Nurse, care and the Trust we Betray

Nurses, Care and Trust

I was thinking this morning... about nurses, care and the trust we betray. Yes, I know nurse show care and relax, none has betrayed my trust. But on the 5th of July, news broke of a London-based nurse sentenced to 14 years in prison for subjecting five young Nigerian women to mystical, violent rituals and trafficking them to Germany, where they are forced to work as prostitutes. According to the UK prosecutors, Josephine Iyamu, who is 51, subjected the women to a 'juju' ceremony with a voodoo priest where they were forced to drink blood containing worms, eat chicken heart, have their skin cut with razor blade and made to take oaths. Hmm!!! As I pondered on the news, I imagined what chicken heart will taste like and wondered if in all my years of feasting on chicken, I have inadvertently eaten the heart. believe me, I never knew chicken heart had such mystical significance. What I will never understand though is how a nurse that should care and facilitate healing would make someone to drink blood containing worms. As I shouted 'eeww' in disgust, I remembered a question that someone had asked recently, 'Can you trust a nurse whose husband sells coffins?'

The nurse is supposed to care for her patient, but she also cares for her husband and will want him to be successful in business. Some may argue that if she kills the patient, there is no guarantee that the coffin will be bought from her husband, that is of course if they decide to bury the dead in a coffin. But the point is, why should a nurse even think of killing his or her patient because of some secondary benefit? I never thought it was possible until I read the news last Wednesday 11th July of a nurse in Japan that told police that she sped up the deaths of at least 20 patients to avoid having to tell their families that their loved ones died while she was working.

Ayumi Kuboki, 31, told investigators that informing families of a patient's death was a burden and in order to avoid the responsibility, she poisoned the drips of patients near death with an antiseptic so that they would die at a time when another nurse would have to tell the family. As I said 'na wao,' I was still asking myself, 'can you trust a nurse whose husband sells coffins?'

Before I could answer, I recalled the events of Tuesday 10th of July, when the APC was having the grand finale of their governorship rally in Ado-Ekiti with the President, Governors and other high profile APC leaders in attendance. The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, was to give his speech in support of the APC candidate, Kayode Fayemi. He bizarrely urged the crowd to vote for the incumbent, Ayodele Fayose. He had said, 'If you marry two wives, you will know the one that is good, Fayose is the good one. He cooks, gives his husband food and who is not troublesome. So you must bring back Fayose on Saturday.' While many were shocked and the social media went haywire, I remembered that Ngige and Fayose were pioneer members of PDP. They were both elected governors under PDP in 2003 and were both removed from office in 2006. Their relationship can be akin to that of husband and wife. So, as Ngige spoke knowingly or unknowingly in favour of Fayose, APC leaders were saying, what a blunder, I am saying 'how can one trust a nurse whose husband sells coffins?'

The truth is, many people entrusted with the burden of care had betrayed that trust for what some in my circle will call 'earthly things.' Many have betrayed their oath of office, family and friends because of primordial sentiments and attachments. No wonder the Bible asked in Luke 22:48 'Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?' I urge you to take the high road today even as you ponder on the question 'would you trust a nurse whose husband sells coffins?'

Happy Sunday.

.....Just the thoughts of a certain Wey Mey.