accusationsof racism

[peds77]

I put this out to anyone who has knowledgable advice redarding this situation.... I'm apediatric nurseand have been for five years....I was attending toa child the other day who was going through withdrawl from a previous fentanyl drip...thispt was currrently on a methadone wean and due for a dose at 10p ( i works nights), however at 8p he was experiencing DT's and hadbeen for a whileacctothe mother who was besides herself with his behavior...so I asked a resident if we could give himsome IV Benadryl to calm him down andholdhim over until his methadone dose couldbe given...I got the order gave the benadryl and the child fel to sleep.......at 10p I will dealind with a 1yold suffering from Graft vs Host with a bp of 60/28 and a hr of 70...however i wanted to get this child his methadoneon time so i left the GVH pt and went to give the methadone when I entered the room th child wason his stomach asleep...mom was out of the room and dad was on the couch..i didn't want to wake the child so i gave 0.5 cc in a Tb syringe to him..Iplaced the syringe in the backof his mouth got a suck reflex from him and gave the med he then drooled a little onto the pillow case so i scooped it up and gave it to him on the syringe...the father was upset that i didn't wake him up and sit him up to give the med and advisedme to doso next time....i said fine a left the room to attendto the other pt....then the father wanted to speak with me and wanted to know why i was being so rude and not aknowledging his concerns ect... I apoligized and explained that i was just trying to avoid waking up his son bc of his earlier behavior and that i left the room quicklt bc og the other patient i also apoligized for being short with him but reassured him that i heard what he said and would wake the child up next time i give a po med.....later the mother asked to speak with me and after telling her basically the same thing the dad addressed me and prior to answering him i said holdon bc the I MED was beeping and I wanted to reset it...the mother then accused me of being racist ang ignoring her husband.......nursing supervision and the md were notified and i gave the pt to another nurse...themother cont. with the racist accusationsand then proceeded to tell the md that she wasn't sure what I gave was even methadone it could have been KCL..at that point the MD said to her stop right there bc now your just being ridiculous......so now i have my unit supervisor calling me at home to talk about the situation and I don't even want to discuss it with her bc Iknow she'll take the pts side she always does......if this goes any further than my supervisor or is put in my record I want to call a lawyer and use defamation as my defense......any info on how much ground i have to stand on?...or info on someone who has been through this, orjust general adviceom how to handle the situation and conversation with my supervisor

Thanks

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

Legal advice is far beyond the scope of this board. If you are the least bit concerned that you may need such counsel, please seek the services of a qualified attorney. Some will offer a free consultation, while others charge a nominal fee; either way, you're much better off asking the advice of someone who knows the law, rather than a nursing message board.

Best of luck to you.