'How do you train a person to care?'

meredith_e Z7b, Piedmont of NC, 1000' elevation

16 years ago

Not so long ago there was the call to 911 from a different kind of hospital without full facilities that went so horribly, but this is particularly stomach-turning... a real hospital where real 911 call patients are taken.

The days of the trustworthy family doc making housecalls are certainly over, but this is the US! God help us all :(

I had a great experience at the ER this past week, and several before, I do want to note. OK, hardly a thing was wrong and they weren't busy, but they seemed on top of things and certainly didn't seem the type to let a woman die on the floor as the janitor mopped around her...

I say JAIL at this point. Seriously. Doctors, etc aren't God and they aren't untouchable, are they? I swear this feels criminal, IMHO.

The 911 operator [the 2nd call in the link] sounded so annoyed with the call - I heard it on abc this morning. They could have taken the lady to a different hospital, surely, but he seemed uninterested in thinking outside of the box.

I want y'all as my 911 staff, docs, nurses, cops etc! What is wrong with some people? So sad.

Here is a link that might be useful: woman dies in ER with no help

Comments (7)

pagan
16 years ago
ok, I watched enough to ruin my morning. Gotta wonder what was going on in those people's heads... poor lady.
pete41
16 years ago
Been in a few emergency wards lately myself.
First they want to know who is paying for it.
Secondly they don't want to be bothered by patients.
They have their routine and rituals to perform.I was laying there going in and of it but they got to me and were friendly.
Bottom line-the feeders down there make it mandatory that all procedures be followed to the T.They can not afford to care.
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meredith_e Z7b, Piedmont of NC, 1000' elevation
Original Author
16 years ago
Yeah, my only personal [as in me, not my family] irritation in the ER was due to 'standard procedure' stuff. After a serious cut to my upper back thigh the dude wheeling me in made me sit on the cut in the wheelchair or he wouldn't take me in - he wouldn't let me sit on one hip due to some policy, he said.

The triage lady didn't look at the cut and was going to have me wait in the seats until I said "What about all the blood?" and she said "Are you still bleeding?" Umm, yeah. Some guy had told me not to cry so I probably looked less injured than I was to her. Once they looked at it things seemed much more reasonable.

Oh the days of minor irritations like that! There's some serious abuse going on nowadays, IMHO, and I can't figure out how we all let it get so out of control and unpunished :(

Sorry for the downer - hey it was on the news this morning and I just couldn't believe it!
michaelalreadytaken
16 years ago
Yep. Good old Harbor Hospital.

That place has been making news for years and years and years.

As a public hospital, its political history is well worth noting.

Of course it should be shut down. It should have been shut down many years ago.

MichaelAT
athenainwi
16 years ago
Did you see the movie "The Death of Mr. Lazarescu"? It's based on the true story of a patient in Hungary who was taken to several hospitals and then left to die. I hate to think of that kind of thing happening here. But I think what happens is that the people that care get burned out in an ER and the people who are left are just trying to get through the day.
madame_hardy
16 years ago
I didn't read the link, but that is so sad...

I haven't been ever pleased with our *local* hospital, care wise.

Not long ago my husband was hit in the eyeball by my daughter's sharp fingernails while they were playing around, and it actually cut the eyeball, leaving a visible flap, and of course, severe pain. We took him in at 10:30 p.m. because he couldn't tough it out and sleep through the night. I've never heard him make a peep from pain in 20 years, but he was actually moaning.

We told them what had happened, and they had us wait for a "special room" to be ready (optical) until freakin' 1:00 a.m. They did turn down the lighting where we were sitting, but offered no pain med or timely assistance. Meanwhile, the welfare recipient walk-ins were walking in and being taken right back for their midnight "My back hurts" or "she's been sniffling a lot for a week" complaints.

When they FINALLY took him back to be seen by the nurse, she said that his eyeball was leaking so much fluid that it might be ruptured (?!!??)but still, because of "standard procedure", she tried to force him to read an Eye chart! He was doubled over with pain and couldn't uncover his eye to open it, let alone read something. Finally we were like, "B-tch, he can't SEE. Get the DOCTor." She was horrid and unsympathetic, "You have to at least try."

Then he gets seen, and they sent us out into the night withOUT a patch, (yes, uncovered!) withOUT any pain killer, withOUT any samples of painkillers. Just a Rx to fill...So we went by the only Walgreen's in the area, but the line was too long, so we thought, we'll just stop at the one closer to home (20 minute drive). We got THERE and realized the place was closed, so at 2 a.m. (with both kids asleep in the car) we drive 20 BACK to the original Walgreens and finally get him some pain meds.

"Night"mare indeed.

And to answer the original question: You can't train people to care. Either they do, or they don't.
taureau
16 years ago
The question ask, "How do you train a person to care?" I really don't think you can "train" anyone to care. It has to an innate feeling. You either care or you don't care. The story is indeed sad. Why did those care givers go into that profession?