Navya
Content Warning: These stories are about violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation and may include references to suicide or self-harming behaviours. They may contain graphic descriptions and strong language and may be distressing. Some narratives may be about First Nations people who have passed away. If you need support, please see Contact & support.
Navya is in her late 60s and lives with a major depressive disorder, an autoimmune disease and a range of other conditions. She injured her lumbar spine working as a clinical nurse in a busy hospital, and subsequent surgeries exacerbated her bowel and bladder issues impacting her physical and mental wellbeing. She is incontinent.
Navya was temporarily placed in an orphanage as a young child and isolated from her sisters. Staff would not call her by her name and punished children for wetting the bed, an issue for Navya who had bladder problems.
Navya told the Royal Commission these experiences led her to believe she is ‘nothing and no-one’, which has made it difficult for her to assert herself and seek help for her medical conditions. Navya has problems speaking and, while she won scholarships to attend university, she felt unable to choose a career where she had to speak to people, such as the law or psychology.
‘I know I can speak for myself … but it’s when I am stressed I become that nobody and no-one, with no name.’
Despite her difficulties with communication, Navya became a nurse, and then a continence nurse specialist.
‘[My patients] really enjoy seeing me as a clinician to assist them … they can relate to me very well because I can listen.’
Navya’s marriage was marked by sexual, physical and financial abuse. The couple had four children before her husband left.
Her initial attempts to access counselling to discuss the abuse were ‘quite horrific’. She lost faith in counsellors after one of them tried to seduce her. She now sees a private psychologist who has helped her greatly.
Navya suffered a perforated bowel while holidaying overseas some years ago. She had a lifesaving operation in Greece but developed extreme pain on her return to Australia.
Navya attended hospital but said she was refused medication, treated like a hypochondriac and told she was a ‘waste of space’. Her pain was so great she felt she was about to die, and believes hospital staff would have allowed her to. At no point did they contact her children. Fearing she was going to die, Navya messaged them to say goodbye.
Navya says she doesn’t know how to stop this happening again and feels very vulnerable. She feels that vulnerable people should not have to feel afraid of going to the hospital and being seen as time wasters. They should be ‘treated politely’.
When Navya was admitted at another hospital a for different illness, medical staff gave her medication she is allergic to, including penicillin. The hospital did not ask her about her allergies and Navya did not know what medications she was taking. Two days passed before her daughter realised and intervened. Navya believes the penicillin may have caused the oedema that developed at the time.
Disclaimer: This is the story of a person who shared their personal experience with the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability through a submission or private session. The names in this story are pseudonyms. The person who shared this experience was not a witness and their account is not evidence. They did not take an oath or affirmation before providing the story. Nothing in this story constitutes a finding of the Royal Commission. Any views expressed are those of the person who shared their experience, not of the Royal Commission.