Maid out of coma after lethal leap
Recovery may take months
A Filipina maid has come out of a coma after she jumped from a three-storey building on New Year’s day.
Jesusa Baltazar, for reasons that still remain unclear leapt out of her sponsors house leaving her comatose for four days. An operation and continuo’s treatment helped her cause.
She has been placed under a 24-hour watch at the hospital.
Her case baffles both hospital staff and sponsor because, unlike other cases of maids jumping off a building, Jesusa was not really running away.
She still appeared disoriented and incoherent when the Tribune visited her.
Maid out of coma after lethal leap
Recovery may take months
A Filipina maid has come out of a coma after she jumped from a three-storey building on New Year’s day.
Jesusa Baltazar, for reasons that still remain unclear leapt out of her sponsors house leaving her comatose for four days. An operation and continuo’s treatment helped her cause.
She has been placed under a 24-hour watch at the hospital.
Her case baffles both hospital staff and sponsor because, unlike other cases of maids jumping off a building, Jesusa was not really running away.
She still appeared disoriented and incoherent when the Tribune visited her.
“I was not running away. My sponsor treated me very well, I don’t really want to die,” she said.
But she would not explain further. She said she was only very concerned about her family back home.
She arrived in Bahrain in August.
Doctors suspected she may be undergoing some stress or she may be mentally disturbed.
But Jesusa is not yet categorised as a mental case and has not been moved to a psychiatric unit.
According to medical staff, there are no clear signs that she qualifies as a mental patient. She remains in a regular ward at the Salmaniya.
She is fully cooperating with hospital staff who are helping her undergo a full recuperation stage.
She sustained injuries in her head, multiple fractures in her ribs, spine and both legs.
Doctors operated on her and inserted a “stabiliser” tube in her back to help recovery of her spinal column.
“It was quite a miracle that she survived. From what we were told she jumped off from quite some height,” a hospital staff said.
It will take weeks and even months for Jesusa to recover. She could not walk as yet but doctors said she will be fitted with prosthetics soon to help her walk.
An ambulance brought Jesusa to the hospital after neighbours found her unconscious on a pavement early morning of January 1.
Jesusa celebrated her 40th birthday on January 2.
The Tribune learned from sources that Jesusa was being treated well by her sponsors. She was paid regularly and was not subjected to any maltreatment.
One of Jesusa’s acquaintance told the Tribune that she appeared depressed just before New Year, after calling relatives back home.
Her sponsor regularly visited her at the hospital since she was admitted.
Jesusa is from Nueva Ecija, north of the Philippines. Her relatives had not yet been informed about her case.
Last year at least six cases of maids of different nationalities jumping off a building to escape employers were reported.
Article from: Bahrain Tribune Newspaper- www.BahrainTribune.com