The little prince

This post about abused domestic slaves reminds me of an incident my mother, a nurse, told me about some years back. A Saudi family brought their young son to the U.S. for medical treatment and she was taking care of him. She had to do something moderately uncomfortable to him; I think it was starting an IV. The little boy started to cry and the roomful of female relatives became agitated. Once she finished with the IV, one woman leaned over and slapped my mother in the face. This was, she explained, so the boy would know that my mother had been punished for hurting him. The hospital was not amused and it did not happen there again, but I'm sure that any home nurses who caused the sick boy discomfort were treated even worse.