Inhumane Treatments

3 Sometimes I just don't think doctors take the time to think about the patient at all. Without specific details I just want to mention a recent situation that just breaks my heart.

A patient was debrided at the bedside. Very large abdominal wounds, with wound vacs. Initially he offered to let the RN bolus her off the PCA, but I heard afterwards he even changed his mind about that. (All the nurse could do was stand there at the bedside and help the patient hit the button as often as she could.)

The screams coming from the room were wrenching and sad, though she only cried out loud enough for us to hear twice in the THIRTY minutes he was physically debriding her.

It absolutely broke and enraged my heart. She deserved a fat dose of dilaudid and a shot of versed...at least.

Tait

PS. As always, please feel free to share your stories on the subject. Last edit by Tait on Jun 28, '10
I had the same thing happen to me when I had MRSA. No insurance and 2nd hosp. The nurse told the dr that I hadnt had anything yet and his reply? I dont have time to wait... She held my hand and cried the whole time he was cutting me open on my abdomen. My mother heard me before her elevator doors opened. I was at the end hall in isolation... It was bad. Some ppl need a LOT more compassion...

Yeah, because no nurse has ever been uncompassionate.

Quote from AbeFrohmanYeah, because no nurse has ever been uncompassionate.

Quote from AbeFrohmanYeah, because no nurse has ever been uncompassionate.

Sounds like that physician needs to be reported.

I reread my post and I am confused... I meant to reflect that the nurse was crying for me. She helped me in other ways after I was discharged. The Dr was disciplined and no I didnt sue.

I'm (almost) a new grad and haven't had any experience with situations like this yet. Hypothetically, couldn't the RN have advocated for her patient better? Couldn't she have pulled in the charge nurse to help intervene? That patient suffered a horrible, traumatic experience: having abdominal surgery/debridement (same thing kinda) without good painkillers/anesthesia?!?! Hello! Doctors are not God. Nurses need to step up to the plate, grow a pair, and advocate for their patients better. Hey, let me cut you open and scrape your insides while you scream in pain and terror for 30 minutes. Really sick.

As a student, I watched a DPM aggressively debride a huge diabetic foot ulcer... without any premedication at all. It almost made me ill (I turned white and got all woozy). It wasn't the gore that got me squeamish, it was the pain of the scalpel scraping off the tissue.This was the same jerk who D/C'd a patient whose foot he'd just amputated for a 10-hour drive with no pain meds at all.

Quote from bearscrubs75I'm (almost) a new grad and haven't had any experience with situations like this yet. Hypothetically, couldn't the RN have advocated for her patient better? Couldn't she have pulled in the charge nurse to help intervene? That patient suffered a horrible, traumatic experience: having abdominal surgery/debridement (same thing kinda) without good painkillers/anesthesia?!?! Hello! Doctors are not God. Nurses need to step up to the plate, grow a pair, and advocate for their patients better. Hey, let me cut you open and scrape your insides while you scream in pain and terror for 30 minutes. Really sick.

Quote from bearscrubs75. Nurses need to step up to the plate, grow a pair, and advocate for their patients better.

Oh my... that is horrible.

In 1978 my wife was in the hospital because she was having vaginal bleeding. They suspected she was pregnant but the tests, including what passed for ultra-sound then, had been inconclusive.Well, at 0300 all doubts were erased when she had a miscarriage. The ob on call came in and proceded to do a D&C right there in the bed with no anesthesia or pain meds. My wife said the two nurses in the room were both crying and were about to get sick. This was a two bed room and the other patient had to just lay there while this was going on six feet away. When he was finished, the ob turned around and walked out without saying a word. He didn't order anything for post procedure pain, just wrote discharge orders.My wife was 19 at the time. I was not called and informed as to what was going on so she had to lay there and deal with this until I showed up around 0900. Both of us were young and dumb so we didn't even think of filing any kind of complaint or lawsuit. Back then we were raised to believe doctors were gods and always right. I just wish I had known then what I know now.