Monday, March 11, 2013
OK so Florence Nightingale she's not
I found this item on the website of the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network. Since the TS Life & Hope Network is obviously an anti-euthanasia organization I just had to read about this incident but after reading it at least two times I came to the conclusion there was no pro-euthanasia motivation that I could detect on the part of the nurse involved or her place of work although I do think she and her facility were tragically mistaken. I blame the lawyers. At my workplace for instance one of the co-managers came over one day and we had a kind of impromptu meeting and the gist of it was if a customer is in need of some type of urgent medical attention just call 911 and leave it at that. Attend the person in need but that's it, don't try to help them yourself so I politely said what if someone is choking on a chicken bone can't you perform the Heimlich? I mean by the time the paramedics arrive and he said well ok but you have to be properly trained and certified in these life-saving procedures. Well the reason he gave that you're not supposed to help the person in need besides calling 911 is your workplace can be sued later, YOU could even be sued if something goes wrong. Better to sit back and do nothing and wait for the ambulance to arrive and just hope they're not navigating heavy traffic. Again I blame the lawyers. Interesting scenario though, a lawyer is choking on a chicken bone......
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In almost all states, an individual aiding a victim is covered by the 'Good Samaritan Laws'. The legal status of a business places is a bit foggier, hence the tendency to not render aid. Many workplaces have training and defibrulators and I would think
ReplyDeleteHeimlich and CPR trained restaurant workers would be an asset (think repeat customer & big
tip) But businesses are funny about stuff like that: how many
times we read about some clerk that got fired because they tackled and disarmed a robber...
violating company policy.
What I don't get about the Bakersfield case is if many ordinary workplaces as you say have training and defibrillators you'd think a health-care facility such things would be second-nature. Waiting for the Satster to chime in...
ReplyDeleteI think that whole situation is ever so much bullshit. First the facility said yes it's our policy, next the nurse is on administrative leave, next the family says oh Mama didn't want to be resuscitated anyway. Me personally, I'd be out looking for a job after the facility fired me for doing CPR because I'll be damned I stand by and watch someone die like that. I also understand the nurse is under investigation now from the BON because they felt that it was a bit suspect that a nurse wouldn't hand over the phone to someone willing to help.
ReplyDeleteGood Samaritan laws yes protect you in the event that you're just out in the street. If you have the training ethics really demand that you do something, certainly if you're a nurse and you don't you make all of us look bad. As far as code status goes the default answer is if in doubt treat it as a full code.
I cannot fathom why a facility would have such a policy and I cannot imagine a nurse willing to follow such a policy. I can see working there thinking aw hell it's a situation in extremis but when rubber meets road, I'm going to get fired, because I'd have been on that woman like white on rice. And proud to be fired. That nurse is going to go through life now as 'the nurse who wouldn't do CPR and the woman died'. Better off going to work at Hardees.
I got a headsup on your comment on my mobile phone last night and I agree with everything you've said. It was really cool to see your comment on my mobile web but I also see your point checking your blog out or whatever on your mobile device, in your case your Blackberry it's problematic at times. Other times no problem but I had to use my navigation buttons alot and used up quite a few minutes but again great comment!
ReplyDeleteAgain the more I think about it it is a strange case and as you say ever so much bs. That we've come to this point as a society where a nurse apparently doesn't have to help someone in distress or maybe she does, it isn't clear but she really needs to find another line of work and may she go through life with a bad conscience.
ReplyDeleteAnd if the facility fires her she will have a hell of a time finding a new job.
ReplyDeleteThe facility says she was just following policy, if they decide to fire her it'll be as if they're contradicting themselves. The part that gets me is in the article when she's quoted at the time that she's being "stressed" by the dispatcher on the phone and I'm thinking stress has to be the normal part of a nurse's career otherwise work elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of those horror stories where someone dies while in the
ReplyDeletefinance office of the hospital, filling out insurance forms before
the medical folks will take a look.
When I took my Dad to the ER many years ago of course the first thing the woman we first spoke to said was does he have insurance and then the papers had to filled out. I get it, insurance and paperwork is important, it's a bureaucracy but if someone has a nail wound to the head I thought if it bleeds it leads.
ReplyDeleteTo change the subject somewhat and I'd like to hear Saty's thoughts but what do you think of psychosomatic illness? I'm convinced there are toxic people out there who literally make you sick. I don't mean in a sinister way like they're poisoning you or giving you a nerve agent but within the past say two years I've had a few weird health ailments, rather serious in nature and they eventually passed. Now I could come up with rational reasons why they happened, I did this or that but the pattern is they all happened while working with certain individuals. Sometimes it happens at the tailend of your vacation like you don't want to go back. There's been books written about toxic people but I don't think toxic people know they're toxic.
ReplyDeleteManagement types are often 'carriers'. They cause
ReplyDeleteulcers.
But the carriers never suffer themselves. 'Tis an interesting subject, how many health problems are caused by other people? and yet it's a subjective field hard to prove.
ReplyDeleteI don't know... I have to think about this one a while.
ReplyDeletePsychosomatic would mean that it's not a real illness, just in your mind... that's not what you're talking about.
I gotta think on it.
That word came to mind but I mean people who can make other people literally ill just by being an asshole to work around or they cause stress or whatever. Put another way I think a stressful work environment can make you more susceptible to disease. I remember feeling fine one day and this young manager came around who I couldn't stand and I started sneezing uncontrollably, dunno:)
ReplyDeleteThere are people who put such an emotional drain on me that I cannot bear to be around them. (Now, in fairness, maybe I'm more susceptible or more sensitive to that kind of thing because of all my stuff.) I know even of people ONLINE, that I never deal with in person, who have that effect on me. I had to take one girl off my FB list because of it.
ReplyDeleteCertainly stress is implicated in any number of diseases and in immune response. And things like emotions are contagious and some people are real generous about sharing theirs when they're shitty.
I work with a girl like that. Now I am the first person to tell you that I have pissy days where I'm not really fit to be around humans. BUT, at the very least, I don't share it. I want to be left completely alone, essential interactions only, don't start nothin won't be nothin kind of day. So at least I'm isolated; you can ignore me (and I'm hoping you do). But there's another girl I work with who when she's in a bad mood the first thing she wants to do is go to everyone and share it. And it brings everyone down and wrecks the whole flow of the unit. So yeah, I know what you mean.
There is some evidence that hypochondria is a reverse placebo
ReplyDeleteeffect. Whether conciously or unconciously, perception/mind stimuli can affect physiology.
The mind/body link path is usually
subconcious, but may vary from person to person. Believing a placebo is a real med can have a
positive effect; believing a stiff
neck is a symptom of some awful
disease can have a negative effect. More intriguing is the
rare 'ability' to project physiological perceptions on others: the serious hypochondria
Munchausen Syndrome (seeking needless surgeries, etc) is sometimes rarely projected on
others- the Munchausen Syndrome
By Proxy . The whole mind/physiology relation may relate
to the evolved mammal 'fight or flight' response. Interesting stuff, good to be aware of.
Interesting. Were there any House episodes that dealt with this?
ReplyDeleteHe probably was distracted trying to bed Dr. Cuddy, but if the symptoms showed up, he would correctly diagnose and promptly
ReplyDeleteinsult the victim....I kinda miss
ol House.
I think the show jumped the shark when he bedded Cuddy and then later on after he drove into her living room and wound up in prison. I mean stick with the tropical diseases already!
ReplyDelete