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സ്വവര്‍ഗാനുരാഗം പാപമാണെന്നു പറഞ്ഞു; ഇന്ത്യന്‍ നേഴ്‌സ് പുലിവാല്‍ പിടിച്ചു

Published on 23 November, 2011
സ്വവര്‍ഗാനുരാഗം പാപമാണെന്നു പറഞ്ഞു; ഇന്ത്യന്‍ നേഴ്‌സ് പുലിവാല്‍ പിടിച്ചു

ഡിപ്രഷനുമായി വന്ന സൈനിക വനിതയൊടു ഇത്തിരി ദെവകാര്യം പറഞ്ഞതേയുള്ളു ഡാളസ് വെറ്ററന്‍ അഫയേഴ്‌സ് ഹോസ്പിറ്റലില്‍ നേഴ്‌സ് പ്രാക്റ്റീഷണറായ ലിന്‍സി പാണ്ടിദുരൈ. തല്‍കാലം ജോലിയില്‍ നിന്ന് മാറ്റി നിര്‍ത്തി എന്നു മാത്രമല്ല കേസിലും കുടുങ്ങിക്കുടായ്കയില്ല.
അവരെ പിരിച്ചു വിടണമെന്നാവശ്യപ്പെടുന്ന ഓണ്‍ലൈന്‍ പെറ്റീഷനു 14,000 -ഓളം ഒപ്പുകളും കിട്ടി. ഇനി എത്ര കിട്ടുമെന്നു കണ്ടറിയണം.
സംഭവങ്ങളൂടെ തുടക്കം ഇപ്രകാരം.മറീന്‍ ലാന്‍സ് കോര്‍പോറല്‍ ആയിരുന്ന എസ്തര്‍ ഗരറ്റി, (28 വയസ്) കാലിനു പരുക്കു പറ്റിയതിനാലാണുസൈനിക സേവനം നിര്‍ത്തിയത്. അതിനു ശേഷം ഉണ്ടായ ഡിപ്രഷനും പോസ്റ്റ് ട്രൗമാറ്റിക് ഡിസോര്‍ഡറിനും ചികിത്സക്കുവന്ന അവരെ കണ്ട പാടെ ലിന്‍സി ചോദിച്ചത് ലെസ്ബിയന്‍ ആണോ എന്നാണെന്നു എസ്തര്‍ പറയുന്നു. തുടര്‍ന്നു സ്വവര്‍ഗാനുരാഗം പാപമാണെന്നും ദൈവ നിന്ദയാണെന്നും മറ്റും ഉപദേശിച്ചു. യേശുവിനാല്‍ രക്ഷിക്കപ്പെട്ടിട്ടുണ്ടോ എന്നും മറ്റും കൂടി ചോദിച്ചുവത്രെ. (ജീസസ് ക്രൈസ്റ്റ് എന്ന പേരു അശ്ലീലമാണെന്നു പാകിസ്ഥാനില്‍ ടെലികോം അതോറിട്ടി പറഞ്ഞിട്ടുദിവസങ്ങളെ ആയുള്ളു.)

See two reports

A wounded lesbian Marine veteran who sought mental health treatment at the Dallas VA Medical Center claims she was subjected to an extended anti-gay tirade by a nurse practitioner.

Esther Garatie, 28, a former Marine lance corporal who lives in Dallas, has filed complaints against the nurse practitioner, Lincy Pandithurai of Cedar Hill, with both the VA Medical Center and the Texas Board of Nursing.

Garatie and her friend, Jessica Gerson, have also launched an online petition at Change.org calling for Pandithurai to be fired. By Thursday, Oct. 27, the petition had more than 1,300 signatures.
Pandithurai didn’t return phone messages left at the VA Medical Center or her residence in Cedar Hill.

Garatie, a native of New Orleans who moved to Dallas earlier this year, said she was honorably discharged from the Marines in 2006 after severely injuring her leg while on active duty.

She said she went to the Dallas VA Medical Center on Oct. 12 to seek treatment for severe depression and possible post-traumatic stress disorder — including thoughts of suicide.

In a three-page written statement about the incident, Garatie alleges that Pandithurai inquired about her sexual orientation at the outset of their meeting. After Garatie responded that she was a lesbian, Pandithurai told Garatie she was living in sin and said that was the reason for her mental health issues, according to the statement.

