What if the Boston bomber was your pt

[imintrouble]

I'm just sitting here listening to the coverage of the terrorist attack.

The suspect is in the hospital, injured, and obviously being cared for by nurses. What if that nurse was me?

Related Article: Life after the Boston Marathon Bombing - Nurses Coping with the Trauma

[Butterfly6890]

This reminds me of that old photo of the ER nurses who are black taking care of a KKK member.

That photo was part of an ad. It's not real.

[PacoUSA, BSN, RN]

I'd rather be the nurse for the bomber than be the lawyer defending him. Hands down!!

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

I'd rather be the nurse for the bomber than be the lawyer defending him. Hands down!!

Good point....

[Picklefreak]

We get prisoners at our facility regularly. Most are just people who got into trouble due to substance abuse. (Which makes them no different from many of our non-incarcerated patients!)

I have had a few truly evil inmates, though. One was a serial rapist and murderer. Part of my job as a nurse is to protect the privacy and dignity of my patients. As I did things like pull the curtain while he was using the urinal, and tie his gown in the back, it occurred to me that I was protecting the privacy and dignity of a person who had grievously violated the privacy and dignity of others. He had probably taken pleasure in it. But THAT is what separates someone like him from someone like me. It felt almost like a victory to be kind to him, if that makes sense.

Another inmate I was assigned to was a woman who was serving a life sentence for torturing and molesting her son over the course of several years. It was a notorious case in the news, and one of the most heinous crimes I've heard of. She was in a great deal of pain when she arrived, and one of her guards told me, "She deserves every bit of pain she's feeling." I tried to imagine being for the rest of your life at the mercy of people who felt that way about you, and it must be a miserable existence. My withholding care from her would do nothing to right the wrongs she did, and would certainly do nothing for my own humanity. It was pretty difficult, though. I was glad when my shift ended.

Like someone else said, though, I did not lavish TLC on these people. I am pragmatic and professional, but I'm not a saint!

[M/B-RN]

I wouldn't do anything to hurt him, but I would NOT be nice to him. I would answer only medical questions and ignore him otherwise. He does not deserve to be treated with kindness, nor respect, no way. Hopefully, he would request another nurse other than me due to my coldness!

[Mommy&RN, BSN, RN]

I would treat him to the best of my ability. I really have a whopping problem with the fact the announced what hospital he is in.

[carson456]

Yes. There are things that people can do that are worse. So bad, in fact, that they must be segregated from all other prisoners for their own safety.

Just ask a cop, or better yet, a prison corrections officer.

This person will absolutely be segregated from the general population. It is way too high profile.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

This person will absolutely be segregated from the general population. It is way too high profile.

I seriously doubt it.....he will be heavily guarded but I know hospitals and they do not have special secluded ICU units for intubated prisoners. They may limit admissions to that unit if they can.....but the are usually in the general population and you wouldn't "know it"

[ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP]

Yes. There are things that people can do that are worse. So bad, in fact, that they must be segregated from all other prisoners for their own safety.

Just ask a cop, or better yet, a prison corrections officer.

I don't know. Killing four people, including an eight-year old, along with severely injurying over a hundred people is pretty bad.

[mclennan, BSN, RN]

I seriously doubt it.....he will be heavily guarded but I know hospitals and they do not have special secluded ICU units for intubated prisoners. They may limit admissions to that unit if they can.....but the are usually in the general population and you wouldn't "know it"

Uh. I used to work in a hospital here in L.A. that DEFINITELY had rooms on units (including ICU & isolation rooms) that were behind their own set of high security, limited access closed doors with their own separate nurses station, family area, crash cart etc. for VIPs and high profile patients. Where I work now also contracts with a number of hospitals that are equipped with similar units. Granted, there are a lot if celebrities here and that's a little different than prisoners/criminals, but I think more hospitals around the country have facilities and protocols in place to handle high profile, high security risk patients like this. Liability issues are too pervasive for them not to. We have to have an order for triple antibiotic ointment or its a liability? Yet they'd mix a dangerous criminal into the general pop? Nooooo. Don't think so.

[carson456]

I seriously doubt it.....he will be heavily guarded but I know hospitals and they do not have special secluded ICU units for intubated prisoners. They may limit admissions to that unit if they can.....but the are usually in the general population and you wouldn't "know it"

I meant in prison.. not at the hospital.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

Uh. I used to work in a hospital here in L.A. that DEFINITELY had rooms on units (including ICU & isolation rooms) that were behind their own set of high security, limited access closed doors with their own separate nurses station, family area, crash cart etc. for VIPs and high profile patients. Where I work now also contracts with a number of hospitals that are equipped with similar units. Granted, there are a lot if celebrities here and that's a little different than prisoners/criminals, but I think more hospitals around the country have facilities and protocols in place to handle high profile, high security risk patients like this. Liability issues are too pervasive for them not to. We have to have an order for triple antibiotic ointment or its a liability? Yet they'd mix a dangerous criminal into the general pop? Nooooo. Don't think so.

Some do.......but, Not at the hospitals I am familiar with...I live in Massacheutts