Has A Surgeon Ever Thrown An Instrument At You?

FroggysMom · Oct 31, 2005

I remember working at a hospital in Washington, DC and a Surgeon threw a key elevator at one of the nurses who worked there and it hit her in the head. He was upset that they didn't have the prosthesis he needed. She happen to be a friend of mine and I will never forget it! Neither would the surgeon because he came close to losing everything. The nurse was injured with a busted head and was rushed to the ER. Talk about chaos! Could you imagine? She recovered quickly (back at work two days later) and ended up suing the doctor. Two months later I went on my first travel assignment to get away from all the crazy things happening at that hospital. It's enough to write a book! Has any OR nurse ever encountered such a thing?
George Traveling with Hospital Support

Don't work in the OR, but your friend did the right thing. NO ONE has the right to throw anything at you, much less cause you injury. The doc deserved to be sued.

staceyp413 · Nov 2, 2005

I've had some wonderful fantasy dreams about this when I am so angry that I wish they would so I'd have a darn good reason to shoot my own mouth off at them and then be able to laugh later after they are talking to their attorney:)

grimmy, RN · Nov 4, 2005

oh lord the stories i have. i started in the or 10 years ago and one of my first cases was with, whom i now call gollum...(from lord of the rings). we were doing a lap chole and the endocatch wasn't working...now, this was a doctor that people hated to work with because of his tantrums...and here i was new...only been there about 2 months. well the endo catch hit the wall beside my head and fell to the floor. before i could even think about what i was doing, i had it in my hand and had walked up to him shaking it in his face, my words astounding all in the room.....*the next time you throw something at me, i promise you it will be up your a** sideway....understand?* from that day on, he requested me in his room, supported me through rnfa class and has given me glowing recommendations....and never threw anything else at me. though i still call him gollum....it has become habit...as he calls me ms. b.....*snickers*
the funny part is i have since left there he has been in anger management twice.....there is no one to take my place....pity after 10 years no one has learned how to deal with him huh?

while i appreciate your gumption, i find this story really sad. that you (or anyone) are forced to expend your energy defending yourself in such a way is just wrong. i work fairly regularly with a surgeon is well-known for being a whiner who can spiral into yelling. there is a long list of people that refuse to work with him. the first time i experienced his toddler-tirade, i said, "are you yelling at me?" as he screwed up his face to suck up, i said, "all you have to do is be decent." he's been pretty good so far. there are any number of troll-physicians who test their co-worker's emotional limits, and that is reprehensible.

JaneRNBSN · Nov 4, 2005

I've had some wonderful fantasy dreams about this when I am so angry that I wish they would so I'd have a darn good reason to shoot my own mouth off at them and then be able to laugh later after they are talking to their attorney:)

Boy, who wouldn't love to shoot their mouth off? I have fantasized many many times about putting those "gods" in their place.

wael · Nov 5, 2005

let him try

CaliLvr000, BSN, RN · Sep 2, 2010

After reading this thread all I have to say is :eek: !!! And :uhoh3: !!!!! And to all those awesome nurses.... :bow: !!!!!

canesdukegirl, BSN, RN · Sep 3, 2010

I work with a surgeon who has a very twisted, evil sense of humor. He loves to see people squirm. I imagine that he must have had either something happen to him as a child (I think he got beat up a lot) or has something....er...that he has to make up for...anyhoo...we do a lot of arthroscopies.

He has lately been amused by literally throwing the end of the camera/lightcord/shaver AT me to see if he could hit me-kinda like target practice. Without going into a lot of detail, I was recently dx with a condition that makes me very susceptible to bruising. We were doing another arthroscopy this past week. He was gearing up for his "target throwing practice" with me, and although I warned him the last time we worked together that I would not tolerate this, he continued to think it was just hilarious to do actually hit me. I thought I heard him mutter under his breath "two points".