“She sat down and looked at me, and her first question was, ‘Are you a lesbian?’” Garatie wrote in the statement. “Her second question to me was, ‘Have you asked God into your heart? Have you been saved by Jesus Christ?’ This is when I realized that I was no longer a United States veteran in her eyes, I was just a homosexual.”

The session lasted for more than three hours, with Pandithurai citing the Bible and repeatedly telling Garatie she was living in darkness and would be doomed to hell if she didn’t “come back to ‘the light,’” according to the statement.

Pandithurai told Garatie she could change her sexual orientation. Pandithurai also told Garatie homosexuality was a diagnosable condition until President Barack Obama changed that, the statement alleges.

Penny Kerby, a spokeswoman for the VA Medical Center, confirmed that Garatie’s complaint is under investigation.

“VA North Texas Health Care System does not tolerate discrimination on any level and takes any allegation of such behavior seriously,” Kerby said in a statement. “Each employee who interacts with every veteran patient is expected to demonstrate our core values of integrity, commitment, advocacy, respect and excellence. This allegation is being investigated and if substantiated, appropriate measures will be taken to address the issue.”

Bruce Holter, a spokesman for the Texas Board of Nursing, said the agency doesn’t comment on investigations that are in progress.

The state’s Standards of Nursing Practice prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, Holter said.

According to the board’s website, Pandithurai has been registered as a nurse in Texas since 1993, with no previous disciplinary action against her.

Garatie said she’s not the type of person who would normally try to get someone fired, but she wants to prevent the same thing from happening to other gay veterans — particularly after the recent repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition October 28, 2011

 

- A nurse practitioner at the Dallas Veterans Affairs Medical Center has been pulled from seeing patients and placed on administrative duties as the hospital investigates an allegation that she harassed a lesbian veteran with an anti-gay rant.

According to a report in the Dallas Voice, former Marine Lance Cpl. Esther Garatie, 28, went to the Dallas VA Medical Center on Oct. 12 to “seek treatment for severe depression and possible post-traumatic stress disorder -- including thoughts of suicide.”

Garatie, who was wounded and honorably discharged from the Marines, claims that nurse practitioner Lincy Pandithurai told her that the reason she was depressed and contemplating suicide was because she is a lesbian.

In the wake of this incident, Garatie and her friend, Jessica Gerson, launched a petition on Change.org calling on the Dallas VA and the Texas Board of Nursing to investigate and fire Nurse Pandithurai. On Monday, after 12,000 supporters signed the petition, Monica Smith, a spokeswoman for the VA Medical Center, confirmed to Change.org in an email that nurse Pandithurai will no longer see patients while the Dallas VA reviews the complaint and completes its investigation, which is expected to conclude by the end of the month.

"We started a fact-finding review when this allegation was first brought to our attention," Smith said. "To get a more in-depth look at the allegation, VA North Texas is now conducting an administrative investigation board review and expects to have that completed by the end of November. The nurse named in the allegation is currently placed on administrative duties while the investigation is ongoing."

Gerson, who started the Change.org petition with Garatie, said that she’s been trying to tell Esther’s story to anyone who will listen in hopes of convincing the VA to investigate and potentially fire the nurse.

"This campaign isn't just about helping Esther -- it's about protecting other gay and lesbian service members from having to deal with this kind of hate and bigotry, especially after they’ve given so much in service of our country," said Gerson.

Gerson believes that if enough people demand that the Dallas VA Medical Center investigate Nurse Pandithurai, she could be forced from her job. That’s something the Dallas VA Medical Center indicated could happen if the allegations against Nurse Pandithurai are found to be credible.

"VA North Texas Health Care System does not tolerate discrimination on any level and takes any allegation of such behavior seriously," said Smith. "Each employee who interacts with every veteran patient is expected to demonstrate our core values of integrity, commitment, advocacy, respect and excellence. This allegation is being investigated and if substantiated, appropriate measures will be taken to address the issue."

 

 

സ്വവര്‍ഗാനുരാഗം പാപമാണെന്നു പറഞ്ഞു; ഇന്ത്യന്‍ നേഴ്‌സ് പുലിവാല്‍ പിടിച്ചു
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