Exorcism in the ER......NOT

Specialties Emergency

Published

Had a pt come in the other night, female about 40 y/o. She was brought in by her husband and her pastor. She was dragged from the car by them and placed in a wheelchair, and was then intercepted and directed straight to the back. This lady was unresponsive, yet SPO2 was 99 on RA, NSR, good pressure, and a very good corneal reflex. Hmmmmm...we all said. Got a line in her, o2 on her, and then it was off to CT, which was totally normal. Drug screen was negative, all labs were normal....hmmmmmmm, we go again. As she was lying there, her hubby would grab her hand and start talking what sounded like gibberish and you could see her eyes move under her closed lids,....hmmmmmmm we go again. We did a couple of hand drops and never did her hand come close to her face,......hmmmmm we go, this is getting better and better. After a shory while (about 45 min), the pastor returned and both him and the husband started chanting together while running their hands in the air above her body.... by this time we had quit going hmmmmmmmm...just started to :rolleyes: .

This lady remained in an unresponsive state, and then the pastor and husband confided that she may have become possessed :devil: by a demon! I even kept a straight face when he told me that. What was the real kicker was they wanted us to call in a Catholic priest so that he could perform an exorcism on her right there in the ER, before the :devil: became so strong in her it would not be able to be exorcised.

Well, to make a long story short, NO, we did not call a priest. We admitted her to the floor due to altered loc. The floor nurses said they kept up the vigil most of the night, except when they thought there was no one near. Then she would come out of her "trance" and talk to her hubby. Somehow, someone was able to convince a priest to come in the next day, whether he did an exorcism or not is unknown, but she had a miraculous recovery and was able to leave that evening. So the

:devil: lost another one and the good guys once again prevailed in the fight between good and evil......I think.

bob

Just how does an humorous story become a "Flame" thread?

Granted, exorcisms in ER may not be in everyones perverted funny bone but can't we let folks have a few laughs and take it with a grain of salt?

thank you!

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Just how does an humorous story become a "Flame" thread?

Granted, exorcisms in ER may not be in everyones perverted funny bone but can't we let folks have a few laughs and take it with a grain of salt?

Oh, I totally agree. ...And besides, I have to admit, I'm somewhat exhausted by battling raving lunatics who refuse to get off their soap box. :bugeyes:

....So, I'm moving on. :Melody:

...Oh, and thanks for the info on Phenergan, stevierae. I did not know that.

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Oh, I totally agree. ...And besides, I have to admit, I'm somewhat exhausted by battling raving lunatics who refuse to get off their soap box. :bugeyes:

....So, I'm moving on. :Melody:

...Oh, and thanks for the info on Phenergan, stevierae. I did not know that.

Sure---gee, I hope I am not the one you are referring to as a "raving lunatic...." :o

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Sure---gee, I hope I am not the one you are referring to as a "raving lunatic...." :o

:chuckle Oh stevie.... It's all good. :icon_hug:

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Oh, I totally agree. ...And besides, I have to admit, I'm somewhat exhausted by battling raving lunatics who refuse to get off their soap box. :bugeyes:

....So, I'm moving on. :Melody:

...Oh, and thanks for the info on Phenergan, stevierae. I did not know that.

estrogen,

enjoyed ya. sorry to see you go! remember, it's all in good fun!

stevie rae,

catch ya later! :) :) :) :) :)

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wow. what small minds and big egos we all must have to deny others thier beliefs! i wonder what people thoughtwhen they heard about the parting of a whole sea! part a sea, kiss a snake. what ever you believe is ok with me.

I absolutely agree with the idea of religious freedom. However, this patient came to the emergency room with an apparent physical/emotional problem wanting medical expertise. I'm pretty sure that everyone knows that care in the ER does not include exorcism, so I really don't understand why someone would come to the ER expecting a priest on call for emergency exorcisms.

Spiritual emergencies need to be referred to the minister, priest, chaplan, rabbi, guru, priestess, whatever...

This patient is very lucky she didn't get sent off for a 72 hour hold (would of happened in my state). And I'm wondering if a mental health referral would have actually been a good thing...

