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

A word of caution: The truly catatonic are TRULY DANGEROUS when they come out of thier stupor. Psych RN here, been there, done that. Accepted practice is stat IM antipsychotic and be ready w/extra personnel when they snap out of it, because they are going to fight like the devil (sorry, couldn't resist) when the meds take effect. You've been warned.

yeah, i've been in the psych field about 6 years now, and i've been swung at, scratched, hit, haymakers and all.... I've only ever gotten contact twice from a client, usually it can be avoided with the right attitude and with proper redirection..... however...

the post was really just for kicks... although, the sternal rub thing really did happen... thanks for the feedback

:rolleyes:

Specializes in ER, ICU, L&D, OR.
Ya know . . . Even though I feel your assessment and intervention were spot on, you really put yourself at risk for a lawsuit IMHO, especially considering this child's mother brought him to the ER rather than consulting clergy or using your intervention at home. If I'm not mistaken, assault is defined as the threat of harm. Not PC, just practical.

Actually it sounds as if the Mother needed a good spanking.

thats why the have the Dx PPPS

Pitifully Poor Parenting Syndrome

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