “that is because of the Australian healthcare system” as he almost ripped it out of her skin. No, that is because of the bald eagle of hell incarnate and doctors like him. The healthcare system did not state to withhold somebody’s diagnosis because they are not vomiting. It angers me so, and I am honestly surprised that I did not destroy something before I left.

I felt like there was a big disease outbreak and we had the disease and the doctors and nurses did not want a part of it so they shunned us to the room beside the toilet, our nerves relaxing and becoming agitated again after we saw nurses and doctors walk past us to go to the bathroom. The only highlight of this dreadful night was the lovely service we received from the paramedics, Jacob and Ross. I cannot believe that people more helpful than this damned system are not getting paid a decent amount of money. Perhaps members of the government are not getting sick enough to see the benefits of paramedics.

Had I had things my way, I would see to it that paramedics are regarded more higher than they currently are. The sympathy and care my mother had received from these two men juxtaposed with the ignorance she had received from a “doctor” really opened my eyes today.