Dying And Disputing Covid While Seeking Treatment from

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Patient gasping for breath while denying they have Covid, yet seeking medical care but trying to dictate to the medical professionals!

It’s bizarre to see a Covid patient deny Covid exists while gasping for breath | The Guardian

Is this cognitive dissonance or just plain stupidity? 

I'd be willing to bet lots of money, that they are equally stupid in many areas of their lives! 

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Specializes in Emergency / Disaster.

Seen it. Dude satting at 30% on room air when EMS picked him up. Swore he only needed cough syrup.  Ended up on BiPap. Wanted dinner. Gasping between bites and drinking through the edge of the mask. I told him he was gonna buy himself a vent before the end of the night if he didn't knock it off.  He kept asking "am I taking this machine with me when I go home tomorrow".  He couldn't grasp he wasn't going to just magically be OK in the morning. Ended up in SVT 3 times before I handed him to ICU and was vented by morning.  Wonder if he ever got the cough medicine.

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Bitter_Betsy, that's a really sad story. ☹️ 

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Specializes in ER.

People make their choices and live with the consequences. If a person has a stubborn personality they are going to show it. This is nothing new, we've had people who can't control their eating habits, their diabetes, their smoking habits, their sedentary lifestyle etc... I'm sure there are lots of people on this website with these problems that they can't overcome. Then they end up in the medical system and they don't understand why everything can't be fixed with the snap of the fingers. And they have themselves to blame for predicaments.

 

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On 10/18/2021 at 1:11 AM, Curious1997 said:

Pts gasping for breath while denying they have Covid, yet seeking medical care but trying to dictate to the medical professionals!

Is this cognitive dissonance or just plain stupidity? 

I'd be willing to bet lots of money, that they are equally stupid in many areas of their lives! 

There is some of both.  But, neither is what is driving this effort to prevent precautions and vaccinations.

cui bono?  Who benefits from the culture war perpetuating the pandemic?  Look at the politicians, look at the media personalities pushing the resistance to vaccination.  For the most part, they are wealthy, vaccinated, and make money when people buy what they are selling.

This is nothing new.  An hour ago, I saw a beater vehicle with a a couple dressed in dirty, worn out clothing with a bumper sticker showing support for economic policies designed by, and for, billionaires.  They bought into a narrative that told them these policies would benefit them.  They were exposed to a massive advertising campaign paid for by the true beneficiaries.  This stuff works.  That's why billions annually are spent on it.

No point in blaming the victims.  Irrelevant whether it is stupidity, cognitive dissonance, or misplaced hope that Tucker Carlson cares about them.  

We need to focus on the con artists, not the conned.

 

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Specializes in New Critical care NP, Critical care, Med-surg, LTC.

If it weren't for people making poor life choices how many patients would we really have? Aside from those with COVID that have chosen to remain unvaccinated- we have alcoholics in liver failure, diabetics with uncontrolled blood sugars, hypertensive patients that refuse to control their blood pressure, dialysis patients that miss treatments and end up arresting, overdose patients that continue to use drugs, smokers on oxygen that almost blow themselves up. We rarely have "healthy" patients that are struck by a tragedy beyond their control. That's the nature of healthcare and humanity. 

I know I should lose about 15-20 pounds. But, I haven't found the motivation lately. While I don't have any medical markers for adverse effects from my current lifestyle, something could change in the future. I'm not perfect, my coworkers aren't perfect. I try not to judge the patients coming in. What brought them to my ICU and what they will do when they leave is beyond my control, but I can control aspects of their care for the 8 or 12 hours I'm with them. Me judging them doesn't do anything positive for anyone. Not that I manage to avoid judgment all the time, but I try. 

We also had a covid patient accusing us of exaggerating his symptoms right up until the time we put him on a ventilator. All of a sudden he was appreciative and told us he wanted us to do whatever it took to help him pull through. He cardiac arrested after a week on the vent, 35 years old. Sad. 

