What if the Boston bomber was your pt

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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

There is really nothing to dicuss here. You will look after him just as you would with any other patient. You may not like it, but this is what we in healthcare do. You are not a judge or jury.

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As a nurse, it's not for me to judge. I have to do my best for every patient I have. It's hard, I know. It's my job to be the nurse....it's up to the law and God to take care of him after I do.

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During my 30 yrs of nursing I have taken care of 2 murders. One very high profile, who some other nurses refused to take care of. I put my feelings of what she did aside and took care of her as I did the rest of my patients that day. I did not find it difficult in the least. She was for me at that time simply a patient as were my other 5 and I attended to her needs just as I did everyone elses. Believe me I vented on the way home with another nurse my true feelings but was able to separate my job as a nurse from the person in the bed and what she had done. The other pt. was with a guard and had her leg cuffed to the bed, that makes the job somewhat more difficult in moving and taking care of a patient but she is still a live human being who needs care at that time, and will be dealt with at a later date which is out of my league. I will then let someone else do there job. Please nurses, get beyond it, get him better fast, so he can ans. questions for all of us.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
Some boston nurses are answering this question here:

Boston nurses tell of bloody marathon aftermath

I think this needs more attention!!!!!!!!

Boston nurses tell of bloody marathon aftermath

BOSTON (AP) — The screams and cries of bloody marathon bombing victims still haunt the nurses who treated them one week ago. They did their jobs as they were trained to do, putting their own fears in a box during their 12-hour shifts so they could better comfort their patients.

Only now are these nurses beginning to come to grips with what they endured — and are still enduring as they continue to care for survivors. They are angry, sad and tired. A few confess they would have trouble caring for the surviving suspect, 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, if he were at their hospital and they were assigned his room.

And they are thankful. They tick off the list of their hospital colleagues for praise: from the security officers who guarded the doors to the ER crews who mopped up trails of blood. The doctors and — especially — the other nurses.

Nurses from Massachusetts General Hospital, which treated 22 of the 187 victims the first day, candidly recounted their experiences in interviews with The Associated Press. Here are their memories:

THEY WERE SCREAMING

Megann Prevatt, ER nurse: "These patients were terrified. They were screaming. They were crying ... We had to fight back our own fears, hold their hands as we were wrapping their legs, hold their hands while we were putting IVs in and starting blood on them, just try to reassure them: 'We don't know what happened, but you're here. You're safe with us.' ... I didn't know if there were going to be more bombs exploding. I didn't know how many patients we'd be getting. All these thoughts are racing through your mind."

Read the story in it's entirety!!!!!!!

It's a great story from the mouths of those involved!

Boston nurses tell of bloody marathon aftermath

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Specializes in Trauma.

I would give this young man the best care I could. If for no other reason than he may have information to prevent something similar from happening in the future. That is why law enforcement was determined to take him alive. Although, I believe they would have gotten much more information from his older brother who appears to have been the leader of the pair.

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I believe too that's what we're trained to do, treat him like a human being, a person and continue to care for him. No one ever said that being a nurse was going to be easy. But it's the caring that makes a difference. Often it's easier said than done.

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If I had this POS as a pt, I would treat him as a PROFESSIONAL nurse and that's it.

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A 19 year old is not a child. A 5 year old is a child, a 10 year old is a child. A 19 year old is an adult, possibly a very immature adult, but still an adult.

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

If assigned to him, I would probably try to bow out, just because I know myself, and know I would just keep seeing the face of that innocent little boy who is now dead because of his actions. THAT is a child, an innocent life. This guy, at 19, was NOT a kid.

I disagree that all people are made evil by society/personal experiences. There are many serial killers who had completely normal, well-adjusted childhoods. Sure, this guy was probably brain-washed. Or maybe not. Doesn't change that what he did was a terrible, horrible thing. Because of his actions, people lost their children, siblings, loved ones. Others will have to live with severe injuries, learn to walk again, or never do so at all!

So, yes, so this guy COULD get the best possible care, I would prefer to bow out. If I couldn't, I would provide all treatments/medications/wtv as ordered, but I certainly would not go out of my way to hold his hand or give him a back rub. Props to those who could though.

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Specializes in Peds, School Nurse, clinical instructor.

He is not a child and I do not feel sorry if he feels scared or alone, I am sure his victims and there families feel scared and alone. Would I take care of him in a professional manner, Yes. Do I care at all about him as a person, no.

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If I understand you correctly you are saying that this person could have done "worse" and just ask a cop? Is that sarcasm or are you being serious?? If you are serious that's extremely ignorant... wow it's almost sickening to read. I myself am an avid runner...I had many friends there that were extremely devastated by witnessing such violence. Think about it. Marathoners pay money to run 26.2miles and donate their time/money to charity. The people at the Boston marathon were probably the most philanthropic individuals around....and to have your limbs ripped off of you...or lose an 8 year old cheering for his mother.... I mean come on people have a freakin heart!

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In response to this ignorant comment: akulahawk

Yes. There are things that people can do that are worse. So bad, in fact, that they must be segregated from all other prisoners for their own safety.

Just ask a cop, or better yet, a prison corrections officer.

-Honestly I do not think I could care for this patient without detaching myself completely emotionally...I don't know. I'm wicked glad I'm not in such a predicament though...

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