# Dope addict nurse steals patient's surgery meds, tells him to "man up".
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-addict-nurse-steals-patients-surgery-meds-tells-him-to-man-up/570979
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [February 11, 2011, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-addict-nurse-steals-patients-surgery-meds-tells-him-to-man-up/570979 "2011-02-11T02:32:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2011, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-addict-nurse-steals-patients-surgery-meds-tells-him-to-man-up/570979/1 "2011-02-11T02:32:34Z")
> **[Charges: Abbott nurse tells pre-op patient to ‘man up,’ then takes painkiller...](https://www.twincities.com/2011/02/08/charges-abbott-nurse-tells-pre-op-patient-to-man-up-then-takes-painkiller-for-herself/)**
>
> When you’re having kidney stones removed, it helps to have a little something for the pain. But a nurse anesthetist at Minneapolis’ Abbott Northwestern Hospital told a patient to “…
And I thought I was selfish and self-pitying; I’m not even in this woman’s league.
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### Author:  [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2011, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-addict-nurse-steals-patients-surgery-meds-tells-him-to-man-up/570979/2 "2011-02-11T12:48:23Z")
So she stole a painkiller that she was supposed to inject into a patient that was _immediately heading for surgery._ And apparently was high as fuck afterwards.
So why were these idiots that were doing the kidney surgery OK with him “writhing on the table” and “holding him down by his back” and they didn’t think maybe he could feel them jabbing him with sharp pointy things?
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### Author:  [@heatmiserfl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heatmiserfl)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2011, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-addict-nurse-steals-patients-surgery-meds-tells-him-to-man-up/570979/3 "2011-02-11T13:05:08Z")
She was only charged with theft of a controlled substance? I think other charges should be brought up against her. Don’t know what but this was way beyond just theft.
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### Author:  [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2011, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-addict-nurse-steals-patients-surgery-meds-tells-him-to-man-up/570979/4 "2011-02-11T13:08:00Z")
Wow, look at her picture, and she’s supposed to be 33? She looks like she’s nearing fifty.
I hope the patient skewers the medical staff alive, not being able to spot something is wrong with the anesthesia is criminal negligence.
Being wrongly dosed before going to surgery is one of my nightmares (it happened to me, thankfully I didnt go through what the patient experienced, but I felt the anesthesia going away before my own surgery was over, quite unnerving).
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### Author:  [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2011, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-addict-nurse-steals-patients-surgery-meds-tells-him-to-man-up/570979/5 "2011-02-11T13:35:47Z")
To be fair, the patient was just gonna bogart that shit.
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### Author:  [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2011, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-addict-nurse-steals-patients-surgery-meds-tells-him-to-man-up/570979/6 "2011-02-11T13:41:12Z")
I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much fail in one article. From the doctors, the nurses and stupid lady. Jeesh. I hope he lawyers up.
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### Author:  [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2011, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-addict-nurse-steals-patients-surgery-meds-tells-him-to-man-up/570979/7 "2011-02-11T15:17:36Z")
To be fair, the doctors might have been concerned about overdosing a patient that was already supposed to have a full dose of painkiller. I guess they could have sewed him up after the surgery started and he was in obvious pain to do a blood test or something but thats probkematic too.
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### Author:  [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-addict-nurse-steals-patients-surgery-meds-tells-him-to-man-up/570979/8 "2011-02-11T15:26:23Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#):
>
> To be fair, the doctors might have been concerned about overdosing a patient that was already supposed to have a full dose of painkiller. I guess they could have sewed him up after the surgery started and he was in obvious pain to do a blood test or something but thats probkematic too.
That’s the job of the anesthesist, he is being paid to be there just for that, and only for that.
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2011, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-addict-nurse-steals-patients-surgery-meds-tells-him-to-man-up/570979/9 "2011-02-11T15:48:09Z")
I imagine the surgeon was yelling at the anesthetist to properly sedate the patient, the anesthetist was yelling back for the surgeon to mind his own business (or would have been if she’d not been so mellow), and OR staff was grabbing at the patient to try to keep him from injuring himself or falling off the table.
At least that’s the scenario I’ve seen in ORs in the past.
I’d wait for more facts (rather than a single news report) before assuming the rest of the OR crew was culpable.
That anesthetist’s career is pretty much history now, though.
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### Author:  [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2011, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-addict-nurse-steals-patients-surgery-meds-tells-him-to-man-up/570979/10 "2011-02-11T16:01:00Z")
> [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#):
>
> That’s the job of the anesthesist, he is being paid to be there just for that, and only for that.
Except that the anesthetist was the one stealing the drugs!
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### Author:  [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2011, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-addict-nurse-steals-patients-surgery-meds-tells-him-to-man-up/570979/11 "2011-02-11T16:12:56Z")
When my father was dying of cancer and receiving end-of-life care in a hospital in St. Louis, someone stole some of his pain meds, replacing them with something that did nothing for pain relief. I can only wish on that person and anyone who would do this the same pain that he felt.
