Stupid Deaths

In the book Mountains Beyond Mountains, a story about the life of Paul Farmer, we learn about a physician who began global health work in Haiti during college and has dedicated his life to it ever since.  Farmer is the founder of Partners in Health, an international organization focused on improving global health.  PIH actually has a clinic here in Lesotho and is very involved in the betterment of Lesotho’s village health worker program.  Early on in the book by Tracey Kidder (which you should definitely read if you have the chance!), Farmer discusses the death of a woman who was killed as she was thrown from a mango truck that hit a pothole in the dirt road.  It was an avoidable death, had the road only been paved or at least been tended to every once in a while.  These types of situations came to be known as “stupid deaths” to Farmer, who saw many more than he’d ever anticipated in Haiti and in his other healthcare endeavors in developing countries throughout the world.  After reading Mountains Beyond Mountains, I was obviously aware of the number of stupid deaths that occur in developing countries, but I never really expected to encounter any in my 6 weeks in Lesotho.  Maybe I was being naïve, but can you really blame me for hoping for the best?  Over the past few weeks there were two of these so-called stupid deaths that have really stuck out in my mind and are worthy of sharing.

The first happened during my initial week here.  I didn’t witness it myself, but Colleen did and described the story to me when she got home from outreach that afternoon.  Before they had even left Mokhotlong, Colleen and a group of outreach workers were driving in the main part of town and heard a huge BANG!  The streets became a mess of people running in all directions, not knowing where the loud noise had come from.  When things settled down a bit, they watched one man climb onto the roof of a food market to find another man lying there lifeless.  Apparently, the bang came from this man getting electrocuted and hitting the metal surface of the roof.  Colleen said it was a very strange scene.  No one rushed to help him, no sirens were heard because no ambulance was coming, and after everyone figured out what had happened they simply left the scene and went on with their lives.  When I think about this scenario playing out in America, paramedics would’ve been rushed to the scene, the street would’ve been closed down by police, and someone would’ve been held accountable for this death.  But here, none of that occurred.  One of the outreach workers commented to Colleen how the poles holding up the wires are purposely placed so high in order to avoid situations like this.  When I think about it, though, compared to our telephone poles in the U.S. the ones here are about half the size.  Not to mention the wires do not appear insulated and have loose ends hanging wildly.  In fact, the Basotho are told to avoid going near them at all costs.  How could this possibly be considered a safe mode of electricity?  At home this situation is a rarity, a freak accident…but here, judging by people’s reactions, a stupid death like this is commonplace.

Last week, a 3-year-old girl was brought into TTL’s safe home.  I never got the chance to see her because she came and went so quickly.  According to the fellows, the girl was very malnourished and quite unresponsive.  She couldn’t hold her own head up and her eyes seemed to be always rolled in opposite directions.  Her symptoms were the result of tuberculosis meningitis, or TB of the cushioning for brain and spinal cord.  As I mentioned in a pervious post, TB only spreads to places other than the lungs when it goes untreated for a long period of time, and TB meningitis is about as bad as it gets.  This little girl’s story breaks my heart, and is the epitome of a stupid death.

From the moment she was brought to Mokhotlong Hospital, her prognosis wasn’t good.  She had an undiagnosed case of TB that had gone untreated for God only knows how long.  Before coming to TTL she spent 3 months in the TB ward at the hospital, her condition never improving.  By the time she was brought to TTL, she was essentially declared brain-dead.  Upon her arrival at the safe home there was debate about whether or not she should really stay here.  She would need to be monitored very closely, given her TB medication everyday, and there was no telling if she was even capable of eating real food. The worry was that she would choke on food or her own saliva because she had no motor control over swallowing.  TTL is really meant for nutritional rehabilitation, so it was decided that we were not truly capable of handling her situation.  During the debate, Jenn went to the hospital and spoke to the physical therapist there about the girl’s situation.  Turns out, it was unbeknownst to the therapist that the girl had even been staying at the hospital for the previous three months…three months that she could’ve been getting PT treatment!  Jenn told me the doctors thought she wouldn’t live for more than a year, and unfortunately they were right.  Just yesterday we found out this child passed away, a helpless little girl.  I was sad to hear the news, but also happy that she was no longer suffering in such a terrible condition.

The more I think about it, the angrier these situations make me.  How is it possible that a girl in such a dire situation was only brought to the hospital when it was already too late?  How is it possible that a child in need of physical therapy remained in a hospital setting for three months without the therapist even knowing?  How is it possible that electrical wires are put up so carelessly, putting everyone at risk?  How is it fair that this man and this child were born into situations where their risk of dying a “stupid death” is so exponentially greater than mine?  Why did I get so lucky being born an American, while these people have been left to live in a world unimaginable to most people in the U.S.?

As I am writing this, my eyes are tearing up.  Being here for only 3 weeks, I’ve already gotten pretty used to a life without amenities.  But these stupid deaths, these are something I will never get used to.  Death is such a common thing here; people attend funerals too often and they sell coffins on the street.  The worst part is that, most of the time, these deaths could be avoided if people simply had access to the things we do at home…if the electrical wires were hung a little higher…if people didn’t have to carry a sick child on their back for three hours just to reach the hospital.  I don’t think any one person has all of the solutions to these problems, but I do think we are capable of working together to expand the simple freedoms of the people living in developing countries.  After all, these freedoms are what allow us to thrive, and the lack thereof is what’s holding these countries back.  I wish every person could experience what I have here in Lesotho, even just for a day.  It really opens your eyes to the world around you, and allows you to appreciate how truly lucky we are.

I write this post in honor of the man on the roof, the little girl with TB meningitis, and all of the others in Lesotho who have suffered stupid deaths.  May they rest peacefully in Heaven.