[pandora]

This happened when I was a nursing student. I was with a work colleague getting a lift home one evening when we were just passing one of the main hospital entrances. Suddenly, a young man in a wheelchair nearly ran under the car. He seemed to come out of nowhere. I got out and attended to the man who was by now lying on the road. He was dazed but could get back in the wheelchair, so I took him personally to the ER to get help. When I entered the department with the young man, the nursing staff looked at him, and then me, with a mix of horror and contempt. Apparently, he was a 'regular' to ER, often turning up intoxicated, not requiring treatment, and difficult to persuade otherwise. He had already paid his visit to ER that evening, and 'the wheelchair in front of the nurse's car' routine was an old trick of his to get back into ER. I don't know who they were most ticked off at - the 'patient' or me, the embarassed student nurse (easily lidentifiable in her student uniform). I WAS ONLY TRYING TO HELP!!!

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