YOURSAY | 'Her emotional outbursts have caused people to unfairly question the competence of the doctor.'

Nurse apologises for 'emotional' FB post on Adib's injuries

FairMind: National Heart Institute (IJN) nurse Siti Syafika Amira Mohd Rasani, anyone who has to go through what late firefighter Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim's parents and loved ones have gone through in the intensive care unit (ICU) would feel exactly the same.

It is universal and happens to anybody, no matter what race or religion the family and loved ones come from.

If you feel injustice for Adib, then you should also feel injustice for the very people who might not be from your own race who could be wrongly blamed or incarcerated because of your irresponsible actions. You would have done even more injustice by stirring up racial tensions.

The proper thing now for everybody is to find out the truth so that the actual story can be told, and the proper person or persons be blamed for Adib’s death.

I remembered that an employee from Honda Malaysia was fired simply for mentioning that God failed to save Adib. You have done something many times worse by stirring up emotions.

Should you be sacked too, if we were to apply justice equally?

Roger 5201: Syafika's conduct as an IJN nurse is far from professional.

As a medical staff member, she should be objective, calm, collected and factual at all times, especially when sharing her unsolicited opinions where innocent lives are at stake in this unfortunately emotionally charged and racially sensitive incident.

Syafika said she saw injuries on Adib's face, chest, thighs and groin area. Did she see the X-rays and carefully consider the post-mortem report by the forensic expert before giving her comments?

Anonymous #007: This nurse must be sacked. Some people have been sent to jail for 10 years for emotional Facebook posts that hurt no one.

She must be sacked for breaching the golden rule in the medical industry - patient privacy.

Her Facebook post could have incited racial tensions in an already tense situation. Not to mention there was indirect professional insubordination.

If everyone could plead that they were emotional and get away with professional misconduct, there would be havoc.

Please revoke her licence. She cannot continue to practise in the medical field. There is no room for emotions when dealing with a person's life - it needs to be 100 percent professionalism and good common sense.

Seladang: It is a standard operating procedure that staff attending to patients cannot make any medically presumptuous statements in public without prior permission from the hospital director.

She must be hauled up by the IJN disciplinary committee and must be suspended or terminated for breaching the basic ethical code of conduct in medicine, which is drummed in during nursing training.

She has the prerogative to take her medical observations to higher authorities, like the ward nursing sister or the nursing matron, which is the correct procedure.

Her Facebook outburst has sullied all the good work done by many caring doctors and nurses in IJN, and drastic action must be taken to rein in other recalcitrant junior staff from committing similar outbursts on social media.

The findings of a fair and impartial disciplinary committee on this nurse must be published to reinvigorate trust in taxpayers seeking treatment at IJN. IJN human resources personnel must retrain all their staff on ethical behaviour and protocol, especially on posting in social media.

The Health director-general must make a statement after the inquest is complete and the final report has been published, so as not to jeopardise the inquest process.

AJ: I don’t think hospital employees should discuss a patient on social media. This must be an offence.

The gravity of this case cannot be underestimated as it was already in the court. The wider implication was that the opposition was trying to use this to agitate the Malaysian public and paint the judiciary in a bad light. This nurse should be aware of the consequences.

Anonymous_1527925538: What really puzzles me is that nurses, especially those at IJN treating critical cases, would have encountered many 'life and death' situations, and incidents where families and friends grieve over their loved ones.

Why did she become so overcome with emotion in this particular case as to post on Facebook disputing the findings of the forensic expert? The authorities may need to investigate this.

The Wakandan: Syafika, that is why you are a nurse, and Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) forensic medical specialist Dr Ahmad Hafizam Hasmi is a doctor.

But this would be looking down on nurses, because there are lots of nurses out there who are always professional in their duty, who are calm despite the emotional drain it may be and thus able to discharge their duties effectively.

Perhaps she is still young (27 years old) and may not have seen enough tragic cases in the hospital. If you work long enough, it will be not unusual to see heart-wrenching scenes there.

But really, Syafika, would you be equally emotional if that patient was not Adib?

S Kumar: Yes, it looks like you got carried away emotionally. This is perfectly normal for a nurse and a human being.

But you should have left the important matters with the professionals. Because of your hasty comments, Dr Hafizam was wrongly blasted by many.

It is okay that you made a mistake; to err is human. Put it behind you and continue your good work as a caring nurse.

Anonymous 1689721435778173: Very unprofessional indeed, but at least she owned up and apologised.

Her emotional outbursts have caused people to unfairly question the professional competence of the doctor.

I’m not giving up on hope: While what she did is wrong professionally, let us not whack her excessively. She is human. She made a mistake.

Can we blame her, especially when so much indoctrination has taken place in our country, making many of us incapable of critical thinking and influencing us to have one-track minds?

Let us hope the effects of such biased indoctrination that were driven by the agenda of a few, rather than nation-building, can be slowly reversed over time. We must give all a chance to change and improve.

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