Prita Mulyasari wasn't looking for fame when she complained to friends via e-mail that hospital staff had misdiagnosed her mumps as dengue fever. But the hospital, in a move it probably now regrets, went on the offensive and took her to court over the e-mail after learning about it.
The 32-year-old mother of two has since become a national symbol for the plight of the little person in Indonesia.
Public sympathy and widespread media coverage has put the Omni International Hospital on the back foot in what many see as a victory for people power.
The hospital dropped its defamation suit last week.
"Prita is a symbol of the many people who are always being denied justice and being defeated by those who have the power," said Sujwartiningsih, a 34-year-old single mother and Jakarta street vendor who sells Batik dresses.
Her ordeal is not over. Prosecutors, at the hospital's behest, also filed criminal defamation charges against her, and she faces up to six months in prison.
A judge is to rule on December 29.
Prita, universally known to Indonesians by her first name, has raised the hopes of this nation of 235 million people that someone without money or connections can fight back against wealth and power and win.
Her case also highlights the vagaries of justice in Indonesia, where, as a bumper sticker puts it, know-how is still trumped by know-who.
In one oft-cited example, Tommy Suharto, the youngest son of authoritarian former President Suharto, spent only five years behind bars for ordering the murder of a Supreme Court judge.
Prita was arrested in May and locked up for three weeks. Her case caught the attention of former President Megawati Soekarnoputri, who was making an unsuccessful bid to return to office.
She made a public prison visit, and Prita was released soon after.
Appearing on TV, she became a media personality for audiences who have donated more than 600 million rupiah ($NZ87,533) to her legal war chest.
A Jakarta law firm offered to represent her pro bono and lodged a countersuit against the hospital. She is seeking one trillion rupiah in damages for physical, mental and emotional pain, her 21 days in jail, loss of income and the cost of her hospitalisation.
The hospital says Prita was tested for dengue but denies a misdiagnosis. A court ruled in the hospital's favor on December 4 and ordered her to pay 204 million rupiah in damages.
Frans Hendra Winarta, a prominent Jakarta trial lawyer and chairman of the Indonesian Advocates Association, said the justice system is stacked against ordinary people.
"Judges and law enforcement agencies ... side with powerful interests like hospitals against poor people," he said. "Authorities protect the businessman with the money."
The ruling sparked a Facebook drive to raise money to pay the damages.
"This is a symbol of the people's resistance against injustice and shows that we can channel people power in a peaceful way to make change," said Enda Nasution, who helped collect donations.
It was a public relations nightmare for the hospital, which dropped the case and demand for damages last week in what it called a "gesture of goodwill."
"I never, never thought that this could happen and it's not over yet," Prita said.
"It's a nightmare because I cannot concentrate on my family, I cannot focus on my babies," she said, adding she has been shocked by the public support.
Prita, however, rejected the hospital's overtures to drop her countersuit and shake hands.
