Merely Me,
Although nothing as serious happened, when my older daughter was 19 and took an overdose of antianxiety meds, I took her to the ER at a local hospital. The medical staff who worked on her expressed very negative attitudes toward her in talking to her, because she'd attempted suicide. Thankfully, she doesn't remember much that happened for a couple of days. My daughter had taken the pills at night, and I didn't know till the next morning. Even a good friend of mine who came to the hospital to be with us asked me if I wasn't mad at her. I was not, as I'd had suicidal thoughts in the past myself and had once taken more Xanax than I should. I knew the painful feelings a person has when suicidal and could not be angry with my child for acting on those feelings. I was just glad that the amount of medication she took was not enough to do permanent damage. She had actually been able to get up and call in to work to tell them she wouldn't be able to work. When I went into her room to talk to her, I found the empty bottle which had been full the night before. I don't think it's right for nurses and other hospital staff to show their judgmental attitudes toward those they are treating. Having a negative opinion about what someone has done is okay; being open and showing it to the patient is not professional and can be damaging.
patsy
Oh Patsy
Thank god you found her!
You are so right...negativity and anger...it is not helpful in such a situation. I am not sure how some medical staff are trained but they need to have some education...in my opinion...of how to properly deal with such situations. Especially in the ER.
Thank you so much for sharing your story and that a tragedy was avoided.
I wonder if they were RNs or CNTs, as I cannot understand how someone who trained to get a Bachelors for the nursing profession could act like that towards a patient. Of course, you also have the almighty doctors who abuse their patients as well. I wish the lady had sued the stupid "nurses" and the hospital. That is a lawsuit I support. Anxiety and depression are both illnesses that hurt the body, much like RA or MS or a broken leg. Worse than the broken leg really because a broken leg can be fixed, while RA, MS or anxiety require continuous treatment.
Forgot to add, medical people's notes can affect your care in the future. I had breathing issues, went to the hospital, they asked if I smoked, I said I used to but it had been several years.....now my records indicate I smoke, which is untrue...but you know, it doesn't matter what I tell them they inform me the hospital record is correct. I know it isn't, I used to do transcription - so I KNOW mistakes get made (never by me, of course).
Hi Pat
I hear you!
What is written down can affect your treatment in an adverse way. The minute a new doc saw Prozac written in my chart...I was treated very differently and assumptions were made that impacted the quality of my care.
The last I saw of that news story...the nurses were fired but not sure if they could just pick up and work somewhere else. Their names were not released at the time of the news story.
The thing that got me and I assume a lot of readers was that they thought it was funny.
Thanks so much for your comments. Hope to hear more from you!
I have never been physically abused when availing myself of health care. I have, however, been insulted by doctors when espressing a medical complaint. When I was a teenager and trying to explain the feelings heart palpitations were giving me, I told him that I felt a "glub glub" feeling in my chest. He told me that there was nothing in his doctor book about "glub glubs" in the chest and he couldn't help me. (Wasn't he cute and showed how he was so much smarter than a 14-year-old girl!) Not three months ago my cardiologist, at the time, told me that I did not have high blood pressure, but instead hypertension. Everybody has the opportunity to be a fool as long as they cause no real harm. But the example of the taped mouth is stupid at best and vicious at worst.
For anyone to suggest that a patient be restrained or silenced with tape over the mouth is outrageous. I believe that a patient who is completely out of control and is a danger to himself or others should be sedated if that is the only way to protect others and himself. To suggest that an addict does not deserve the respect and proper care as one would give a diabetic in crisis is absolutely barbaric and displays the height of ignorance. All that brutal behavior suggests is that the medical staff does not observe (or know) protocol or that its members are inadequately trained or they simply enjoy their power over the helpless. The nurses should have been fired or maybe even lost their licenses.
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A shocking story! There is no reason and no excuse for ever treating any patient this way. You would think that ICU nurses especially would be more sensitive since they deal with the most severely ill patients.
I know there are still a lot of unanswered questions, but I can't imagine any answers that would justify this kind of cruel and dangerous behavior.
Thank you for sharing this story. You inspired me to write about it as well on the Chronic Pain site: Chronic Pain Patient's Mouth Taped Shut by ICU Nurses
When I heard this story...I had to tell you about it Karen...because I know that you have so many members with chronic pain who would be outraged as well.
There is just no excuse for this type of behavior...what on earth would cause a medical professional to act in this way and to jeopardize their career?
Let's hope that this story is a reminder to the medical community that mistreatment and abuse is never acceptable.
Thanks so much for your comment and also for writing your post. I will be by to comment very soon. sorry for the delay!