Glen Beck's hospital experience

Narcotic addiction is a disease, and we should feel compassion for everyone who has it, including Rush Limbaugh, and help them out of it. It begins with spirituality and not being a sellout.

Just as a devil's advocate- I will often let someone get out of a chair and walk to triage to assess their ability to move, and the family dynamics, especially if they claim to be dying, but made it from their car across the parking lot without help. Perhaps a wheelchair WAS offered and refused- he did mention in the article that he couldn't sit down. I think what he wanted was a stretcher to the waiting room.

We've all had the patient that screams "I can't breathe!" Usually the fact that they can be heard a block away gives me good assessment data that the problem is in fact, NOT the respiratory system. I've often wondered what the patient tells their friends afterwards about our interventions to fix pain, and anxiety, but no O2 for hyperventilation.

Ive only read the first few pages of responses, which seem to be unsympathetic with Mr. Beck. I don't have cable out here in the boonies (or satillite.. too many trees, you know), so I am not familliar with this man. Also- I am just a student. With that in mind, I think the posts I read were a little harsh. Of course he doesnt know the effects and side effects of the medications, he isn't a medical professional. He was obviously very scared, and was not properly educated. I'm sure he didn't expect 'better' healthcare because of who he was, I wonder if his healthcare wasn't actually worse because of it. My instructors make an effort to point out things we as nurses can do to make our patients more comfortable, and be intuitive in meeting their needs. I've been taught to see to my patient's psychological needs as well. And how can you put him down for the type of surgery he's had.

Sounds to me like Mr. Beck was being a bit of a drama queen and expecting special treatment at the ER. We don't have the "big nurse's" side of the story, but my guess would be that his assessment of the patient and the way the patient was acting were not matching up. (can make it from the parking lot to the desk, but can't sit down) That behavior ....."I'm the sickest one here, take me first" is difficult to deal with and gets old.

I think he has an exaggerated sense of self-importance. Except for the lack of assistance in the ER getting to the room, he needs to get a grip. I also think he has skewed expectations regarding pain control.

Also, I've had the distended bladder post-surgery and ended up in an ER to get catherized. Sure, it's uncomfortable. But it's not the end of the world. He's seeking far too much attention about the entire experience. I also find his tolerance to narcotics interesting.

Were the meds he was given excessive for this type of surgery?! It sounds like he was given enough to kill a horse. Could the problem with his bladder and hallucination be due to too much drugs versus lack of enough of them?! I'm not a nurse yet so I'm just curious for feedback.

Being an OR nurse, hopefully I can answer some posts questions. Yes, from what I know Mr. Beck had hemorroids removed. In recovery patients are often given pain meds to lessen the pain as they are waking up (ask anesthesiologist these questions if you want), and sometimes patients get too cozy and stop breathing momentarily ( not a life threatening situation unless they don't start to breath again). The amount of pain meds he was given were NOT at the same time. He claims to have been in horrid angonizing pain, and so being given one type that does not seem to affect his pain, for the next dose he would be given a different type, and so on and so on...thus the many drugs he was given. Yes Fentanyl patches are used because he claims to have been in horrid agonizing pain. I understand that he was told to be admitted for 23 hr obs, but he refused leaving AMA. His own fears playing out in his mind about pain meds side effects (ie. not breathing, end of life stuff that is not accurate) played a big role in his pain level. Fear causes more pain. He then decides to go back to the ER because he can't sit down (Duh- hemorroid surgery) and is given a 20 min wait in the ER. He was treated like royalty, ask anyone whose ever waited in the ER. He is an alcoholic and as such, they tend to have a great need for pain meds because he has such a high tolerance of drugs and obviously a very low tolerance for pain. It is a shame that he can feel free to post his videos online where he violates HIPPA by nameing others going to that hospital. By nameing people that go to that hospital for treatment, he violates their right to privacy. And he did these videos while under the influence of pain medications...ask yourself-do you take what your patients say while on pain meds seriously? Or do you listen and objectivly decide for yourself if their reality is accurate? The facts are...He had insurance, his insurance granted his surgery, the surgery was done on a day that was convenient for Mr. Beck, He NEVER states why exactly he claims his surgery was 'botched"...What did the "wonderful" surgeons do? Remove his entire anus? He claims to be in such agonizing pain and was given various meds to help ease that pain-all to no avail, as a recovering alcoholic he required more meds than the average person,he had hallucinations due to the natural side effects of those pain meds. He left AMA because he did not want to stay for 23 hrs in the hospital, then going back to the ER had a non-existant wait time and then complains that he wasn't given preferential treatment because he is special. He asks us where is the compassion? Perhaps he needs to rethink what he states and understand that others have it far worse than he and he was lucky to have even had his butt surgery in the first place? I have seen too many patients with far more serious and life threatening diseases and conditions not complain and they didn't get even half the meds he did. Perhaps if he really wanted to help change the healthcare industry, he should jobshadow several nurses and doctors for a while and then come up with solutions to the problems he claims he experienced.:scrm:

Step back and look at this in a more objective way...


