Lush80

Hello Nurses, My question today is around lumbar punctures on adults. A Nurse Practitioner that I've been interacting with (in hematology) recently attempted 6-8 (6 according to NP, 8 according to patient and observing family member) consecutive, unsuccessful LPs on a 65 year old lymphoma patient. She never gave the patient a break, never verbally checked in with him to see if she could continue, and never attempted to get assistance from anyone else. Is this acceptable practice? I know with venipunctures after 2-3 attempts, often another nurse or a technician is asked to step in to try. I can't understand how 6-8 times is acceptable for an LP which carries more risk than an VP? FYI in the end, they took him down to radiology and the radiologist attempted another 7 times. He suspects there's blood in there which makes it difficult to aspirate the CSF. All of this in a span of a few hours. The floor manager and staff are protecting her, saying 6 attempts are normal, but it's not sitting right with me. Thoughts?