What is the worst hardship/story you have ever seen/heard in your nursing career?

JesusKeepMe · Nov 5, 2013

He killed her dog? Well, I hope he got hit by a truck as he drove home, what a horrible bastard. I believe torture should be legal for bumholes like him.

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Nov 5, 2013

But her monitor alarms started going off, and I had to intervene -- I enetered the room just in time to hear her husband say to her, "That's right. I killed your dog. I could't wait to get home and kill that little ****."

Oh. My. God. This just made me weep.

Kunzieo · Nov 5, 2013

We had a 14 month old boy choppered in to our PICU. Beautiful little guy, blonde hair, blue eyes, the longest eyelashes I've ever seen. Story was that he fell off a bed. No way. Skull xray looked like an egg that had been rapped on a countertop. Pupils fixed and dilated. So much inter cranial bleeding, that neurosurg basically signed off as soon as they saw what they were dealing with.

Couldn't even donate organs, couldn't get his body temp up or maintain anything close to normal with his blood gases.

Withdrew life support within 5 hours of arrival.

Will never forget that little guy with those beautiful eyes, laying on the bed in our PICU, motionless, with his eyes wide open, but so far beyond seeing anything.

LVN2RNMom, ASN, BSN, LVN · Nov 5, 2013

A fifty-something year old woman who didn't do well post-op; septic and swirling the drain. Her sister sat at her bedside for hours and told me stories about this woman's career as a "journalist" in one war-torn hell-hole after another. In her late 40s, she came home to the US, got fell in love and got married for the first time. Within a week of the wedding, her husband quit his job and settled down to be supported. He expected her to wait on him hand and foot after working all day to earn a living for both of them. Did I mention that he hadn't bothered to visit since the day of her surgery? It seemed that her semi-retirement back in the US was a miserable experience except for her little dog. She'd never been able to have pets while traveling, but finally adopted a little dog. She had his picture at her bedside and would light up whenever anyone asked about it.
The impossible happened, and my patient rallied. She was well on the mend and we were discussing placement versus the possibilities of discharge to home. Her husband showed up for the family conference. I don't remember the details of the family conference, or what was decided. I do remember her husband asking to spend some time alone with her, and I gracefully bowed out of the room, after making sure she was comfortable. But her monitor alarms started going off, and I had to intervene -- I enetered the room just in time to hear her husband say to her, "That's right. I killed your dog. I could't wait to get home and kill that little ****."

How sad!!! This alone would make me recover just to make his life a living nightmare. Do you know if she ever recovered? Talk about divorce, law suit & anything else I could possibly throw at the low life.

NurseDirtyBird · Nov 5, 2013

I hate "liking" these posts, as I do not enjoy the stories. They are heart wrenching and I'm "liking" the posters for sharing.

Sugarcoma, RN · Nov 5, 2013

NurseDirtyBird, I had the same thought. I hate liking these posts as well. I am sad for the people who had to experience it and the nurses who had to witness and now have to carry it.

Nurse Leigh · Nov 5, 2013

These stories are all so sad, but Ruby Vee, yours was the one that made my heart break and my blood boil. That "man" is proof true evil exists. The stories about the treatment of AIDS patients in years past makes me shake my head at the lack of humanity humans sometimes possess, though I know fear is often the precursor to such things.

I don't have anything quite so devastating as some of the tales related here, but I do have two episodes that stand out in my mind.

The first occurred before I became a nurse. I was working in Community Mental Health as a Case Manager and Group Facilitator. When I was working with the youth program, we had after school groups for high risk children and adolescents. So many of these children lacked something I had taken for granted as a child and young adult; unconditional love. It was difficult to realize that some of these children had never experienced something as powerful as knowing there existed someone in their life that would love them know matter what.

After group one day, we loaded up our group to drive them to their homes. We dropped off one child at his trailer. This child, like so many we dealt with, came from an unstable home and he had trouble controlling his emotions, reactions, and often acted out in near violent ways. A short time later, another group leader called to let us know that when they arrived to drop off this boy's little sister, they found the trailer on fire. It turned out the boy had set the trailer on fire soon after we dropped him off. Why is this extra sad? Because some of us thought maybe he'd done it not because he was acting out, but perhaps because it was cold out and there was no heat and he was trying to stay warm. I encountered so many sad situations in that job.

The other situation occurred after I started work as a nurse. We had on our floor a pt whose diagnosis escapes me at this time. She was not doing well and was not expected to last much longer. Her daughter was a constant and welcome presence at her mothers' side. I remember that at the same time, another pt across the hall was an absolute jerk to anyone he encountered, yelling and sniping and whatnot. Apparently this annoyed the daughter of the other pt and she walked to his door and yelled at him to knock it off, that her mother was dying and she didn't need to hear him yell and that our staff was doing everything we could to make him happy and we didn't deserve such treatment. :) She was our hero. Sadly, we found out that she herself was battling cancer. I guess she was beyond a cure at that point and she was only continuing treatment to stay alive long enough to be with her mother. She told us that once her mother passed away, she would discontinue her treatments and would also pass on. So heartbreaking.

anotherone, BSN, RN · Nov 5, 2013

there is so much misery . and so many people who seem and are like monsters.... I am often amazed when I encounter kind people after dealing or seeing some of these lunatics. I think these stories and encounters definitely affect health care staff ( not to steal the "limelight") and that isn't acknowledged often. All my nursing friends have tons of stories like this as do I. My non nursing friends seem to think a minor cold is some sort of grand human tragedy. Working nas a nurse does make me feel very thankful for

my luck ( that is what most of it is) so far in life and health..... It makes me roll my eyes at the ones who will be fine who go on and on woe is me over next to nothing. I wanna tell them get over yourself!

Carrie RN · Nov 5, 2013

Ok GrnTea you win, sadly.

meanmaryjean, DNP, RN · Nov 5, 2013

Had a 28 weeker in NICU years ago- baby was pretty stable and mom was critically ill with pre-eclampsia. She had never seen her baby. I begged permission to take the baby to her, and just as it was granted, the baby's IV went bad. I took a pic down to mom instead, with the promise to return the next day with baby, after an IV restart. Mom did not have a 'next day'. This is- without doubt- the biggest regret of my career.

My PICU heartbreak was a 9 year old with a VP shunt malfunction, being helicoptered in from an outlying hospital. He was doing his math homework in the outlying ED, but brain-dead on arrival to us because someone clamped the emergency EVD for transport, and forgot to unclamp once they got in the helicopter.

Carrie RN · Nov 6, 2013

Ok meanmaryjean it is now at tie, which again isn't a good thing.

meanmaryjean, DNP, RN · Nov 6, 2013

Ok meanmaryjean it is now at tie, which again isn't a good thing.

This thread has provided me with some POWERFUL food for thought- each story is teaching me something.