A teenager stares at the cold linoleum floor, wincing as the words fall past his ears from outside the door. The nurses speak of him with disdain, as he's made more work for them. They talk about how stupid it is, that he must be seeking attention, that he doesn't deserve the same level of care that those with accidental injuries do.
His mother is in this hospital, three floors up, dying as he sits in the emergency room. His father left when he was three, and he is facing being alone, losing the one link to his family that he has left. He cut himself, because it's the only thing that can help the pain go away.
The doctor comes into the room, glaring at the young man, grabbing his arm roughly and shoving it down against the tray table. No anesthetic is given as he begins to stitch up the wounds.
"Excuse me," the young man interrupts softly, his voice shaking with barely-restrained pain. "That hurts."
"You shouldn't have done it in the first place," the doctor replies grimly, and continues to suture the boy, uncaring, indifferent.
Does this upset you? It should. It's how a lot of medical professionals view self-injury and self-inflicted wounds; they're a bother, a burden, and the people who did such things don't deserve the same level of care. The patients are discussed in the break room, and talked about as if they aren't there. A person is screaming out in pain and the professionals simply don't care, because they hurt themselves.
If you think this doesn't happen, think again. I know a lot of medical professionals, and they all have similar views - that it's a royal pain to have "one of those cutters" come in. And God help you if you have a mental illness labeled on your chart, because that will stigmatize you for life. Recently, a medical professional I know disparaged me for having "friends that are on very strong drugs with very bad problems," due to the fact that a friend of mine has bi-polar disorder, and is on Lithium for it. A chemical imbalance apparently is still enough to make you a leper.
Why do we do this? Why are we so afraid of people that have problems? You can't catch it, and it doesn't make your life any worse. Offer some compassion for someone in pain and you would be a better person for it. What does it give you to make someone who is already obviously feeling bad worse? What does it do for you? Why is it so hard to be kind to someone in pain, simply because they've "given you a little more work" to do that day?
Why must self-injurers be treated as inhuman, as not deserving of anesthetic? Why must someone who is in a position to be kind, to even change someone's life with a bit of compassion, treat a person in pain like a travesty upon humanity?
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