Money or your LIFE?

Yesterday, we had a patient come in complaining of gum pain on the left side of his lower jaw. This ex-smoker started having pain in that area for the past several days.

When we examined him, the area in pain did not have a tooth present as it was extracted "a long time ago". However, the area was pain to the touch. We took an x-ray for him to make sure that there wasn't a tooth remnant lying beneath the gums in that area. The x-ray did not show anything buried underneath the gums.

The gums on the other hand had an unusual pattern on the surface and we suspected that it may be pre-cancerous so we referred the patient for a biopsy. If it proves to be cancer, at least, treatment can be started early to save this patient's life.

We made an urgent appointment with the oral and maxillofacial surgeon and prepared the referral documents for the patient. We also dispensed some symptomatic oitment for the patient to tide him over until he is seen by the specialist for the definitive treatment.

The patient took the ointment but refused to pay for both the ointment and the referral. He also did not want to have the biopsy done because he claims to have no money despite being informed that the biopsy was covered by Medisave.

Looks like a mobile phone means more than a LIFE!