Sangrang

The patient was my brother who has been to hell and back with chronic illnesses. I was on the phone with him and ended the call when the charge nurse came in after he requested to speak to her. He thought he’d hung up, but didn’t and I witnessed this nurse belittle and bully my brother to tears. He is a wounded vet and had a liver transplant due to an RPG missle fragment piercing his liver causing a massive infection and organ failure. This current hospitalization was due to extreme dehydration and pain from a cdiff infection, a common problem in transplant patients. Because he has had so many injuries and surgeries, he’s developed a high tolerance for pain medication. He only asks for it when he’s been admitted for cdiff (had it 3x) or surgeries. The nurse could only offer him percocet (standing order until doc could be contacted) He accepted it once and it did nothing for his pain. When she offered it again, he tried to explain that it didn’t work at all and he was in extreme pain. She also had his antibiotic to give him. He told her he would like to wait until he could have his pain relieved as this particular antibiotic hurt his stomach. She said that he was refusing his meds and then she threw them in the trash can in the room and stormed out. He asked to speak to the charge nurse to explain what happened and hope that she would understand what he was asking for. She was harsh and argumentative from the moment she walked in. Her approach was to treat him like a child and also accuse him of refusing his meds. When he would say I feel like you’re not listening to me, she just kept escalating the situation with arguing, the opposite if what we’ve been trained to do when a patient is asking for help. He knows what works for him and he was trying to advocate for himself. At one point he tearfully said that he was in so much pain that he felt like he was going to lose it. I knew what he meant, but she took it as a threat and said So you want me to call security? Then she giggled. The next thing I remember is my brother just sobbing, which I’ve never seen unless he is in severe pain. I was appalled with this interaction and headed to the hospital. In the meantime my brother de-escalated the situation by apologizing about how the conversation had gone, saying that he understood that they were probably working very hard considering being understaffed. Her reply was Oh, we’re not understaffed at all. Our staffing is the best we’ve had in weeks! She had no apology for her inappropriate coments or the bedside nurse’s behavior. I’m not even sure why he apologized as he did nothing wrong. I’ve been his support through all of his health issues for many years and have never witnessed such appalling behavior from a nurse. My brother and I would like to report this treatment in hopes that this charge nurse will realize her mistreatment of my brother. Who do you think would be the best person to speak to?