Dear Abbey, about a nurse

Valerette · Jun 4, 2006

I think it's ironic that this man is upset that the nurse told ONE woman this information--information he clearly thinks no-one needs to know--and by writing to Dear Abby he's ensuring that THOUSANDS of people now know this information.

RNOTODAY, BSN, RN · Jun 5, 2006

I don't know if people have to speak the truth but they do tend to say truthful things. My grandfather had pretty high government clearance and he could never have anasthesia without someone from the government attending the procedure (I don't know if they still do that).

Interesting, but what would the govt official do once whatever was blurted out???

allnurses Guide · Jun 5, 2006

Interesting, but what would the govt official do once whatever was blurted out???

They would know what information had been compromised, be able to protect anyone whose security might have been blown, and hopefully this would have been done in a government hospital with staff who already have security clearance.

Katnip, RN · Jun 5, 2006

In addition to all of the above, maybe the nurse was answering a question the wife had about the effects of anesthesia? Maybe the wife, like many people out there had heard that some anesthesias can act like a truth serum, wanted it confirmed, then asked her husband the $64,000 question.

labcat01, BSN, RN · Jun 5, 2006

Interesting, but what would the govt official do once whatever was blurted out???

dunno- hit him over the head to make him shut-up :lol2:

nursejohio, ASN, RN · Jun 5, 2006

someone needs to write and tell abbey that its not the doctor's job to discipline a nurse because the nurse doesn't belong to him. if their is a valid complaint against a nurse, it should be made towards hospital administration or the state board of nursing.

I just did, as I hope most of the members on here will do also! :madface:

Bruce RN · Jun 5, 2006

How was she to know that the nutty wife would use that opportunity to confirm her suspicions? That was an underhanded and cowardly way to confront her husband. AND the fact that he WAS cheating means that he alone is to blame for the demise of their marriage, not the nurse.

But is it really a fact that he WAS cheating? Simply because he made those statements while coming out of anesthesia?

I think that a point is getting missed here and that is that the theory about anesthesia being some powerful truth serum that compels people to speak the truth is a highly underproven and controversial science at best, and little more than a myth at the very least.

Often times, the truth comes out when people have had enough alcohol in their systems, that does not make alcohol a truth serum.

Impaired judgement from anything, be it alcohol or propofol, can make people say and do things that they wouldn't normally do, it doesn't make their statements any more true.

If anything, his statements are even less credible due to the fact that he stated them under anesthesia. I hope that wife doesn't have any big dreams about using his statements in the PACU as her ticket to some big divorce settlement because that "evidence" will be laughed right out of court.

And no matter how one wants to divide up the blame for what went on in the PACU that day, whether or not the nurse is responsible for ruining someone's marriage, she still gave out very misleading and even outright incorrect information to the family member about the effects of anesthesia.

Not only are the nurse's statements so ignorant to the point of embarrassment to be coming from any PACU nurse, i.e.

"You know, you can find out anything from them when they're coming out of anesthesia. They are completely incapable of lying....." but it was also very irresponsible and caused the wife to genuinely believe that if you pump someone full of anesthetic agents, they will spew out nothing but the truth.

She probably could have gotten the same information out of him by getting him drunk enough on a given evening.

chadash · Jun 5, 2006

Interesting, but what would the govt official do once whatever was blurted out???

Doh!

BKRN · Jun 5, 2006

I can't understand how the nurse used poor judgment. It sounded to me that she may have beent trying to ease tension and perhaps fear by telling the wife a light-hearted side effect of the medication. How was she to know that the nutty wife would use that opportunity to confirm her suspicions? That was an underhanded and cowardly way to confront her husband. AND the fact that he WAS cheating means that he alone is to blame for the demise of their marriage, not the nurse. This was one of the silliest letters to Dear Abby I've read in a long time.

I Agree!

UM Review RN, ASN, RN · Jun 5, 2006

How was she to know that the nutty wife would use that opportunity to confirm her suspicions? That was an underhanded and cowardly way to confront her husband. AND the fact that he WAS cheating means that he alone is to blame for the demise of their marriage, not the nurse.
But is it really a fact that he WAS cheating? Simply because he made those statements while coming out of anesthesia?
I think that a point is getting missed here and that is that the theory about anesthesia being some powerful truth serum that compels people to speak the truth is a highly underproven and controversial science at best, and little more than a myth at the very least.
Often times, the truth comes out when people have had enough alcohol in their systems, that does not make alcohol a truth serum.
Impaired judgement from anything, be it alcohol or propofol, can make people say and do things that they wouldn't normally do, it doesn't make their statements any more true.
If anything, his statements are even less credible due to the fact that he stated them under anesthesia. I hope that wife doesn't have any big dreams about using his statements in the PACU as her ticket to some big divorce settlement because that "evidence" will be laughed right out of court.

This is why we cannot obtain informed consent for a procedure after the patient has been sedated.

For that reason, I'm questioning whether that statement was made by a licensed nurse.

Or whether the letter-writer has made the whole thing up.

control · Jun 5, 2006

don't know if it's true or not...but something about this statement made me cringe:
someone needs to write and tell abbey that its not the doctor's job to discipline a nurse because the nurse doesn't belong to him. if their is a valid complaint against a nurse, it should be made towards hospital administration or the state board of nursing.

the bolded really doesn't make sense. it's addressing two separate issues: the doctor's lack of ownership of the nurse and who should discipline a nurse.

Guitar_Heroine · Jun 5, 2006

Ok between her comment on this one, and the one about regarding people in scrubs with caution I've had enough. I wrote to her. I doubt she'll even get it but maybe if she does she'll think twice next time she has something to say about nurses.