Daily Lessons from Life 20 March 2014 - Compassion and Amputee upset hospital discharged him

MH370 Updates - Day 13: Not so good possible leads from Australia which might have spotted debris that are linked to MH370 in the Indian Ocean. The findings need to be verified before any conclusion can be reached. So, STILL hopeful!

"Compassion" and

"Amputee upset hospital discharged him - Thursday, Mar 20, 2014 The New Paper

SINGAPORE - He was warded at the National University Hospital (NUH) on May 28 last year for the amputation of four toes on his right leg and for cataract surgery.

Retired army officer (supposedly ex-commando officer) Mr M (I hid it as there is no need to show his name), 59, ended up staying there for eight months.When NUH discharged him on Jan 6, saying he was fit enough to return home, he was furious.

NUH said he was a challenging patient to care for as he had verbally abused medical staff and thrown things at them."

There was a news report by BBC that a certain pregnant lady, foreigner, did not get any compassionate help while in Singapore and concluded, or insinuated or implied, that Singapore lacks compassion. It generated a lot of discussion and the Kindness Movement Chairman, or something, and the PM weighed in too with their comments.

Lessons for me are:

1. we must have compassion. The natural thing to do when we see someone in need of help, we will help if we believe we can help. Some are obvious like: giving up one's seat to the elderlies, the very young, the handicapped, the pregnant ladies and anyone who asked for the seats. Some are obvious that you will need to KNOW if you can help like: helping someone pulled from the water and suspected of drowning will required you to be medically trained, or at least know CPR, to help. If you don't have such skills, the next best thing to do is to call for medical help;

2. in the situation of this 'very difficult amputee' who, in the full report, can reasonably be concluded to have overstayed his welcome and really wanting help that perhaps the hospital and its staffs are unable to help: he is a divorcee, lives a lone, drinks and smokes, 'seemingly' unwilling to help himself. To be 'blindly' compassionate will only increase his reliance on others' charities without helping himself. It is pretty obvious, at first glance, that he needs to fill his emotional void. What is his purpose to live the life of an amputee for an ex-commando officer? This is the question I believe we need to ask about 'being compassionate': is there a right way to be compassionate? The answer for me is: helping the person who needs help to help himself or herself is the ultimate compassion!;

3. From what I read from this news report, the hospital and the community help schemes that are available to him are pretty generous. In fact, what the hospital, its staffs and the social services folks that are helping Mr M are quite compassionate. The situation called for finding Mr M the reason to be at his best again. The best that the best commando officer could had been. And can be, if he applies himself.

We should be compassionate. At the same time, we must be compassionate in the right way. Know what you can help, how to help so that others learn to help themselves, then, ultimately, help others too!