Nurse says surgeon threw human tissue at her, sues hospital

I believe the nurse as well, some surgeons are unbelievably outrageous - to the point that when you recount some of the things they say and do (and get away with) people stare at you like you're making it up. I might think so as well had I not been first hand witness to so much of it, honestly, you can't make up some of the stuff they do and say.

And the top offenders seem to be (IMO) a toss up between between Cardio-Thoracic and Neuro surgeons. I always thought the best reality show in the world would be to place a hidden camera in the OR and let the public really see what goes on behind those OR doors. (without the surgeons knowledge - 'cause when they know the camera is on they're completely different).

We had one of the worst offenders followed by Trauma Life in the ER into the operating room and you wouldn't have known it was the same person, it was honestly the first time ANYONE had ever heard him utter the words please and thank you, of course when the camera crew left Dr. Jekyll turned back into Mr. Hyde

I would file a suit against the hospital and the DR. I would also file charges for assault. Some Dr's are great. Some have the I am above the rules mentality. Many hospital administrations let them get away with it. Nurses need to always stand up to them and be willing to support each other. I would make it a life mission to make this one famous and pay big time.

I'd say get rid of the doc and give her back her position, however Im sure the lawyers wont go for that


Precisely - what the hospital is doing is to victimize the victim again. She should demand punitive damages from the hospital as well because they knew about this and did NOTHING to him.

She is probably suing the hospital because the liability is on them now. She brought the doctor's misconduct to the hospital's attention and they have done NOTHING to address it. On top of that, they have penalized HER for taking action of her own to protect herself by essentially demoting her. This is a classic case of trying to make someone who blows the whistle miserable enough to leave. And to plant the seed of doubt against her. I'm sure the hospital's first response was, "So what did you do to provoke him?" That used to be the typical response a battered wife would get from the police for calling them to pull her husband off her and keep him from killing her. And what a rape victim would hear from a defense lawyer on cross examination. When are we going to wise up and stop the cycle of abuse in our profession? I am not saying she's telling the truth. I'm not saying she's lying. But I can TOTALLY see this happening in ANY OR in the country because of the horror stories I've heard from other nurses. It is never OK to throw anything at anyone or hit them in the head. That's assault and battery. You can bet if a NURSE did this the hospital would get rid of him or her in a heartbeat. Doctors, including surgeons, should be held to the same standards of conduct. I hope this nurse gets her day in court, and that the outcome sends a huge message to the hospitals that allow doctors to abuse their nurses with impunity.

I am apt to believe this story based on my experience with surgeons so far. On my first OR rotation as a student, I was viewing a colonoscopy. The surgeon came in and asked my name. I told him "Alex" (I am female). He said "Alex huh? You don't have any sexual confusion going on do you?" I said "No my full name is Alexandra but I've always gone by Alex." And he said to me "Sounds like your parents wanted a boy." I was pretty disgusted with this. Then, the next surgery I was with a different surgeon. The nurse I was following told me before I went into the room "Don't say a word. Don't even clear your throat or this guy will freak out. Don't talk unless he speaks directly to you." The surgeon came in, didn't even acknowledge his staff, did the surgery in complete silence and walked out. I was in the next surgery with a surgeon who had the foulest, most unprofessional mouth on him that I have ever heard. I had done rotations all over the hospital and never did I see any behavior like this. Turned me off to ever working in OR.

I say hold down that doctor with restraints and stuff that bloody tissue down his throat and watch him gag and cry ... but that's just me

I know. OR would be so nice if only the surgeons weren't there.

The sad thing is, the OR is an awesome place to work. This behavior, as terrible as it is, really isn't the norm. At least it's not in my hospital. The thing is, your NMs have to back up their staff. They can't be afraid to go to the doctor and say that the abuse is unacceptable. I had problems with one doctor..my boss basically told me I had permission to tell him off. Within reason of course..no violence!

The other thing is, I've noticed that 98% of the time, if you stand up to the jerks, they back down. They back down because they aren't used to being confronted. You can do this in a professional calm manner.

Most of the time, there is a lot of teamwork in the OR and you get very close to the people you work with, docs included. But, there are always the rotten apples..I'm glad this nurse is standing up for herself..it's because people started doing this that the OR has actually come a long way in dealing with disruptive, abusive surgeons.

A few months back I left a lengthy paragraph on a doctor that hit me with a television.

The threats to me at that time....not the doctor, were unbelievable. Even the District Attorney who was suppose to be on my side was yelling at me. Not until the doctor knocked over a chair in court and stormed out when he found out that the case was going before the Grand Jury, did I see this D.A. soften. But he just said, "Stay away from that man."

What did I learn from my experience? Money talks and ******** walks.

Please find the thread I answered to about doctors behaving badly. It's too painful for me to go through it again here.

This is also advice to the thread about getting Nursing mapractice insurance. YES!!!!!!

I had taken it out through the Nursing magazine just 8 months before. One of the ploys my good Dr. Jackel did was to get a family to sue me to take the heat off himself and his assault charges. In one day I had an attorney from my home state call me. After he listened to my story all he said was, "Clear case of intimidation, don't worry." Two days later I had a lawyer call me from Chicago and another one from Texas. They both said the same thing that the home state attorney said. In less than 6 weeks charges against me were dropped.

The escalating violence that this nurse has experienced by this doctor is very frightening. I hope the hospital compensates her and the doctor is fined and sent for anger/sensitivity classes. Firing him would even be better.

http://www.canada.com/hamilton/news/...4-02a5e56d9301 The nurse in this story was stabbed to death. She had asked the hospital to put her on a different shift than the doctor was on. They didn't even do that for her.

After over 30 years in this business I can truly say I am sick and tired how nurses are treated and dismissed. Patted on the head like we were children.

What do the rest of you say?

I must strongly disagree with you calling this "goofy" and "playfulness" and there is nothing one could do to precipitate having tissue thrown at them.