Lesson 4 Crossing the Border —Médecins Sans Frontières —
Section 3 本文
3
  The most difficult thing/about our work at Madhu/was making decisions.// We had to think about the local situation,/because looking at the situation/through Western or Japanese eyes/could lead us to make wrong decisions.// Since our medicine/as well as our medical equipment/was very limited,/we had to look at each situation/as it happened/and choose the best thing to do.//
  I clearly remember the day/when a woman brought her five-year-old boy/to our hospital.// I saw immediately/that he was beyond help.// We gave him oxygen,/but he was pale,/his breathing was difficult,/and the oxygen mask made him uncomfortable.// He was not improving.// We were using our last tank of oxygen.// We didn’t know/when the next tank was coming.// If another person needing oxygen arrived,/maybe this tank could save his or her life.// I made my decision/and made a sign to the nurse/who was working with me/to turn off the oxygen.// The nurse simply couldn’t do it.// I waited five seconds/and then turned it off myself.// I did it/because I thought it best/to leave the child in the hands of God.// Was that the right decision?// I still don’t know.//

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