Upon browsing through the New York Times a very interesting article caught my eye. The article was entitled “Leg Lost, Dancer Is Caught Between Caregivers” by Deborah Sontag. This article talks about the struggles of Fabienne Jean, a dancer whose leg was amputated in the Haiti earthquake this past January. The amputation is a tragedy in and of itself, but the real bizarre twist on this article is that there are two healthcare providers in the United States fighting over who is going to rehabilitate her. One would think that Fabienne Jean would be provided the care that she chooses, and that the rehabilitation would begin as soon as possible. Healthcare is typically not associated with these types of battles. Ms. Jean’s story has been sort of labeled as the poster child of Haiti’s resilience. A lot of news sources are trying to exploit her story in order to show this resilience. It does seem like these healthcare providers are trying to be the one to take care of her so they get some of that media attention by association. Another point that the article brought up was that Fabienne Jean’s story also highlights how dependent the Haitian people are on international charity. Overall this article was very good, but on the other hand I immediately thought of how idiotic it is for healthcare providers to essentially fight over caring for a patient.
photo credit to Damon Winter
