Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Eeny, Meeny, Miny, BLAME!

While everyone is still reeling from the shock murder of the bright young boy in Setapak the other day, we are told of the death of another young girl, both due to snatch thefts/robbery.

As soon as we were informed of these deaths, we kicked into the typical Malaysian mode. We looked around for someone, something to blame. Of course the police bore the brunt of the blame. Oh, how come you do not patrol the area often enough? Did you not know of the high crime rate in Setapak? Oh, blame blame blame. (Actually, if we sit down and think about it, every damn place in KL has a high crime rate.)

Then we blame the Government. Oh, there should be bus services to take these students from the LRT to their homes. Why isnt there public transport for the commuters? It isnt safe for the students!Why why WHY?

Then, the doctor who refused to treat the dying boy was next in the line of fire. Oh!Why did you not treat him? Why did you turn him away? We will sue!Why isnt the Ministry doing anything to punish him for refusing to treat the boy? Sue Sue SUE!

Well, before we point fingers at this doctor for not treating him, I wondered if anyone bothered asking him why he didnt treat the boy. Was it because he didnt have the facilities or even the expertise to treat him? Or did he rely on his experience to judge that nothing he could do in his clinic would have saved the boy and the best option would have been to rush him to the hospital where the ER doctors can help him? If the doctor had tried to treat the boy, say, by attempting to stop the bleeding and the boy still dies due to excessive bleeding and delayed ER medical help, are we going to blame the doctor for being negligent? That he should have known that the boy needs immediate professional medical help?

Not all doctors are trained for ER work. That is why some doctors are surgeons and some are GPs and well, some are specialists. Obviously they each know what they can and cannot do.

Why is it that we tend to rush severely wounded persons to the nearest clinic and expect the GP there to perform miracles? It is a clinic. Chances are, the doctors there are not certified surgeons or ER trained. Would it not make more sense to,oh, I dont know, rush them to the nearest Hospital? Yes, I do realise that sometimes the "nearest" Hospital is quite far and the clinic is the nearest alternative. But it is still a clinic. Nothing much can be done to help the wounded person. Nothing substantial anyway. I think it would make better sense to use the time "wasted" at the clinic to rush the person to the Hospital.

Of course it would be blameworthy if a hospital declined to treat a person due to the fact that they had no insurance. That I agree is abhorrent.

Then we turn to blame the management of the building. Why is it that you do not ask your guards to patrol the building? Why is it that you allow glue sniffers in the shopping mall? Mat Motors and China Ah Bengs allowed to sit around and harrass us patrons and harm us as well?Tsk tsk tsk!

Ok, firstly, I think it is hard to control WHO hangs around the shopping mall. Sure, if there were glue sniffers hanging around and a complaint was made to the management, their failure to chase these people away would be to a certain extent, negligent. But how can you control who hangs around OUTSIDE the shopping complex? Do we blame the management for failure to control the people who choose to hang around outside? If lets say I were to step out of MidValley and while walking over to the Boulevard Hotel someone rushes at me and stabs me in the stomach, do I say, "Oh the Management did not do their jobs? They should have chased that mad man away!?If they did he would not have attacked me!"

Yes, I do agree the Management must take some responsiblity in creating a safe environment for their patrons, such as maintaining their CCTVs and ensuring the parking lots are safe but everything has its boundaries and limits. It would make sense to assume they will keep the inside of a shopping mall safe but it would be harder for us to assume they would keep the outside safe as well. Maybe within certain parameters, but not too much of it.

Let us not be quick to blame and threaten to sue. Let us not run to the press and point fingers at everybody whom we think is blameworthy. Firstly, there must be an investigation and the result of the investigation will prove whether there was in fact negligence. And IF negligence is established, then we consider whether there should be legal action.

Lest it be misunderstood, I sympathise with the families of the victims and I am sorry to know that Malaysia has reached such a state of crime that it is impossible to feel safe anywhere,anymore.

But still, I wish that at least if the Press were to ask victims of crimes(or their families), so what is the next course of action? They will not always start with "Its (fill in the blank) fault!" And follow it with "WE WILL SUE!"

It such a game of eeny,meeny,miny BLAME!

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