Strangest question I ever received in my nsg career

Nurses General Nursing

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Have you ever been asked by a pt who just checked into the ED if you wanted to adopt their unborn baby who's coming any minute? I did. The mom and teenage daughter (who already had two litte ones) were very serious. To this day, I don't know why I said no (considering my child is adopted: since, I can't have children). I think I was just caught off guard too much by the question. It's been about 2.5 yrs now, and I often wonder what became of the child.

2ndCareerRN

583 Posts

I had just about the same thing happen to me. This was from a lady the police pulled out of a creek by their station. She was convinced she was a mermaid, and was doing a very good imitation of a fish out of water. She asked everyone if we wanted her baby, which was the "spawn of aliens". A lot of haldol and a trip to the state psych facility and she was fine. BTW, she was not pregnant.

bob

Specializes in OB, M/S, HH, Medical Imaging RN.
I had just about the same thing happen to me. This was from a lady the police pulled out of a creek by their station. She was convinced she was a mermaid, and was doing a very good imitation of a fish out of water. She asked everyone if we wanted her baby, which was the "spawn of aliens". A lot of haldol and a trip to the state psych facility and she was fine. BTW, she was not pregnant.bob

I had a patient ask me to adopt her baby also, that was about 26 years ago and I was working in an OB/GYN office. I told her yes. I had already had 1 stillborn girl and was worried about being pregnant again. This teenager was about 7 months pregnant at the time. Her VDRL came back positive. Both she and the father, I later found out, were drug addicts. As it turned out her mother took the baby. I never got my hopes up because somehow I knew it wouldn't work out. Two years later I had my own little girl who is now 24 y/o and I have a son who is 15 y/o. I lost one more little girl at 5 months between my two children. I feel so blessed to have my two children. Sorry didn't mean to get off the subject.

Specializes in OB, M/S, HH, Medical Imaging RN.

:rotfl: I just thought of the funniest thing a patient ever asked me. A young mother brought her child to the ER for a severe "right" ear infection, yuck it was draining and everything. She called me about an hour after they left and said the prescription bottle says 3 gtts in ear 4 times a day. Which ear do I put them in ?!

jaimealmostRN

491 Posts

Foxfour, she must have thought that you were a very caring and compassionate person to offer you her child. Just out of curiosity though, would one be allowed to do that? Wouldn't you have to consult social work/legal? Just wondering.

KRVRN, BSN, RN

1,334 Posts

Specializes in NICU.

I had a dad ask me a whole handful of questions regarding how things felt for his premature baby in the NICU. Things like, "what does it feel like to be intubated like that?" and "what does she feel when she gets a tube feeding?" Typical questions, but most parents are satisfied with my descriptions of what I've HEARD it feels like. I told him what she probably feels, but that I honestly don't know for sure since I've never been intubated, received a tube feeding, etc. His response was (somewhat confrontationally), well you're her nurse, you should know... why don't you know for sure?

Um?

KRVRN, BSN, RN

1,334 Posts

Specializes in NICU.

I had a dad ask me a whole handful of questions regarding how things felt for his premature baby in the NICU. Things like, "what does it feel like to be intubated like that?" and "what does she feel when she gets a tube feeding?" Typical questions, but most parents are satisfied with my descriptions of what I've HEARD it feels like. I told him what she probably feels, but that I honestly don't know for sure since I've never been intubated, received a tube feeding, etc. His response was (somewhat confrontationally), well you're her nurse, you should know... why don't you know for sure?

Um?

hypnotic_nurse

627 Posts

One of my friends was working on the inpatient psych unit with me.

The patient: "Are you a doctor?"

Nurse: "No, I'm a nurse."

Patient: "Well, then are you an elf?"

This is the same patient who insisted on telling us how to hotwire a Volkswagon, in case we were ever stranded somewhere.

hypnotic_nurse

627 Posts

One of my friends was working on the inpatient psych unit with me.

The patient: "Are you a doctor?"

Nurse: "No, I'm a nurse."

Patient: "Well, then are you an elf?"

This is the same patient who insisted on telling us how to hotwire a Volkswagon, in case we were ever stranded somewhere.

Foxfour

136 Posts

Foxfour, she must have thought that you were a very caring and compassionate person to offer you her child. Just out of curiosity though, would one be allowed to do that? Wouldn't you have to consult social work/legal? Just wondering.

I am a compassionate person, but I'm not too sure the mom and teenager knew that. They just walked up to me and asked me, and I never laid eyes on these people before. As far as the legal/social aspect of it, yes, your right you do need both. At least I did when I adopted my child. That was another reason I was caught off guard. The mom said, "Just write something up and will sign it." It was as if they were returning an item to a store. Weird!

Foxfour

136 Posts

Foxfour, she must have thought that you were a very caring and compassionate person to offer you her child. Just out of curiosity though, would one be allowed to do that? Wouldn't you have to consult social work/legal? Just wondering.

I am a compassionate person, but I'm not too sure the mom and teenager knew that. They just walked up to me and asked me, and I never laid eyes on these people before. As far as the legal/social aspect of it, yes, your right you do need both. At least I did when I adopted my child. That was another reason I was caught off guard. The mom said, "Just write something up and will sign it." It was as if they were returning an item to a store. Weird!

stbernardclub

305 Posts

HUMMMMM...lets see, I would think maybe a child could be endangered if the mother was asking a total stranger to adopt it! I believe a call to social services may have been in order.

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