Content area
Full text
1. Introduction
Another issue that is not understood is that we have a different notion of what a nuclear family is. If non-Roma are happy saying that your family is your parents and your children, that’s great. But we are not the same. So, if you are a nurse [you need to know], it is of equal importance for me that in the hospital, at the waiting room there are my parents, my children, but also the sister of my parents. And if they are many… imagine, 4 and 4, with their husbands-because they are my uncles-with their children, because maybe I want to say goodbye to them also, because I’m dying! [she explains a hypothetical situation] Well, you might have 20 people there. But people always complain… [referring to some health-care professionals and hospital staff]. Of course, at the organization level I understand… It’s right, I know that there are 2 beds in each room, well I know that maybe having 20 persons next to you can be annoying, and it is also annoying for the Roma person that is dying… But no worries, I would tell my family to be quiet as far as possible…. It’s not a problem, we should be allowed to stay there…! When possible, if we don’t bother anybody, why not? Why we can’t stay there accompanying our relatives? If a non-Roma wants to stay alone, or just with another person, I understand that…. But for me my family are not 4 people, are 20 (…) (Anne, Romani woman).
Anne’s narration illustrates a generalized experience among many Roma families in Spanish hospitals. Most Roma, when they have a relative hospitalized due to a serious illness or risk of death, want to spend as much time as possible with the person and thus accompany the family during these hard times. As Anne explains, for her, family does not mean the nuclear family, but relatives with whom she organizes her life or who she identifies with her home, her culture, or her way of doing things. This manner of care relations reaches beyond the nuclear family towards a more extended one. However, because of how hospitals are arranged in Spain and in many Western countries, situations like Anne’s can often generate...