Victim of suspected malpractice puts house on sale to survive
Victim of suspected malpractice puts house on sale to survive
Multa Fidrus, Tangerang
A "House for sale" billboard greets visitors to a house on Jl.
Mandar XII/67 in the Bintaro residential area, Tangerang, where
the now partly paralyzed Irwanto is trying to overcome the
physical impairments he suffered apparently as a result of
medical treatment he received last year.
"We need to pay back loans and the money we owe to our
relatives for the medical costs. We also need money to pay for
Irwanto's current medical treatment," Irwanto's wife, Irene, told
The Jakarta Post recently.
Irwanto, 47, a psychologist, is the chairman of the research
unit at Atmajaya University, and also heads the research
department of the Jakarta Provincial Narcotics Board.
But a suspected erroneous diagnosis made by a doctor at the
Bintaro International Hospital where he was treated for a week
left the father of two girls confined to a wheelchair and in need
of permanent nursing care.
Irwanto has filed a malpractice suit against PT Mitra Jaya
Medikatama -- the company that runs the hospital, and the case is
currently being heard by the Tangerang District Court.
In his lawsuit, Irwanto only demanded a public apology run in
five print media and nine television channels "because the
hospital would not be able to pay for the immense losses I have
suffered".
Next week he is also filing a complaint with the city police
against Chandramin, his cardiologist. The latter diagnosed him as
suffering from heart trouble after he went to the Bintaro
hospital following work on July 23, 2003, complaining of back
pain.
But three hours after taking the medicine he was given,
Irwanto said he lost the use of his limbs and started vomiting
blood. He was rushed to the intensive care unit, but made no
progress.
His family later moved him to the MMC Hospital in Kuningan,
South Jakarta, where he spent two months without any improvement.
The family then took him to the Tan Tok Seng Hospital in
Singapore. Neurologists at this hospital said that he had
originally only been suffering from fatigue and that sufficient
rest and warm baths would have cured it.
Irwanto is now continuing his medical treatment with the
state-run Fatmawati Hospital in South Jakarta.
Irene has stopped working to nurse Irwanto, although the Rp 8
million (about US$888) annual limit from Atmajaya University for
family medical treatment is far from enough.
"I have to look after Bapak all the time. He does everything
in bed, including reading, watching television and writing about
child protection and the antidrug campaign for newspapers. He
also eats his meals in bed, and needs a bedpan when defecating
and urinating. Bapak needs my help," she said.
With help from the family's driver, housemaid and their
daughters, Irene gets Irwanto into the wheelchair and then into
his car which takes him to the Atmajaya campus on Jl. Sudirman,
Central Jakarta, at least twice a week.
"I have to remain functional. I will die if I have to stay at
home," said Irwanto, adding that he would resume his duties as a
lecturer of graduate students at the University of Indonesia
within the next six months.