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Specializes in ER.
...well, last I checked, using placebo was illegal. Unless you're conducting scientific research... :D

unethical yes...illegal..no

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i absolutely agree with the idea of religious freedom.

i agree also, it is one of our constitutional rights. but admit it, some we don't understand because they are very different. variety is the spice of life.

however, this patient came to the emergency room with an apparent physical/emotional problem wanting medical expertise.

i'm not so sure that is the case. don't you ever get those patient that just need a pat on the back or a slap on the face (so to speak) and they are just fine until the next time? then there are the just really wierd ones who you just have to take with that ever so big grain of salt. if these folks are humored, they probably will just go away.

i'm pretty sure that everyone knows that care in the er does not include exorcism, so i really don't understand why someone would come to the er expecting a priest on call for emergency exorcisms.

personally, i think a good excercism would be fun. i realize that we all are busy but unfortunatly these are our patients just like any appy or bronchitis. they just need a different kind of care. do they need spiritual help? maybe, but for that moment they are putting their trust in us. do i want to call psyc? yes, but i why rock the boat if you don't have to? if we can treat and street, let's!

the less drugs we give our all ready addicted society the better.

spiritual emergencies need to be referred to the minister, priest, chaplan, rabbi, guru, priestess, whatever...

this patient is very lucky she didn't get sent off for a 72 hour hold (would of happened in my state). and i'm wondering if a mental health referral would have actually been a good thing...

now the fact that these people got admitted is beyond me. the problem should have been taken care of in the er.

remember everyone these are just my opinions so don't go off, kay?

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Specializes in Utilization Management.
remember EVERYONE these are JUST my opinions so don't go off, kay?

Not a problem! Frankly, I found it quite amazing that this thread, started and stopped in 2002, had this much life in it after all this time. :chuckle

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ego, huh? haha

yeah really, you need to lighten up if you expect to survive in the er. don't take everything so serious. your not even an er nurse yet. chill out but have fun doing it! :p
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ego, huh? haha

ego? what?

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B) You wouldn't give IV Phenergan???? For what, instead of a narcotic??? I have no Idea what you are talking about. IV Phenergan is not a narcotic, but it has calming effects and it makes one sleepy etc... As a matter of fact, there are people that are SEEKING Phenergan. So why would you even think of that?

I'll try to keep this a short story, but about a month ago I was in the ED for chest pains. I complained to my PA that I was having intermittent chest pain and was wondering if such and such as med was doing it. I also told her that I wanted to start working out again and was hoping that everything was OK. She told me to go to urgent care and just get a 12 lead EKG. No problem, wanted to avoid the ED - hey, there are sicker people there than me and all I wanted was to confirm that I was OK!

Well, urgent care got me back there and told me that I needed to be transferred by EMSA to the hospital. Even though he couldn't find a problem, he wanted me transferred. I can see where he was coming from, but involving EMSA was too much. Geez, at $550 a ride and they have more serious cases to attend to, honestly.

I cried to the doc, if my PA TOLD me to go to ED, I would have gone! I didn't want EMSA involved. BTW, I called my husband from urgent care and he left work immediately to meet me at the hospital. Someone from urgent care FORGOT to call EMSA. My husband beat me to the hospital by 45 minutes!! :angryfire Poor guy, he was so worried.

Long story short, I was eventually admitted for a cardiac workup. This was a complete surprise to me because the nurse talked like I was getting d/c'ed from ED and that was fine with me. Nope, had to stay.

(YES, I'm getting around to my point of IV Phenergan)

The only place they could find to get an IV was the base of my left index finger. Painful spot, BTW. :rolleyes: Since we found out the hard way I was allergic to morphine, I received some Demerol for the pain (CP plus a headache caused by all the nitro). Started vomiting forcefully. Poor lady in the bed next to me called for the nurse because I was too busy puking my guts up for over 2 minutes. Anyhow, the doc ordered phenergan through my IV. Combined with the IV site, the previous reaction to the morphine, it HURT so badly. My hand was swollen for about a week.

Moral of the story, yes, I knew what phenergan did to veins and I should have refused the IV phenergan. But as it was being pushed, I thought of all the stinging and burning (the nurse pushed it SLOW, too) and I thought, "this can't be good for any type of vein."

I don't think I'll ever accept IV phenergan again. I used to get it all the time when I had a port-a-cath, and it didn't hurt, but in a tiny vein at the base of my finger in a very tenuous IV site? Nope. Never again.

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