I was slapped by a doctor!

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I honestly can't believe it myself! I just graduated from my program on May 16 of last month. I am still in orientation at a large level 1 trauma center on a busy cardiac care unit. The hospitalist is known for having a horrible temper anyway. Well, he was on a roll all shift today. One of my pts BP was all over the place all day. It became very low suddenly. I told my preceptor (still on orientation) and she said to have the MD paged. He was not happy and screamed at me over the phone. I braced myself for when he got to the floor, already getting very nervous. Well, he came up fit to be tied. He slammed the papers he was holding onto the nurses station where I was standing with the health unit coordinator. I forgot to get the pts chart out for him to look at (as he requested on the phone...my fault i know :(). He asked for the chart and I said...hold on I'll have to get it for you. He turned bright red and said harshly (but not screaming) "You paged me and you're not even ready!".

And then thats when it happened -- he took his hand and hit my cheek. Now, it wasn't some soap-opera backhand where I went flying across the room or anything..but a little pop. Kinda like what a mom would do to a small child if they said a bad word or something. I was so shocked I couldn't even say anything. I just handed him the chart and he want to the pts room. The whole time I was fighting back tears. The HUC and I just exchanged looks of shock with each other! I think I am going to file a complaint tomorrow against him...and the HUC said she will back me up since she was the only one who witnessed this. I had no idea that doctors behaved this way..is this normal?? To say the least I'm dreading going back in on Wednesday. I had heard some doctor horror stories..but nothing like this -- what I consider to be assault. Am I overreacting? I don't want to be seen as a drama queen or a trouble maker being on the floor only 2 weeks in this unit :(. Ugh!

Are you kidding me??? Press charges against him immediately!!! Do not hesitate!!!! Believe me...If you would do something similar no questions would be asked,you would be escorted out of the building with security. Do not let this go!!!

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although I've heard you have to prove your future lifestyle has been damaged ,in order to be monetarily compensated.

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Specializes in ER.
I honestly can't believe it myself! I just graduated from my program on May 16 of last month. I am still in orientation at a large level 1 trauma center on a busy cardiac care unit. The hospitalist is known for having a horrible temper anyway. Well, he was on a roll all shift today. One of my pts BP was all over the place all day. It became very low suddenly. I told my preceptor (still on orientation) and she said to have the MD paged. He was not happy and screamed at me over the phone. I braced myself for when he got to the floor, already getting very nervous. Well, he came up fit to be tied. He slammed the papers he was holding onto the nurses station where I was standing with the health unit coordinator. I forgot to get the pts chart out for him to look at (as he requested on the phone...my fault i know :(). He asked for the chart and I said...hold on I'll have to get it for you. He turned bright red and said harshly (but not screaming) "You paged me and you're not even ready!".

And then thats when it happened -- he took his hand and hit my cheek. Now, it wasn't some soap-opera backhand where I went flying across the room or anything..but a little pop. Kinda like what a mom would do to a small child if they said a bad word or something. I was so shocked I couldn't even say anything. I just handed him the chart and he want to the pts room. The whole time I was fighting back tears. The HUC and I just exchanged looks of shock with each other! I think I am going to file a complaint tomorrow against him...and the HUC said she will back me up since she was the only one who witnessed this. I had no idea that doctors behaved this way..is this normal?? To say the least I'm dreading going back in on Wednesday. I had heard some doctor horror stories..but nothing like this -- what I consider to be assault. Am I overreacting? I don't want to be seen as a drama queen or a trouble maker being on the floor only 2 weeks in this unit :(. Ugh!

file a COMPLAINT only? How about assault? Yep. Hands down. You better before he does worse to the next person he encounters! I almost feel like this post is a joke, with the statement "is this normal?" You are kidding, right? Normal to be struck in the workplace?

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I really hope the hospital hasn't asked her to not talk about this... :confused:

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hey clueless one time a doctor say your dam mother deseves to be a a concentration camp and he slapped me so I didnt slap him back i filed a lawsuit and I won! the son of a doctor go his right in the maxuis gluteus and I say dont be afraid get a lawyer and sue his butt

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Specializes in Ortho, Case Management, blabla.

I probably would have slugged him in the jaw. Then again, I tend to go overboard.

hey clueless one time a doctor say your dam mother deseves to be a a concentration camp and he slapped me so I didnt slap him back i filed a lawsuit and I won! the son of a doctor go his right in the maxuis gluteus and I say dont be afraid get a lawyer and sue his butt
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I was hit by another staff member once. I was very upset. But, I was even more upset when I found out that the same nurse had hit another staff member previously, and she had not reported it.

The first nurse who was hit bears some culpibility in my being assaulted- If she had reported it when she was assaulted, the chances of the staff member assaulting anyone else would have been much less.

If you report this, you will not only be doing the right thing for yourself, you'll be protecting your nursing colleagues from future assaults at the hands of this doctor.

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Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry/PCU, SNF.

Sorry, latecomer but...

Complain? No. File charges? You better believe it. He'd be on his way to the Big House.

The thing that makes me even more upset is that he hit a woman! There are inviolable rules in life (at least for us guys, the decent ones that is...) and hitting women is one of them. Would he have done that if you were a guy? I doubt it. Would like to see him try that with any of our more seasoned nurses, he'd probably be nursing a broken jaw right now.

Hope this turns out for the best for you. Good luck!

Tom

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Specializes in CCU.

Hey guys. Again, thanks for all the support and messages of encouragement I've received. Forgive me for taking so long to update on this situation...it's been rather busy with work and the drama that comes along with it :D. Well, there's good news (at least to me). The doctor no longer is employed with our hospital :yeah:. Last Friday, the board of the hospital met, as well as the doctor and myself. I feel we came to an amicable agreement. The doctor chose to resign, in lieu of being fired. I guess he saw the writing on the wall, and didn't want a firing to haunt him for the rest of his life, so he decided to step down as a hospitalist there and relinquish his admitting privileges there.

I was given a raise due to this incident, and was also asked to not speak publicly about it, and thus is another reason I'm weary about posting on here (although I know its anonymous -- you never know who reads these boards!). But again, thank you everyone for so much support. It truly means so much to me.

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Thank you for the update.

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Specializes in ICU.

Yay! What an awesome outcome. Congrats on the raise.

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Specializes in Psych.

:dancgrp:

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