Indexing Title: MJSCABAHUG’s Medical Anecdotal Report [05-07] 

MAR Title:  When mothers do not know best…. 

Date of Medical Observation: July 31, 2005 

Narration: 

Have you ever thought of this? 

      When mothers do not know best…. 

On a Sunday morning, while manning the emergency room, a woman arrived and shouted on top of her voice “Tulungan nyo po ako, tulungan nyo po ako!”

From afar, I could see she does not need any medical attention. 

A few seconds later, a girl was brought in carried by several men.  She was unconscious. I immediately attended to her only to find out that she was the daughter of the woman.  

I then asked what happened, all the woman could say was “tulungan nyo po ako” while grasping the hand of her daughter. 

I checked the vital signs and all were zero.  I decided to intubate the patient and initiated cardio-pulmonary resuscitation. 

While doing so, I again asked what happened, someone said that the patient was seen few minutes ago hanging from the ceiling using a blanket. 

After hearing that, I was shocked and asked myself how could this 16-year-old possibly do that.  A thought of my daughter then crossed my mind… 

I got curious of what really happened so I asked the woman but got no answer.

A brother of the patient approached me with hatred in his eyes.  He told me that an hour ago, the patient was scolded by her mother because the latter found out that the patient had a boyfriend and she was very much against it. 

It was only then that I realized why the mother did not answer when I asked her what happened. 

It was already thirty minutes after we started the resuscitation, but still we were not able to revive the patient.  Painful as it may be, I have to pronounce the death of the patient. 

I talked to the mother but she was reluctant to accept the fate of her child. She said “Ituloy nyo pa po baka pwede pa!”   

So I decided to extend it for another fifteen minutes but to no avail.  I again talked to the mother and this time she gave me a nod with a guilt in her face and tears in her eyes. 

Insights (Physical, Psychosocial, Ethical) (Discovery, Stimulus, Reinforcements): 

1. As parents, we are duty bound to raise our children the best that they could be.  But we can only guide them and not impose things on them.  We should be cautious enough on how we reprimand them.  Each individual handle it differently. 

2. As physicians, we can do everything to save lives, but it is only He who controls the situation in the end.