Priscila, our new Argentine doctor, is here. She’s fun, competent, and passionate about her work here. The only problem is with her English.

Yesterday I translated for her in the ER. We saw a really dehydrated baby who hadn’t had a bowel movement in 3 days. He’d been vomiting for a week and was crying with no tears. Between the two of us and the practical worker in the ER, we managed to get the baby admitted.

Then there was a 16-year-old girl who came in with pelvic pain and excessive vaginal bleeding. We had to get the family away in order to ask her if she could be pregnant. She said she wasn’t pregnant but admitted to some sexual activity a month prior. Priscila had a hunch it was a miscarriage and sent her to the OB/GYN. As soon as the girl stood up, she collapsed from the anemia. (The underside of her eyelids were as white as milk.) It turns out she had been pregnant, and she knew it. She had provoked the abortion and punctured her uterus in the process.

At least her prognosis is better than that of the 17-year-old Adventist girl who tried to pull the same stunt two weeks ago. She ended up with a terrible infection that cost her a leg. Today the doctors decided the infection was so bad that her case was hopeless. They loaded her into the back of a pick-up truck this afternoon, and Joel drove her home so she could die there rather than in the hospital.

For these girls, the risk is worthwhile. If they’re found to be pregnant out of wedlock, they can be disowned. They’re left with no support from their families, no hopes of marriage, and definitely no welfare check.