Help Me Help You
BAD BEHAVIOR, CALIFORNIA, HOSPITAL, NURSES, PATIENTS, USA | HEALTHY | SEPTEMBER 3, 2020
I am in the hospital for an emergency appendectomy. While I am there waiting for surgery, I overhear a conversation with a man being extremely loud and a nurse trying to tend to him.
Nurse: “Sir, I need to ask you to calm down so we can treat your injuries.”
Man: “No! I bet you gonna try and sew me up so you can pass it off to my insurance! I ain’t falling for that s***!”
Nurse: “Sir, I’m gonna ask you to please calm down so we can stop the bleeding and at least bandage you up!”
Man: “NO! YOU’RE JUST TRYING TO STEAL MONEY FROM ME! I’M NOT FALLING FOR YOUR S***! SEND ME ANOTHER NURSE OR SOMETHING!”
Nurse: “Listen! I don’t have to deal with your attitude, but it’s my duty as a nurse to tend to injuries. Now either you can calm down and let me at least bandage you up and give you pain relievers and send you on your way, I can have security escort you out while we clean the mess you made, or I can send you to [Nearest Hospital, in another city] if you want to be rowdy as you are. What’s it gonna be?!”
I don’t hear anything for ten minutes, or I pass out from the painkillers, but I overhear the nurse and another nurse speaking after a while.
Nurse #1: “I can’t believe he was that stubborn over a ‘paper’ cut on his arm.”
I’m guessing that is a code term for minor cuts and whatnot.
Nurse #2: “Paper cut? That did not look like a paper cut!”
Nurse #1: “Trust me; when you’ve had to file paperwork as much as I have in my time, you realize the difference between a ‘stab wound’ and a nasty paper cut.”
I have been thankful ever since for how kind the nurses were while I was in the hospital, after seeing what they put up with daily.
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