7th October 2007.

(Notis: Cerita sebenar telah diubah suai dan identiti pesakit telah diubah/dirahsiakan)
Before graduated as a doctor, my lecturers and dean, always reminded us about this again and again ..

"Treat all patients equally..You may encounter all patients from all sort of life..a farmer, a prostitute, a teacher, a gay person...etc etc.. They deserved to be treated as a man, and please don't be prejudice.."

Despite i have been reminded many many times during 5 years course in medical school,,sometimes i forgot that little advice..

It was 7th October 2007. I was oncall that day. It was busy.
Working in Sandakan, i've encountered quite a number of assault cases. People here like to assault other people as often. They fight and assault even for simple issue like the chicken eat their food, the cow eat their grass, etc etc..And most of this people were illegal immigrants usually from the ethnic of B*gis.

On 7th October 2007, i received a call from the ER doctor..

Bond!!!Please go to ER now. Ada assault kes la..3 orang. 1 makcik, 2 ladies. 1 lady sudah expired. They were assaulted by a screw driver..Apparently, the fiancee went amok as the lady refused to marry him.. ok ..ok. i'm on my way now..

While on my way to the ER, my mind already preoccupied with .."this is must be another illegal immigrants who like to fight each other..."

When i reached the ER , i saw two ladies were lying on the bed: a 50 year old makcik (Madam S) and a 20 year old lady, (Miss R).

I attended the makcik first. With an arrogant way , instead asking any pain.. i asked her this question..

"Makcik,,sudah berapa lama ko di Sandakan...ko dari Indon ka.."

The makcik reply: " sudah lama tinggal sini doktor.."
I was harsh and rude..that makcik had multiple superficial cuts over the face, palms, and shoulder. I left her and attended the young lady who is her eldest daughter.

She was in pain and had difficulty in breathing. As the makcik, this lady had multiple cuts over face, upper limbs and chest. Her chest xray showed bilateral pneumothorax. A pneumothorax is a serious surgical condition where an air trapped in between the lungs and chest wall. It is a fatal conditions which needs urgent surgical intervention. We inserted a chest tube (this the treatment) on her chest and her condition was stable.

Both of them were admitted to the surgical ward.

The other lady, who is the youngest daughter of the makcik, (Miss K) died. She was stabbed over the left chest,,and the screw driver had penetrated the heart..causing instant death..

After the patients were admitted, i just realized that my preoccupied thought was wrong..Looking at the patients case notes,,both of them were Malaysian..got IC..
I thought they were an illegal immigrants..
Despite that, i'm still arrogant and didn't ask for sorry.

I met the makcik again..and start suturing her cuts. During suturing, the makcik asking about her youngest daughter..I lied..saying that her daughter was fine.

i left her at 12 midnight and thats the last time i saw her. The next morning she was taken care by my other colleague and she was discharged well.

That case was hot..it was reported over our local newspaper under heading "LOVE TURN INTO HATE".

2 years had passed, then last week 1 police officer came to my surgical clinic and handed over a red letter.

To my surprise..the red letter was from Sandakan high court...asking me to be a witness and give testimony about the case happened on 7th October 2007. I must be in court on 17th November 2009.

I had palpitation..i had never in court before ..whats more being witness in a high profile case. The man, the assailant was charged as a murder. If he is found guilty, he will be hang.
And i'm going to meet the makcik again...

I told my boss about this..and he gave some advice ..trace the case note back,,try to recall back what was happened...be clear answering the questions..and remember be neutral..it's not your role to charge the man as a murder..your duty is just to tell the court what was happened on that day..

On 17th November 2009, i was in court just before 9am. This is my first time in Sandakan court.
I asked the security officer where is the high court..He pointed out..it's at the level 1 ..then turn right.

I went inside the high court.
Then i met 2 lawyers and a clerk. To my right side, was a young malay guy. He is the prosecutor. To my left side was a young malay lady. She is the defendant lawyer.
Both of them were surprised looking at me. I handed over the red letter and saying that i'm a doctor from the hospital..

They replied..Good!! The doctor is here..we can start the case now.

The prosecutor look at me.."First time in court???"
I said Yess..this is my first time.
At 9.15am, i heard aloud bell.. Then the judge went in and took her position. She is a middle age Chinese lady.
We have to stand up and the the clerk stated the case number.."The Prosecutor versus Mr S..."

The hearing started when the prosecutor lawyer told the judge he would like to call me as a witness. The judge gave a nod and the clerk invite me to the witness area.

Before the lawyer ask any question,,i have to give an oath saying that i will tell the court anything but truth.

Then the interrogations started. The prosecutor started interrogating first by asking this questions:

The prosecutor: Hi doctor,,would you like to give an introduction about yourself?
Me: I'm a JBM. I'm a doctor working in .....
The prosecutor: Where do you obtained your degree?
Me: I'm obtained my degree in medicine from UPM in the year 2004.
The prosecutor: Whats your role in the hospital?
Me: Attending patients which require surgical treatment.
The prosecutor: Where were you on the 7th October 2007?
Me: I was oncall that day.
The prosecutor: Before 7th October 2007, how many years you had worked as a doctor in that hospital?
Me: about 2 years.
The prosecutor: How many patients you have treated prior to 7th October 2007?
Me: about 200 patients.
The prosecutor: Do you remember treating patients on the 7th October 2007.
Me: Yes..i'm remember treating Madam S and Miss R.

The prosecutor just asked what are the injuries of Madam S and Miss R had. I explained their injuries and the treatment given. Then the prosecutor asked this 1 final question..

"If i call back Madam S to the court room, would you able to recognize her??

I said YESS...

Then, he called the makcik into the court room.
I gave a nod...showing that i'm still recognize Madam S.

Following that, the defendant lawyer started asking questions..

The defendant: Hi doctor..you just tell the court that you have treated about 200 patients. Do you remember all the 200 patients??
Me: No.
The defendant: So..how come you can remember this particular case??
Me: For us as a doctor, this is very interesting case..where a love turn into hate. Hence, it's much easy to recall this case.
The defendant: I'll show you 2 documents ...Can you tell the court about this documents?
Me: this is a medical reports about Madam S and Miss R.
The defendant: who prepare this document?
Me: i did.
The defendant: When you prepare the documents?
Me: About 1 week, after the incident.
The defendant: Meaning..you didn't prepare the report during examination of Madam S and Miss R??
Me: Yess..
The defendant: So,,how would you sure that the reports were complete??
Me: On 7th October 2007, after examining Madam S and Miss R,,all the detail findings and examinations were recorded into patients case notes. Those reports were based on patients case notes. Very unlikely that the reports were incomplete.
The defendant: Can you tell the court what is the procedure in preparing the medical reports?
Me: When there is a request for a medical report, the officer in charge of medical record unit will inform me to prepare the report. Then, the report is prepared based on the patient case notes.

Thats end the interrogating session. After that i was asked to go outside the court room and stays inside the witness room.

This is where i met the makcik again face to face..

I was speechless and chicken out...i didn't even say hi or says sorry.

(Message:
To DrBond: please remember the advice given from your lecturers. Please keep the advice inside your tiny little brain.

To makcik: nothing much to say..

To the assailant: There are many roses out there. If the lady refuse to marry you,,sure you can find other roses.. It's too late now,,you are going to be hang soon)