Ang Kape Ni LaTtEX

May Leong only wanted to be able to earn enough money to bring her mother on a trip abroad, but her work literally killed her.

Although the official cause of death has yet to be ascertained, her family members believe she died from pulmonary embolism caused by deep vein thrombosis. Two weeks before her death, a blood clot formed at her legs; when she stood up after long hours of working, the blood clot shot up to her heart and caused her to collapse.

Her blog reveals how much stress she suffered, and perhaps, a premonition of her own death:

I really thought I was able to do everything, that I can be supergirl as well, but my health is worsening at a fast rate. Vitamin M(oney) isn’t gonna cure my health. Just yesterday, I received an email from my job agency saying that a contract staff who’s working in HP as well, passed away from heart attack, leaving his wife & kids… deja vu? coincidental? a warning sign? [May Leong]

It also reveals how she avoided seeing a doctor simply because, as a contract employee, no work means no pay:

On 18 Apr, Ms Leong fainted at the lobby of her workplace. But she did not want to take medical leave. Nor did she want to quit her job.

‘She was worried because she was on contract. Every time she took medical leave, it would be on no-pay basis,’ said Ms Wong.

Ms Leong wrote in her blog: ‘I’ve got myself sick these few days. Had diarrhoea last Thursday (19 Apr), hurt my knee and was limping badly since last Sunday (15 Apr), had breathlessness since Wednesday (18Apr) and fainted after work on that day at my office lift lobby, knocked my head against the wall when I fainted, collapsed again last night at home.’[TNP]

I remember the time that I suffered from typhoid fever; the doctor informed me that the type of typhoid infection that I had was not caused by any recently acquired strain, but rather through a strain that stayed dormant in my system until the time that my immune system got weak enough. I felt really bad at that time because, since I just renewed my contract position then for a probationary one, I was not yet entitled to health care benefits; neither was I entitled to sick leaves.

So on top of hospital expenses having to come out of my own pocket, my salary was deducted accordingly because I was sick. And I can see no other reason for getting sick at the time other than all the overtime hours I was clocking in (without additional pay). It was only then that I realized that pushing through with that arrangement was such a big mistake. To add insult to injury, 2 months later my daughter got hospitalized as well, requiring me to take unpaid leaves (again) and pay hospital expenses out of my own savings (again).

However, I couldn’t blame my employer, because it was policy and I was fully aware of it. I have since left the company though, and left it for one that is a little whole less stressful both in terms of load and schedule.

While I regret having all those salary deductions, May Leong’s case easily shows that those few thousand bucks (whether in PHPs or SGDs) are not worth losing your life over.