Jane I had a run in with the nurses at the now closed St Vincents.
Kevin, my partner was in the final stages of AIDS. The KS had attacked his lungs which where pretty scarred from a bad bout of pneumocystis pneumonia, he weighed 98 lb. He was rushed to the hospital when we realized his blood started pooling in his back.
They rushed him to the ward where they put people who are on their way out. He was still lucid when we got him into his room and into bed. Lying flat he could barely breathe so his sister and I adjusted the bed to an almost upright posistion and found a few extra pillows to prop im up into a semi seated position where he could breathe freely.
Suddenly like a bat out of hell this nurse runs into the room and says: "What are you doing?" and proceeds to lower the bed and remove all the pillows. Poor Kevin started gasping for air. Then she yelled at us, "You are not supposed to do this I am! I will be back in a moment and we will start him on his morphine drip! Three hours pass and she did not return. I found the head nurse and complained. The head nurse showed up immediately and got the drip in place. Bat Out of Hell Nurse was hanging out in the nurses station chatting about what she had just had for dinner across the street.
I was allowed to stay the night, I kept going to Bat Out Of Hell nurse and asked her for things like water and cotton swaps to moisten his lips, more blankets for when he began to violently shake. She never once raised a finger but glared at me, then went on with the other nurses talking about her mannicure and how she was dissappointed to to be invited to this one's Christmas Party or that one's Christmas party. At one point I yelled, "Why the F don't you just do your job?"
The head Nurse came to me on my way back to the room and asked if there was a problem. I said yes there was but I didn't want to discuss it until this ordeal was over. She agreed. Kevin died that night in my arms. We made the funeral arraingements and as I was leaving the ward the head nurse came up to me and asked me to follow her. I did. In the Nurse's station all the night shift nurses were standing in a line. I said, "To all of you who helped tonight, I thank-you, however you, you who were more concerned about your nails or feeding your fat ass or not being invited to Christmas party gatherings then to care for the patients in your charge I have NO USE FOR. When someone comes in here to die, it is your job to make them comfortable! If that means finding a way to hang then from the ceiling by ropes then God Dammit that is what you do!" "I was doing my job." She anwered. "I want your job where I can sit here in the Nurses Station and Gossip all night and tal;
king about what I ate." Then I really melted down.... "Maybe if you laid off the late night large meals and donuts and, oh I don't know, actually worked and got fit Michael would have invited you to his Christmas Party!".
The head nurse met me at the elevator and thanked me. She said I had taught the entire overnight staff a valuable lesson. She said, "Sometimes they have to hear that from someone other then their supervisors.
Two weeks later walking home late from work, I was Bat From Hell nurse outside the ER stuffing her face and smoking, seems she got busted to Graveyard shift there.
Those Blocked: SueStorm. N2N Nate. Good riddence to stupid! Rad-Z, shill begone!
Updated On: 9/2/13 at 12:34 AM