cohabitant.....

 

I had this 60 + years old male sent to ED in a drowsy state. Patient was found laying on the floor and later emergency service was summoned and he was brought over to us for help.

I attended to the case and decided for an early intubation as my impression was intracranial hemorrhage. I stepped out from the active resuscitation area and asked if someone had accompanied the patient. A man in factory working suit about the same age had come forward on my hailing. As usual, I asked him what was their relationship; out of my expectation, the man replied,” I am his cohabitant”. This was the first time, I had met male couple in the ED who did not hide their relationship. Well, as the first region that approved same sex marriage, I presumed it would be norm for me to encounter such condition. The son called later and asked me about his condition. I explained the patient condition and later told him that a man had accompanied his father to the ED. And He replied, “ oh…that was my father’s roommate”.

Cohabitant = roommate…..

Well, the same sex marriage had really posted a challenge to the community; there was this 18 years old adolescent who get married with a 28+ year old male and later committed suicide few hours after they registered. The left over heritage was over 50million ringgit…the marriage was later considered as scam by the prosecutor and currently under legal proceeding.

The same sex marriage had allowed the partners of same sex to proceed with medical consent when it was indicated.

I am an old fashion guy and a religious guy; I did not favored such condition but I had to complied as my job need me to treat them fairly.

In the past, male homosexual had been tagged as “A” disease patient. Family had treated them as disgrace and some were cut off from the family forever. The local law had prohibited the medical staff from tagging the medical chart as positive and barring us from testing them for the “H” test without consent.

However things had changed and more and more same sex couple had floated to the surface and you could recognize them easily on the road.

Once Ving had come out from the toilet and told me that a guy had just entered the female toilet. I calmed her down and told her that the “guy” that had just walked into the toilet was a female despite of her short hair and men style wearing. I told her that I noticed the tight bra she had worn under her shirt when she walked pass me…..

I remembered that a drowsy plumy patient that was brought into ED after MVA. Everyone in the resuscitation area thought that the patient was a he until we stripped the patient and performed a primary trauma survey. 

Well, there was so many grey area around us...1 + years ago , we had a new male nursing staff who joined our unit. She had undergone partial transformation surgery and she acted more feminine than any of our female colleague. We were very careful not to touch any sensitive topic; however she was more open minded than anyone of us....

A brand new experience for me and I am trying to coup with the situation....