The end of life patch is what got me. Someone probably frightened the bejesus out of him with this explanation of what may have been a fentanyl patch..I heard this drug mentioned twice when this case was covered on television. My sister-in-law lives on fentanyl patches since her battle with cancer ( eight years) and complications of radiation injury to her small intestine,sepsis, chemotherapy, heart attack (per oncologist). She works full time with FLKs (my turn to be nasty) Funny looking kids or use the F with a U anyway you want..I first heard this from pediatric nurses and I was shocked!! She is not a burden to society and is a productive individual which would not have been possible without this pain management system.
Cut the guy some slack. The reason he was ******** about the surgery is that he stated that he woke up from the anesthesia before the proceedure was completed. This would be a big OUCH and traumatic experience for everyone. This is of course is unacceptable regardless of who the patient was.
As for the drama...I have first hand witnessed patients' returning to our unit after being overdosed on post of pca medication, intubated and requiring additional hospitalization with an ICU stay. Glenn also stated he was taking p.o medications like percocet or what ever. He also stated he was wearing the "end of life patch" God forgive the person who told him this. Who the hell gave him these drugs? If in fact he woke up before the proceedure was completed, he was frightened out of his mind (as I would be!) and further pain management and reassurance would be his primary goal. I would like to know what type of nurse or physician would order and/or administer these drugs without performing a complete assessment. Were his vital signs including respiratory rate assessed and documented, what was the patient's level of awareness, was he able to communicate in a clear voice to describe level of pain on the 0-10 pain scale and speak in a rational manner. Was follow up done to see if medication was effective and was the patient still able to communicate and breathe without difficulty? We have to document all of these things and add anything out the ordinary on our flowsheets and of course bring concerns to the team covering the patient. Then we document what actions were taken and the effectiveness jof our interventions.
We also must take the time to interact with the patient using our skills to reduce patient's fears, address the family, etc...we have to be available and to keep patient's like this informed of our commings and goings this also helps to reduce stress.
Our pca patients' are monitored not just in our icu, but on the floor with pulse oximentry while on pca. We keep them on 2 liters per minute NC.
We also teach family and friends not to push the button on the delivery system because of the risk of causing respiratory supression. We tell them that if the patient does not administer his own dose, no one else should. Despite the fact that maximum drug dose is set it is not unexpected for a patient to have respiratory distress when someone else decides to give the maximum allowed per hour by pushing the button allegedly trying to "help" the patient.
We don't know what really happened but we can, based on his own statements and the wild video he made (this video was made at home by his family and was never intended for general public consumption..only insiders were supposed to see this if they wanted to from what I understand).
He was probably right that he would have died and despite his "celebrity" status and his controversial status as a conservative talk show host, this would have been a tragedy.
I hesitate to bring this up...but I will simply because it is a valid concern. Do you think his professional life affected how some persons in the medical, nursing practice in this hospital had anything to do with the near death by drug overdose???? Two things..maybe staff didn't want to deal with this patient, easier to oversedate/medicate than communicate. Some people are overwhelmed by "celebrities" and just do what a frightened patient thinks he needs (bad management!!!). I'm sure in this particular facility they get lots of "important" patients and can't possibly be influenced by this type of patient. Imagine the headlines. Already people are making fun of the surgery he had..like everyone is perfect? I have read other articles where the person/s writting stated they wished he had died and laughed at the video showing a frightened, traumatized man. "There but for the grace of G-d" as the saying goes..or my favorite "do unto others as you would have them do unto you"

There is a hell of a lot more to this story than we will ever know. If a patient feels he wasn't "cared" for this is his impression and it is up to us, the caregiver, to find out what is going on. At least this is something we do at our facility. This experience was Glenn Beck's experience and his truth lets not mock it, overthink it or take it personal.
I certainly have no ill will towards any patient, certainly not this guy.

Whatever happened in the ER is also his and his wife's experience. I can believe him when he saw uncaring persons just looking at him, watching as his wife tries to help him out of the wheelchair when it was obvious that he was overmedicated and potentially a SENTINEL event waiting to happen. Its so much easier to be warm and understanding then standing in judgement of someone you may dislike. Takes to much energy to be nasty to anyone. What about nursing care? it was also his reality, his truth that the nursing care did not meet his needs. Who ever heard of a bath down the hallway? bandages on the floor? that I can believe. Was he in the hallway in the ER or was he in a patient room..again, the bathroom??

Way to much here to ignore.

Take care.

End Game RN
Minor Deity

From god's mouth to our ear