Hospital Shaved A Sikhism Man Hair; Family Yet To Receive An Apology
An 85 elderly old man, Joginder Singh Kaler, had fallen down the stairs and got his arms and jaw broken, fractured his ribs, skull in 3 places, had internal bleeding in his head, was unconscious and spent a month in the hospital getting care.
Hospital staff at Brampton Civic Hospital put a call across to his family asking for permission to have his facial hair shaved off for medical treatments and the family declined saying that the action was against their Sikh status. The hospital has to do it anyway to save the life of a dying old man because not doing it could have led to more fatal consequences and severe infections.
However, this hospital action triggered a Sikhism organisation in Canada, saying Joginder Singh Kaler had never shaved or cut his hair in his entire life. The World Sikh Organisation of Canada (WSO), a non-profit organisation that represents Sikhs in Canada, also said there’s no way Singh could have provided consent for himself and will take up the matter very seriously.
The WSO said the incident has caused the family to be emotionally distressed during a time that is already challenging. The WSO said it has offered to provide cultural sensitivity training to healthcare providers to prevent such incidents. The health system did not comment on this offer.
Here are a few discussions about the religious beliefs against their elders health;
Bobbi commented “Maybe he should try a hospital in India, where the exact same sanitary shave would have happened. Ungrateful cretin shopping for a payout by our weak govt”
Kymeleon reacted “Gimme a break. The beard will grow back.”
Esme vee also reacted “If it were truly a problem, the family would never have allowed an image of his shaven face to be published in the media.”
Christina Kuneke reacted “My son-in-law broke his jaw and cracked his skull in an accident. They shaved his beard and hair for hygienic reasons. It is essential.”
“You would think the family would be thankful for this medical care…. Just like with everything else they want to play the victim. So now the hospital will do what? Deny life saving care for religion? Maybe go back to where you’re from with that mentality”
Carol Jennings commented “If the medical system can just go ahead and override consent and make those decisions without consent, they can do this in EVERY situation. Do I think it was a good decision by the family? No. It’s a dumb one. But consent must always be honoured. Careful what you wish for.”
Jason Lee also commented “The issue may not lie with the family not being appreciative but with them wanting to respect the elder gentleman’s wishes. The hospital called the family. The family said no, do not shave. Hospital did it anyway. Not really any different than respecting or in this case not respecting a DNR. We can appreciate what a hospital does for us while also maintaining boundaries and accepting the consequences. Let’s not over react and somehow make the family a villain just because their religious views differ from yours or mine.”
