Garth Rattray

Earlier this year, I was moved to write about the victims of gun crimes who are considered fortunate survivors because they were 'only' shot and injured - when, in fact, many of these 'lucky' victims, their families and care-givers are sentenced to a lifetime of unimaginable suffering and need. The con-straints of space will only allow me to provide one example. There is a young man I have known since his boyhood and have watched him grow into an incredibly decent, caring, responsible, progressive and hard-working young man - just the kind of person whom our country desperately needs.

No witnesses

He was about his job when gunmen came to kill the proprietor of the business place that he happened to be in and, since they wanted no witnesses to their heinous act, they attempted to murder everyone there. He was shot five times and left for dead. Bullets tore into his head, face, lower and upper back and neck. His injuries paralysed him from his neck down and landed him in the hospital for months.

Almost miraculously, he has regained limited use of some of his upper limb muscles but this 6- foot 4-inch, 28-year-old man remains confined to a bed with an in-dwelling urinary catheter and constant, total care from relatives who have sacrificed their lives to feeding, medicating, cleaning, turning and interacting with their stricken loved one.

As obvious as it seems in retrospect, I never realised that many survivors of attempted murder must not only spend the rest of their lives incapacitated, but they must also remain in hiding because someone may attempt to silence them permanently. Consequently, when a Gleaner reporter asked me to link her with my patient, the family respectfully declined - for now. And, when I was asked to visit him, the address was secret. He was not on the veranda taking in the fresh air and enjoying the natural outdoors, he was literally incarcerated inside a closed room with a single, small, draped window.

Significant metamorphosis

The family has undergone significant metamorphosis. One close relative quit her job to assist him while another rented out her business to spend time caring for him. A considerable amount of the family's economic resources is dedicated to his needs (sustenance, hygiene and medical). They have sacrificed, are sacrificing and have no reservations about continuing to sacrifice any and everything for the well-being of their injured family member.

Heart-rending

Even as an outsider and a clinician, seeing this gentle, decent, once vibrant, productive and very active young man confined to a bed, because some wretched criminal dispatched a malevolent minion to kill someone, was exceedingly heart-rending. My distress was made worse by the realisation that our society has been breeding, and continues to breed, brazen, brutal barbarians while abrogating any responsibility for the care of their victims.

We are quick to legislate burdensome, punitive and sometimes oppressive measures in the name of taxation or crime-fighting. However, we officially ignore the weak, the helpless, the many victims of crime and their distraught, suffering families. We treat as 'magnanimous favours' anything that the state chooses to do for some of them. It is only morally right that we legislate support of one kind or another for all victims of crime.

Financial reparation

Survivors often need financial help, psychological and medical care, medi-cations, rehabilitative services, home care, prosthesis and ambulatory devices. The families of the murdered or incapacitated breadwinners need replace-ment income. The state should assist in the burial of all murder victims and the parents of murdered children should receive some financial reparation.

Dr Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice. Email garthrattray@gmail.com. Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com.