I looked him square in the eye and said, "Dude, if you hit me, I will bruise. I will then have the chair of your department take pictures of these bruises and I will immediately send them to the legal department of the hospital, my family attorney and the state medical board. I will gladly take my written account of what occurred along with the written statements of the witnesses here in the room and I will have not only your medical license yanked, but also will call the city police to have you escorted out of the hospital in handcuffs when they book you for battery. You still think it's funny?" At the end of the case, he used the terms "yes ma'am and no ma'am" and said that he was really glad that I did so much for him and made his day better. UGH!!! He no longer uses me as target practice, though! Throwing things should never be tolerated. It is battery in the very literal sense of the word.

DogWmn · Sep 13, 2010

Yup, it was decades ago in a rural environment, we had our very first surgeon recruited to the little 35 bed hospital, I worked as a clinic nurse for an FP but when a big emergency came in it was all hands on deck. So one of my jobs was to assist the surgeon in the ER with those loooong suture events to free up RN's. Anyway, he through a major temper tantrum about not having the right sutures and launched a needle holder with needle at me and hit me with it. Of course this was back in the early 80's so of course the "rights" of a nurse were non-existant. But I got him where it hurt...his stomach, he was single and couldn't boil water, and the evening meals he'd been getting at my house nightly came to a screeching hault (my SO at the time was the head FP). He just about starved since there were only 2 eateries in town and both closed up early:D. I continued to give him the stink eye for months and he finally apologized and I told him too little too late, he left shortly there after. My SO was really ****** but I told him if he couldn't find a someone who was respectful, we'd just have to keep shipping the surgeries out.

From my point of view there is NO excuse for this type of behavior and should be nipped in the bud.

fmog · Sep 30, 2010

This happens all the time in our hospital..Especially in the OR.Sadly though..no one dared to make a complaint since we were all holding really tight to our "limited jobs". One particular thing that had happened to me was when a surgeon was reaching for the OR lights handle and hit me straight in the face as i was also hovering over the field to see what was happening on the site and that i could anticipate his needs.He never said anything and looked at me as if saying "what's the matter with you?" i said sorry instead.I was holding my tears though, as it really was painful. My face was aching for many days..Iknow he didn'y mean it,but a piece of sorry could have sufficed.

Few weeks back,he was the same surgeon who threw an instrument to a colleague who was new in the department then.

From time to time flying instruments are everywhere in the OR in the hospital i work in. And once this happens to you, this becomes used against you all the time.

canesdukegirl, BSN, RN · Sep 30, 2010

This happens all the time in our hospital..Especially in the OR.Sadly though..no one dared to make a complaint since we were all holding really tight to our "limited jobs". One particular thing that had happened to me was when a surgeon was reaching for the OR lights handle and hit me straight in the face as i was also hovering over the field to see what was happening on the site and that i could anticipate his needs.He never said anything and looked at me as if saying "what's the matter with you?" i said sorry instead.I was holding my tears though, as it really was painful. My face was aching for many days..Iknow he didn'y mean it,but a piece of sorry could have sufficed.
Few weeks back,he was the same surgeon who threw an instrument to a colleague who was new in the department then.
From time to time flying instruments are everywhere in the OR in the hospital i work in. And once this happens to you, this becomes used against you all the time.

What do you mean "used against you all the time"? You mean if you complain, it will be used against you? Or you mean people will make you the butt of jokes all the time?

Dude, what if he damaged a nerve in your face? Hitting a person with anything at any time no matter what circumstance is plain and simple BATTERY. I understand that our job market sucks at the moment, but I cannot for the life of me believe that this sort of behavior is tolerated. What a jackwagon that surgeon was for not even apologizing to you. He woulda been led out in handcuffs if he did that to me. I would love for the legal department to TRY to take away my job if I complained. I would make a PR nightmare for them!

fmog · Oct 1, 2010

it means that if you have a history of being hit with an instrument or anything like that, they would look at you as someone who is incompetent..so either you are subject for mockery or you are kicked out of the department.

tinkerroll21 · Oct 2, 2010

Ha, when I was a Scrub Tech, I saw Surgeons throw things all the time. I have seen scissors, instruments, needles, and even a uterus flung against the wall.