Wednesday, September 28, 2005

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Anna stares in horror as the boy struggles against the raging current of the river. From the bridge, the favorite part of her morning jog, she looks around, desperate. The horizon is empty.

Anna is stymied. She does not know how to swim. But she looks at the boy and knows what she must do.

So she sprints to the end of the bridge, throws herself on her back and careens down the embankment towards the river. Stones tear at her shorts, a dead branch gashes her thigh.

Anna dives into the water. Arms and legs flailing, she wills her body to move in the boy’s direction. A passing log is a godsend. She looks up. Just a few more feet.

She grabs the boy’s hand. “Hold on!” she screams.

“You are a heroine! You could have died, you know,” the paramedic says as he bandages her thigh. She smiles, her face pale. “You will need a transfusion”, he continues. “You lost a lot of blood.”

One year later, a routine physical. The doctor has bad news. He needs her medical history – including any blood transfusions. Anna is HIV-positive.

Six months later, a letter from an insurance company, the fifth one she has applied to. This too denies coverage.


The reason: unacceptable risk.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

uh oh... where did you come across this? " No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" - scary way to begin a morning for me...

Sujatha Bagal said...

It is scary, isn't it. Unfortunately, came out of me.:((

I do hope you have a good day Charu.:)

Anonymous said...

Gosh..this is sad and painful! :((

Minal said...

Sujatha,
Heart-wrenching.
Not been through this tough a situation, but I do agree with you that many a times in life "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished".
Is it why we often ask why life is unfair?

Sujatha Bagal said...

I know, you guys. This was pretty morbid. I was trying to get at the humanity exhibited by the girl and the inhumane treatment of the girl by the insurance companies. Doesn't make it any less morbid...

Sunil said...

Thats an amazingly moving story......

and it sounds so true, almost......

horrible.

Anonymous said...

That is harsh.
One wickedly creative imagination you got there, Sujatha !

:)

Anonymous said...

hey! Sujatha.. thats not true...
unfortunately, our mind just works overtime most of the time...

for all you know.. the 2 things are as connected as
'it is sunday evening and it rains in bangalore' :)

Bhaskar

Sujatha Bagal said...

Hi Sunil, Ash, Bhaskar, unfortunately this could very well happen. There are a lot of cases of people contracting AIDS from transfusions of contaminated blood or from careless partners. It's just so soul-crushing to hear about stories like that.