I want an honest opinion of this crap

[cafenurse1112]

Ok, here it goes. We were notified at work that there was a meeting we were told would be in our best interests to attend, not mandatory. It was a pt. She is an ob nurse at a private drs office who came in with " stroke like symptoms". She was triaged immediately, placed in a hall bed, ( only one available ), seen by a mid level within 20 minutes, had ct scan within 10 minutes of that.

The nurse who had her started her iv with some difficulty and cold not get bloood, it was drawn by the lab and they lost it. It was redrawn. She DID NOT have a stroke and was sent home. Her husband, the attorney, sent in a nasty letter to the hospital threatening legal action and they were allowed to come in and address the staff about our " lousy care"!!!!

She and her husband stated that (1.) they did not call 911 (2.) they passed 2 other hospitals to come to us (3.) they didnt see the dr, they saw the mid level (4.) we lost their blood and she was traumarized by having to have it drawn a 2nd time (5.) she did not get tpa (6.) the neurologist did not come in to see them.

We sat there and listened to this crap and I for one felt like we were slapped in the face. She didnt call 911? She passed 2 other hospitals to come to us? She was mad at the neurologist? She had a tia and was upset over not getting tpa?

Administration allowed this to happen to avoid a law suit, thinking if they let these people vent they would go away. She waived her hipaa rights so now everyone in the ER knows about this woman and what happenned and even though she was given guide lines to follow she didnt and pointed out some people who were thoroughly embarrassed!!!!! They were not even allowed to respond to this woman and her stupid husband.

I want to know what other nusrses think of this scenario!!!

[llg, PhD, RN]

While I agree that the OP's situation was ridiculous ... there is another aspect of such situations that need to be considered in the discussion.

How many of you have ever been involved in a lawsuit? Do you know what would have happened to the staff had this family chosen to file a suit? Do you know how many hundreds of thousands such a suit might have cost the hospital? ... And don't forget, all that stress and expense happens even when the jury's verdict is 100% supportive of the hospital staff.

I was on the periphery of such a lawsuit -- not directly involved, but peripherally as one of the leaders in a unit. The hospital chose to support the staff and defend itself and the jury sided completely with the hospital and awarded the plaintiffs 0 dollars. However, it took 3 years ... went to trial 3 times ... nurses had to spend hours and hours being grilled in depositions by the plaintiff's attorney ... people cried a lot ... worried about losing their jobs, their licenses, their careers, ... the hospital spent tons of money on attorneys.

After having lived through this experience, I can understand why a hospital would have chosen to give the plaintiffs their "moment in the sun" to vent rather than put everyone through a series of depositions and trials. However, the hospital should have prepared everyone who attended for what was going to happen and why. There is no excuse for the hospital inflicting that on people without properly providing the care and support for the staff that was warranted by the situation.