When a mother or father comes to the clinic with twins but only one of them is sick then you still have to see both of them, prescribe the same meds and try nòt to make a difference at all between the two of them.
An 11 year old boy came to the clinic yesterday afternoon. He played soccer with some friends and got hit real hard in the abdomen. He threw up many times and was in so much pain that I diagnosed him with a perforated intestin. I explained his parents (and a bunch of other people who came with them) the medical problem and advised them to go to a more specialised hospital. So they did. So I thought.....
The morning after I heard they went home yesterday. Reason is this boy is one of a twin. In the Haitian culture (at least in this area of Haiti) that means that his twin sister caused the problem. There is a inseparated love and jealousy between twins. The girl is forced to perform some kind of thing to get her brother better again. So if he dies she will get the blame for it.
Getting hurt while playing soccer and then ending up in a twin-feud. I have no words for it.
