KARRN3

It seems to me, the one piece being missed here is that this woman has already been in a vegetative state for fifteen years. The family stating that they think she can get better makes it sound like this just happened last week and already her husband wants to disconnect life support. What kind of life does this woman have, who would want to exist like that. It's a disgrace that the politicians and the courts have gotten into this power struggle. I believe her husband is fighting for what he knows she would want. If he didn't care about her, he would just take the path of least resistance, divorce her and let her live in this vegetative state forever. The other piece to this is, who is paying for her to live in this vegetative state in a time when almost a quarter of our people have no health coverage,.

What would you do if this had happened anywhere but in the hospital? You would go to the police without question. The fact that this assault took place at your clinical and now the hospital is trying to bully you does not make this OK. You need to stand up and go to the authorities, not just for yourself but for all of your colleagues. This suffering in silence and allowing ourselves to be abused has to stop. The other replies are correct, let this hospital see this on the news reports, the hospital will change their tune pretty darn fast. I hope you took pictures of your injuries if you decide to file suit against the hospital.

I have read We Band of Angels, it is an excellent book that shows the strength and spirit of nurses and their contributions during WWII. They were one tough bunch of nurses. All of the books by Echo Heron are excellent as well.

I think that it's interesting that as health care providers, we take care of people that could have any range of communicable disease. We are told to use universal precautions and that that will keep us safe. I don't know why the same wouldn't be true for you in your case. A nurse frequently is unaware of a patients HIV or Hepatitis status, it is your business-keep it that way unless directly asked.Good luck.

When I saw the title of this discussion, I thought it might be someone saying" why do we have this debate."Why can't we respect each other as colleagues with the same professional license and the same professional responsibilities.That it doesn't matter which initials are after your name, and that the only thing that determines what kind of a nurse you are is the care that you give.When I see a nurse write things that imply that an ADN or I would assume you would also feel that a diploma grad are somehow inferior to a BSN nurse, I'm sad for our profession.I have worked with excellent LPN,ADN and diploma nurses,they bring skill ,compassion and diversity to our profession. I know many nurses who couldn't have become nurses if they had had to fulfill BSN requirements, because thay have families or other responsibilities.It's time for us to stop this only a BSN is a professional nurse nonsense and to value all of the members of our profession.

AS ONE WHO HAS BEEN ON BOTH SIDES OF THE FENCE, I CAN'T SAY ONE IS EASIER OR BETTER THAN THE OTHER-THEY'RE JUST DIFFERENT. IN THE UNIT, YOU MAY ONLY HAVE ONE OR TWO PATIENTS BUT YOU CAN'T FATHOM HOW BUSY THAT CAN KEEP YOU- BUT YOU ALSO HAVE MORE RESOURCES TO BE ABLE TO FIX THEM. ON THE FLOORS, THE PATIENTS MAY NOT BE AS SICK OVERALL BUT IF ONE GOES BAD, THE OTHER 4-5 PATIENTS YOU'RE CARING FOR SUFFER FOR YOU TO HELP THE ONE THAT'S CRASHING.WHAT I WOULDN'T GIVE FOR NEO AND DIPRIVAN SOME DAYS ON THE FLOORS.

NOT ONLY WOULD I ENCOURAGE EITHER OF MY CHILDREN TO GO INTO NURSING, MY MOM IS TAKING EARLY RETIREMENT AND IS GOING TO GO TO NURSING SCHOOL.WE HAVE A MOST NOBLE PROFESSION WHERE OUR ACTIONS TRULY MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN PEOPLE'S LIVES.DESPITE ALL THE TROUBLE WITH ADMINISTRATION AND THE TRAGEDY WE SOMETIMES SEE, I WOULDN'T TRADE BEING A NURSE FOR ANYTHING AND WOULD ENCOURAGE ANYONE TO JOIN OUR RANKS.

WHAT YOU DO ON YOUR UNPAID TIME IS UP TO YOU.HAD AN EXPERIENCE WHEN A HEAD NURSE TOOK ISSUE WITH MY LEAVING THE HOSPITAL DURING MY DINNER BREAK,THOUGHT SHE HAD THE RIGHT TO MAKE ME STAY ON MY UNIT,IN CASE THEY NEEDED ME DURING MY BREAK.I TOLD HER IF SHE WANTED TO PAY ME I'D STAY OTHERWISE MY TIME WAS MY TIME.THE LABOR BOARD AGREED-NO FURTHER ISSUE ABOUT MY OWN TIME.