What if the Boston bomber was your pt

Nurses Relations

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I'm just sitting here listening to the coverage of the terrorist attack.

The suspect is in the hospital, injured, and obviously being cared for by nurses. What if that nurse was me?

Related Article: Life after the Boston Marathon Bombing - Nurses Coping with the Trauma

Yeah... You guys live in Boston and be there that day and tell me "oh I care for everyone the same!!" "Prisoners are sometimes the best patients!!" "He isn't proven guilty yet!"

That dude and his brother wrecked havoc on our world for a week.. Terrorized our suburbs. Threw ******* grenades everywhere.

He can suffer in pain for all I care. Just as long as he lives to see the electric chair and get his ass handed to him in jail.

If LOVE to be his nurse. Yeah I'd give him great care.

This is an honest statement and I'm sure many agree...

BOSTON STRONG

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Tell the 8 year old that's dead he is "just a human being who deserves care"

I'm not mother Theresa just because I'm a nurse... Sorry but I first hand witnessed this ***** actions. It's not like prisoners who I have no idea what they have or haven't done. This guy got personal... You tell the people who have no legs he deserves compassion.

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Specializes in Emergency Nursing.

I would follow protocol to a T because you know a lawyer will be all over the charting looking for a mistake or any hint of negligence. I would like to think that if he came to my ER I would help the nurse assigned or have others help me because the stress of caring for him would be too much for one nurse to bear.

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In a free country, with a constitution, it's called 'innocent until proven guilty'.

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Specializes in Pediatric Critical Care.

I'm no mother Teresa either. But he sure as heck is still a human being and YES I will treat him compassionately. Even if he had already been found guilty in court, I would do this. And for all you know, I live in Boston too. I don't, but you didn't know that, and you don't know what violence or tragedies I have witnessed in my personal life. I would care for those who hurt my family with compassion, too. It's how I was raised, and I stand by that.

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Specializes in FNP, ONP.

Well, as I said, those with personal connections and unable to separate themselves from their emotions should not be such a patient's nurse or physician or lawyer, etc. I have taken care of people that have committed worse atrocities than this. I didn't dwell on it while I provided the care, as that wouldn't have done either of us any good. That doesn't make me a saint, it just means I am effective when it comes to disassociating and compartmentalizing, and that makes me an effective care provider in many respects. If a patient wants a nurse to pat their hand and listen to their inner most fears about death and dying, I am not the ideal nurse for that patient. Some of you that are more sensitive about the actions of this patient might be a better choice for that assignment.

We all have strengths and weaknesses. It isn't a contest.

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I would follow protocol to a T because you know a lawyer will be all over the charting looking for a mistake or any hint of negligence. I would like to think that if he came to my ER I would help the nurse assigned or have others help me because the stress of caring for him would be too much for one nurse to bear.

Since a claim has been made against him, that makes him guilty? So you became a grand juror, and a judge and juror by virtue of becoming a nurse? Hmm.

On a sad note, I'll say that I've read that almost 20 people have become amputees from their injuries. But even that does not override our legal rights...

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Alright then. I would refuse to care for him.

Maybe that's politically correct enough for this website ;)

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Considering his actions the last few days, I wouldn't take care of him without a policeman present and any other safeguards I might need to keep myself safe. That being said, he'd get the same care from me as anyone else.

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i'll let personal issues be set aside when caring for this type of patient. it doesn't really matter if we were taught in the nursing school to care for patients with compassion and empathy because it is our own human instinct that would tell us it is the right attitude as a healthcare worker. ethically, it would be more proper if we treat patients as "patients", and not as anyone else who is accused of a heinous crime. in the first place, patients are so-called because they need medical attention for their health, and not judgement or criticism because of personal matters. let justice alone rule out what he did in boston.

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Specializes in Oncology.

"Prior to the FBI naming him as a suspect, they had much more than just a picture of him with a backpack. They had video footage of him leaving the backpack at the sight of the second bomb and then fleeing the scene the minute the first bomb exploded- since he knew the second one would be going off in a matter of seconds."

That's the part I was looking for- thanks.

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Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.

(shrug) Another day, another patient, another dollar.

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