Willie “Deuce” Wright
Guest Columnist

I don’t like to criticize our hospital. I thank God that we have it in our community, and I know a lot of good people who work there.
But there was a situation that happened Monday night that should have been handled much better.
A young girl who lives in my district was allegedly touched in an inappropriate manner by an older boy. Her mother brought her to King’s Daughters Hospital after learning what happened.
To their credit, the girl was quickly taken back after arriving at the emergency room, but then the family was forced to wait for too long without any answers while there seemed to be no action taken. Police investigators came and went along with officials with the Department of Human Services, but the doctor had still not made an appearance. One excuse that I was given was that it was a shift change, but it seems unreasonable to me that a doctor could not take the time to do something to calm the fears of this child and her mother. The girl was confused, and the mother was understandably upset.
It was about two hours before the family was told they would have to go to Jackson for the tests they needed.
Why couldn’t this have happened much sooner?
I was there, and it seemed to me that there was no sense of urgency until we started complaining. Nothing happened until people started getting upset.
A little reassurance from a doctor or staff member and some updates on what was going on would have helped a lot. I hope that the hospital’s management and those who were on duty that night will think about how this seemed to the family.
I don’t want to be the judge and jury in this case, but what this young girl and her family alleged to have happened is a serious crime. It’s also something that would obviously be very upsetting.
The young girl who arrived at the hospital Monday was scared and confused, and so was her family. In my opinion the whole situation could have been handled with a lot more sensitivity.
Again, I don’t want to put down our hospital, and I know that there are many great people who work there. We just can’t let something like this happen again.
How would you want her to be treated if it was your little girl?
...........................................
Willie Wright is Yazoo County’s District 3 Supervisor.