Hmmm ....
Well, I have finished! All done!! Over ... no more!!
Ok, I have finished that bunch of stuff to do... still pleaty more!!
I have basically finished the busiest part of my semester ... you know the part where you have 50 assignments due in 2 days and you have no food in the cupboard and if you don't go to your best friend's place for dinner you will no longer have a best friend ... you know, stuff like that! :D Nah, honestly, it wasn't that bad! But it still was pretty bad!! I am glad to have finished it! Exam prep next!!
Today, Marlon and I did a 20min tut on what nurses should do if they are working in a detention centre and the detainee goes on a hunger strike ... it went ok ... good discussion, good presentation, dodgy focal paper but hey, can't have everything, huh? Anyway, I discovered that the Australian government is S***!!! Ok, maybe too strong but I just don't understand. Maybe that is it ... I am frustrated because I can't seem to get my head around the craziness of my government!! Ok, let me explain.
Normally, if a patient says they don't want some treatment then the health care workers are suppose to respect their decision (the patient's autonomy of being able to decide what happens regarding their care is respected). This can be hard esp. if the patient appears to be making an irrational decision and the staff disagree with the patient's decision. But we are suppose to respect their autonomy!
Or so I thought ... according to this article I was wrong:
"The Australian Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA) can authorise physicians, under Migration Regulation 5.35, to provide non-consensual medical treatment. In 2001, DIMIA issued about 40 authorisations for compulsory medical treatment.4 Such actions risk violating international medical guidelines. It is therefore timely to examine both the legal and ethical implications for doctors if they coercively rehydrate or force-feed detained asylum seekers."
(https://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/180_05_010304/ken10552_fm.html)
What the hell? We can force feed detainees? Since bloody when? I read a case study about a patient who was hospitalised and forced to eat ... he got all the treatment ... electroconvulsive therapy, Intravenous therapy, and nasogastric feeding!!!!!
Since when did detainees' right to autonomy not matter?
Some say they are depressed so they can't decide properly... well, look at their surroundings ... Iwould be depresed too if I was in prison and in limbo!!!
Studies have shown that the reason why detainees are going on hunger strikes is to show their displeasure of being imprisoned ... or, normally after their refugee visa application has been rejected, to say that they would rather die than be returned to their homeland which is usually war torn and they were being persecuted (it has got to be pretty bad if they tried to escape, doesn't it?)
And I have to admit ... In some ways, I don't blame the detainees who go on hunger strikes ... it definitaely isn't their first option ... they have tried everything else .... this is the only way left for them to say "HELP!!"
Ok, I have finished that bunch of stuff to do... still pleaty more!!
I have basically finished the busiest part of my semester ... you know the part where you have 50 assignments due in 2 days and you have no food in the cupboard and if you don't go to your best friend's place for dinner you will no longer have a best friend ... you know, stuff like that! :D Nah, honestly, it wasn't that bad! But it still was pretty bad!! I am glad to have finished it! Exam prep next!!
Today, Marlon and I did a 20min tut on what nurses should do if they are working in a detention centre and the detainee goes on a hunger strike ... it went ok ... good discussion, good presentation, dodgy focal paper but hey, can't have everything, huh? Anyway, I discovered that the Australian government is S***!!! Ok, maybe too strong but I just don't understand. Maybe that is it ... I am frustrated because I can't seem to get my head around the craziness of my government!! Ok, let me explain.
Normally, if a patient says they don't want some treatment then the health care workers are suppose to respect their decision (the patient's autonomy of being able to decide what happens regarding their care is respected). This can be hard esp. if the patient appears to be making an irrational decision and the staff disagree with the patient's decision. But we are suppose to respect their autonomy!
Or so I thought ... according to this article I was wrong:
"The Australian Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA) can authorise physicians, under Migration Regulation 5.35, to provide non-consensual medical treatment. In 2001, DIMIA issued about 40 authorisations for compulsory medical treatment.4 Such actions risk violating international medical guidelines. It is therefore timely to examine both the legal and ethical implications for doctors if they coercively rehydrate or force-feed detained asylum seekers."
(https://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/180_05_010304/ken10552_fm.html)
What the hell? We can force feed detainees? Since bloody when? I read a case study about a patient who was hospitalised and forced to eat ... he got all the treatment ... electroconvulsive therapy, Intravenous therapy, and nasogastric feeding!!!!!
Since when did detainees' right to autonomy not matter?
Some say they are depressed so they can't decide properly... well, look at their surroundings ... Iwould be depresed too if I was in prison and in limbo!!!
Studies have shown that the reason why detainees are going on hunger strikes is to show their displeasure of being imprisoned ... or, normally after their refugee visa application has been rejected, to say that they would rather die than be returned to their homeland which is usually war torn and they were being persecuted (it has got to be pretty bad if they tried to escape, doesn't it?)
And I have to admit ... In some ways, I don't blame the detainees who go on hunger strikes ... it definitaely isn't their first option ... they have tried everything else .... this is the only way left for them to say "HELP!!"
posted by blue nurse | 1:54 AM
2 Comments:
There was an interesting presentation on the plight of detainees at a conference I went to in August and the way that they're treated is appalling, particularly when we're meant to have a democratic, first-world government running things.
Depression is a major issue for detainees - and why wouldn't it be if they've been locked up for years on end? Hunger strikes are the things that will get them some attention, as you said. But what attention is paid to the severe mental disorders some detainees develop because of being locked away and emotionally tortured?
Not to mention other forms of abuse...
The more you look at what governments who are meant to be democracies who champion the rights of everyone, the more you see that they often don't, all because of how they allow the most vulnerable members of their society to be treated :(
Bother! Forgot to say congrats on getting your work almost all out of the way! :)
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