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by abnurse

Help! Tonight I was assisting a nurse in dropping an NG tube. Patient was combative to the fact that it hurt. "Yes dear, they do hurt but we must do this since you took 70 or so miscellaneous pills." Attempted several times to drop the tube, she kept closing her throat. Dr. was informed as was the whole ER by her screaming, He walked in the room, began yelling..."we are going to do this one of 2 ways, My way or Your way. You can fight all you want (the pt. had her head in her hands over emesis basin, crying). Since we can't do it your way will we do it my way"...he proceeded to grab her by the hair and the chin, picked her up off the bed and slammed her back into the back of the bed and she is screaming bloody murder. The other RN and I backed away from the bed and said "I am outta here, we are not going to do this to her".

We informed the charge nurse of the incident. Now what? Do we go to the DON and the head of the ER? THis doc is not a regular staff doc, he works PRN shifts. Can I be held liable for his actions on the patient? The pt. never said anything and never did get the NG tube but several charcoal slurries.

I was and still am very upset by this incident. I am sure I will be called in and questioned about this and will not lie for the dr. I am here to help the pt. (no matter if they deserve a diploma in stupidity) not hurt them or be an accomplice in assault and battery.

Any one else ever been witness to this and what happened to you or what did you do?

[JACALA_CL]

Originally Posted by abnurse

Help! Tonight I was assisting a nurse in dropping an NG tube. Patient was combative to the fact that it hurt. "Yes dear, they do hurt but we must do this since you took 70 or so miscellaneous pills." Attempted several times to drop the tube, she kept closing her throat. Dr. was informed as was the whole ER by her screaming, He walked in the room, began yelling..."we are going to do this one of 2 ways, My way or Your way. You can fight all you want (the pt. had her head in her hands over emesis basin, crying). Since we can't do it your way will we do it my way"...he proceeded to grab her by the hair and the chin, picked her up off the bed and slammed her back into the back of the bed and she is screaming bloody murder. The other RN and I backed away from the bed and said "I am outta here, we are not going to do this to her".

We informed the charge nurse of the incident. Now what? Do we go to the DON and the head of the ER? THis doc is not a regular staff doc, he works PRN shifts. Can I be held liable for his actions on the patient? The pt. never said anything and never did get the NG tube but several charcoal slurries.

I was and still am very upset by this incident. I am sure I will be called in and questioned about this and will not lie for the dr. I am here to help the pt. (no matter if they deserve a diploma in stupidity) not hurt them or be an accomplice in assault and battery.

Any one else ever been witness to this and what happened to you or what did you do?

document document document
you can also sent a complaint to the sate medical board where your doctor "practices" medicine

[gwenith]

As hard as this is you have to learn to say in a level noninflected voice - "Doctor - that is abuse - do it again and I WILL call the police". I only had to do this once - the doctor was using nipple twists as "noxious stimuli" on unconscious patients.

[LeesieBug]

I would have called to darn police, no warning. That is criminal, and completely unacceptable.

[jnette]

Document the facts as witnessed and report. Totally unacceptable.

[caroladybelle]

I would have called the police.

And how does this MD treat his coworkers...or his wife.

[traumaRUs]

After notifying the charge nurse - I would have notified the house supervisor and the administrator on call. It needs to be dealt with.

[RedRoses4Me]

I was taught that if we see abuse and do nothing we are just as guilty

[MandyInMS]

I'm with traumaRUs..follow chain of command..plus incident report stating whom I had notified of the incident and what their responses were...aka, instructed by house super to notify police,ect..whatever the response/instructions were.

[Alnamvet]

Never too late to call the Police; go to the station a file a report, or if your state has magistrates, file a warrant for his arrest....THEN report to the state medical board, and seeing as I don't trust admin to to nothing more than cover up for the MD's, call the patient's family and inform of what happened...remember, if this was you or I, we would not be on this forum, since I don't know of any jails that allow inmates access to the internet. There has always been a double standard, one for docs, and one for everyone else...