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On 10/19/2021 at 7:07 PM, hherrn said:

There is some of both.  But, neither is what is driving this effort to prevent precautions and vaccinations.

cui bono?  Who benefits from the culture war perpetuating the pandemic?  Look at the politicians, look at the media personalities pushing the resistance to vaccination.  For the most part, they are wealthy, vaccinated, and make money when people buy what they are selling.

This is nothing new.  An hour ago, I saw a beater vehicle with a a couple dressed in dirty, worn out clothing with a bumper sticker showing support for economic policies designed by, and for, billionaires.  They bought into a narrative that told them these policies would benefit them.  They were exposed to a massive advertising campaign paid for by the true beneficiaries.  This stuff works.  That's why billions annually are spent on it.

No point in blaming the victims.  Irrelevant whether it is stupidity, cognitive dissonance, or misplaced hope that Tucker Carlson cares about them.  

We need to focus on the con artists, not the conned.

But it's the conned that vote them in because of ignorance, lack of education and just plain stupidity! 

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46 minutes ago, JBMmom said:

If it weren't for people making poor life choices how many patients would we really have? Aside from those with COVID that have chosen to remain unvaccinated- we have alcoholics in liver failure, diabetics with uncontrolled blood sugars, hypertensive patients that refuse to control their blood pressure, dialysis patients that miss treatments and end up arresting, overdose patients that continue to use drugs, smokers on oxygen that almost blow themselves up. We rarely have "healthy" patients that are struck by a tragedy beyond their control. That's the nature of healthcare and humanity. 

I know I should lose about 15-20 pounds. But, I haven't found the motivation lately. While I don't have any medical markers for adverse effects from my current lifestyle, something could change in the future. I'm not perfect, my coworkers aren't perfect. I try not to judge the patients coming in. What brought them to my ICU and what they will do when they leave is beyond my control, but I can control aspects of their care for the 8 or 12 hours I'm with them. Me judging them doesn't do anything positive for anyone. Not that I manage to avoid judgment all the time, but I try. 

We also had a covid patient accusing us of exaggerating his symptoms right up until the time we put him on a ventilator. All of a sudden he was appreciative and told us he wanted us to do whatever it took to help him pull through. He cardiac arrested after a week on the vent, 35 years old. Sad. 

Consequences have a way of sharpening the mind to focus! 

But often, it's too late! 

It's the beauty of evolution and the fittest surviving! 

Except, humans don't seem to realize that the fittest are usually the best prepared and the smartest, not the strongest! 

It's why we developed opposable thumbs and stood upright! 

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Specializes in Hospice, corrections, psychiatry, rehab, LTC.

Patient on my inpatient adult mental health unit who took half a bottle of Tylenol in a suicide attempt, but didn't tell anyone for 24 hours. Charcoal did no good at that point. I was in the room when the physician told her that she had lost more than half of her liver function.

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Specializes in ER.

I don't think we have much evolution these days. In fact, the medical system contributes to the degradation of the human gene pool. You basically have more functional people having smaller families thanks to artificial birth control, which requires a certain level of organization and planning to use. Instead you have a medical system that snatches stupid people from the jaws of death to live to make more children. You have a social welfare system that make sure they eat and have shelter, even though some of them are totally unable to function. Many can't even get it together to send their kids with a bag lunch, so the schools have to feed them. 

Of course all those things are part of living in a humanitarian society, but ultimately it will contribute to its downfall. Idiocracy anyone? It's real and it's happening right now.

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Specializes in New Critical care NP, Critical care, Med-surg, LTC.
2 hours ago, Emergent said:

Idiocracy anyone?

I thought it was such a ridiculous movie to watch, but the premise has struck me many times over the years as a sad commentary on society. We just have to hope we never get that far....

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Maybe a bit of both? 

People who are gasping, probs low on systemic O2, feeling unwell, and are experiencing high levels of anxiety - they aren't exactly in their right minds. Both physiological and psychological components exist there 

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