As you know I am an RN. Yesterday I had to deal with one of the most psychotic and irrational visitors I have ever encountered.
My patient was a man who weighs between 450 and 500 (rough estimate cause he wasn’t able to go to the loading dock to be weighed) He was admitted for cellulitis of the abdominal skin fold. He has a fat apron that hangs down to his knees and the skin in that area was infected so he was here for IV antibiotics. Ok fine.
About 3 am he started to complain of abd cramping so the Dr was notified and an order obtained for some motrin and he would see him first thing in the morning. Patient took the motrin went to sleep and all was fine.
I went in and assessed the pt at 8:30 while he was sitting on the edge of the bed getting ready to eat breakfast. All went fine, he told me the cramping was a bit worse but he was still hungry and wanted to eat. He also said he had an umbilical/ventral hernia (pointing to the area between his belly button and sternum) and had been told that it could be contributing to the pain. I looked at that area and didn’t see anything unusual. I told him I would come back after breakfast and get a good look at the affected area in his groin. He was fine with that and I went on to my next patient.
At 9 am his wife show up with a bazillion questions and wants to know why hubby has been laying there suffering all night and nothing had been done. I told her that was not true and reviewed the orders received in the middle of the night. She asked if I had looked at his hernia and I told her it looked unremarkable. I based this conclusion from looking at the area that the man had pointed out to me.
She wanted me to call the amittting doctor and also to call a surgeon that had seen him on a prior admit. I told her I couldn’t call the surgeon cause it was up to the attending doctor to call consulting doctors but that I would call the patient’s attending doctor, which I did. He said he was on another floor and would be in very soon.
She came up to the desk as I was finishing the call so I told her the doctor had been called and would be in soon. She again brought the topic of her hubby’s hernia. Now it turns out that man actually has a hernia below his belly button that is hidden by the massive flap of fat. I did not see that when I first examined him cause he was sitting on the side of the bed and not laying flat. Also hernias can bulge in and out depending on the position of the patient. She asked how I could not see it and thinking she was talking about the area above his belly button I replied, “well if he has a small hernia there, it may not always be apparent and would be difficult to assess due to his size and weight”
She replied “Ok now, I see” and went back to the pt room. The next thing I know I am being contacted by the administrative officer. The AO is directly under the Director of Nursing and investigating nurse/patient problems is one of job requirements. The pt’s wife had reported that “Cindi was rude, incompetant and refused to call the doctor stating that her husband was just a fat man who got himself in his own mess” At least 5 other people overheard my conversation with the wife and assured her that I had said no such thing and in fact I had displayed remarkable calm and poise in dealing with this woman who was clearly acting inappropriately.
I also got a call from patient’s mother who claimed to be a nurse but had in fact worked as a nurses aide about 25 years ago. She called me a dozen nasty names and told me that “she knew what I said about her son” I told her those statements were not true and she replied “oh so you’re rude, incompetant and a liar eh?” Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree eh?
Another nurse was assigned to take care of the patient who had not opened his mouth during this whole thing. I went in the room to care for the patient in the other bed and the wife said “I am ordering you to leave this fucking room NOW YOU IGNORANT BITCH” I told her she didn’t have the power to order me from the room and if she would excuse me, I needed to take care of the other patient.
This woman then lunged at me and proceeded to chest butt me toward the door. I called for help and told her firmly that I would not allow her to continue to verbally and physically assault me and I would have security remove her from the room if she didn’t knock it off right now. Her assault on me was witnessed by several other staff members and doctors. She was told to leave me alone and not address me in any manner or even look at me. The patient in the other bed was moved to another room.
Several other family members showed up and then they proceeded to hover in the doorway talking very loudly about me by name to anyone who would listen. The they started to make rhyming games with my name (stupid cindi, windy cindi, got her ass in a whole lot of trouble now cindi, I wonder if she has the french disease, she’s a french bitch, she needs some bitch pills, no she needs some anti-bitch pills) I listened to it for hours and then said to a co worker in a voice loud enough for them to hear that I would go home with the knowledge that at least two of us knew the truth and I would sleep with a clear conscience. I wondered how the wife could sleep at all. I then told the charge person that either that family needed to keep their comments low enough to where they wouldn’t be heard in the hall or keep the door closed because I considered that harrassment.
All in all it was an absolutely hellish day. I never at any time did or said anything wrong or inappropriate and I had done everything the family had asked me to do. This whole debacle resulted from something she said I said. If I said what I wanted to say it would have been “shut up you ignorant bitch and stop making trouble where there is none” I know some people are not happy unless they are surrounded by chaos. I know she has problems that I know nothing about. I know that when people are out of control in some areas they overcompensate in others. Knowing all this, I tried to be professional and compassionate and caring; look how well that worked out for me.
It is shit like this that makes me want to quit the nursing profession altogether.