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### Author:  [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2011, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-addict-nurse-steals-patients-surgery-meds-tells-him-to-man-up/570979/12 "2011-02-11T19:02:31Z")
> [@WhyNot](#):
>
> Except that the anesthetist was the one stealing the drugs!
Did I misread the story? The gal was a nurse, acting upon the anesthesist’s instruction, no? (there isnt a specific doc called anesthesist during surgeries in the States, it’s the nurse that does that?)
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### Author:  [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2011, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-addict-nurse-steals-patients-surgery-meds-tells-him-to-man-up/570979/13 "2011-02-11T19:03:51Z")
I cannot wrap my brain around this one.
Stealing pain meds from a patient, low. Stealing them from a patient about to undergo surgery, well into sociopathic territory. Stealing pain meds from a patient about to undergo surgery and then _taking them while in front of other medical personnel_, straight through sociopath and into the land of BWUH?
This woman is evil, insane, unbelievably stupid, or probably all three at the same time. I realize addiction often drives people to do what would otherwise be unthinkable, but this has got to take the cake.
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### Author:  [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2011, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-addict-nurse-steals-patients-surgery-meds-tells-him-to-man-up/570979/14 "2011-02-11T19:06:47Z")
> [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#):
>
> Did I misread the story? The gal was a nurse, acting upon the anesthesist’s instruction, no? (there isnt a specific doc called anesthesist during surgeries in the States, it’s the nurse that does that?)
The title for the doctor would be anesthesiologist. The nurse, who was administering the drugs, was the anesthetist.
I think that’s how it works, anyway.
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### Author:  [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-addict-nurse-steals-patients-surgery-meds-tells-him-to-man-up/570979/15 "2011-02-11T19:16:42Z")
:eek: :eek: :eek:
That is the kind of thing to give you screaming nightmares every night until you die. Being held down so someone can cut into your body without any painkiller? Horror.
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### Author:  [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2011, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-addict-nurse-steals-patients-surgery-meds-tells-him-to-man-up/570979/16 "2011-02-11T19:23:49Z")
> [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#):
>
> Did I misread the story? The gal was a nurse, acting upon the anesthesist’s instruction, no? (there isnt a specific doc called anesthesist during surgeries in the States, it’s the nurse that does that?)
As I read it, she was/is a [nurse anesthetist](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nurse_anesthetist), who is a nurse (RN) with a Master’s Degree, with advanced training in anesthesiology. A nurse anesthetist works alone during many surgical procedures, she probably doesn’t need the direct supervision of an anesthesiologist, depending on the state she’s working in.
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### Author:  [@Carl\_Corey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carl_Corey)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2011, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-addict-nurse-steals-patients-surgery-meds-tells-him-to-man-up/570979/17 "2011-02-11T19:42:46Z")
Nice pun there, **WhyNot**.
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### Author:  [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2011, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-addict-nurse-steals-patients-surgery-meds-tells-him-to-man-up/570979/18 "2011-02-11T20:01:38Z")
> [@Anaamika](#):
>
> :eek: :eek: :eek:
>
> That is the kind of thing to give you screaming nightmares every night until you die. Being held down so someone can cut into your body without any painkiller? Horror.
Darn, just thinking about it makes me shiver. Nothing more chilling that being hurt by people that think they’re actually helping you.
Are you sure **WhyNot**? I’ve only had surgery in France, and there, a specialized anesthesist doctor (and not a nurse), maybe called an anesthesiologist, as **Kyla** said, will intervene if you require an anesthesia for the operation (so, for most operations). He also has to be there when you’re being anesthised and monitor the thing. Normally he also has to stay there for the duration of the operation.
Things work differently in the States?
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2011, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-addict-nurse-steals-patients-surgery-meds-tells-him-to-man-up/570979/19 "2011-02-11T20:06:50Z")
> [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#):
>
> Things work differently in the States?
Yes. We have Anesthesiologists, who are MDs (or DOs). They do the more complex and involved cases of anesthesia as a rule, in addition to doing the more mundane stuff.
And we have Nurse Anesthetists, who are RNs with advanced degrees and advanced practice privileges in anesthesia. While under the collaborative supervision of an Anesthesiologist, they are not required to have an Anesthesiologist in attendence for many procedures. Nurse Anesthetists are often used in the more routine anesthesia/sedation cases.
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### Author:  [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2011, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-addict-nurse-steals-patients-surgery-meds-tells-him-to-man-up/570979/20 "2011-02-11T20:09:28Z")
It depends. At the hospital system at which I formerly worked, there were several nurse-anesthetists (we called them CRNAs - Certified Registered Nurse-Anesthetists) working under the supervision of a board-certified anesthesiologist.
Regards,
Shodan
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