Last night was  a very busy and interesting night.

Some shifts, there seems to be a theme to our calls on the medic unit.: chest pains that are not really chest pains, codes, MOs, abdominal pains, old people, young people, traumas( those are the most interesting), and nursing home calls. This shift, it seemed to be hold your tongue calls. Those calls where you really want to say something to either the patient, family members, and or bystanders but you really cannot.

I wanted to say so much during my shift, that when I finally drifted off to sleep for a nap the next day, I dreamed about what I would say.

We were called for an elderly patient who was sick. We get to the nursing home and predictably, the staff  is  clueless. This is one of those places where there is rarely a doctor on staff and sometimes there is not even an RN on staff. This is one of those facilities where the odor dirty diapers, urine, and all sorts of sepsis, and nastiness assault your nose when you walk in the door.  This is the place where sometimes you are not sure who is the patient and who is visiting.  This is one of those places when I drive away , I pray I will never inhabit.

First of all if you have your parent in this place, I am not sure what kind of a son or daughter you are!

The son called because he complained about the treatment she is receiving ( or not ) at this facility. I spoke with the patient and she seemed to be fine. She did not want to go to the hospital but the  son wanted her to go.

This is what I wanted to say to him: She is 99 years old. If she doesn’t want to eat maybe she just wants to be in peace? Or  Would you have an appetite living in this place? Will you turn her so she doesn’t get bed sores, carry her to the bathroom when she needs to go, and talk with her and keep her company? If so take her home. It is the humane thing to do. Lastly, when people get to a certain age, they should not be put in institutions such as this hell hole. They should be loved and respected and treasured.

On a gorgeous sunny day, She should be sitting in a chair on a porch watching the birds and drinking a lemonade and some home-baked cookies. Isn’t that what she did for you when you were young?

It made me sad. It really made me sad. And it made me mad that today, we value life less and less, unless of course you are young and beautiful.

Another call for a child with special needs going to the emergency room. This was a call where there was a meddling older adult  counseling the parents hard on where this child should go. I later found that  this woman was not even related. Wow. What a contrast. Here we had an older member of a community practically running rough shod over the parents(particularly the father) telling these people what they should do, using the latest tactics in guilt to get them to do what she thought was best. At the heart of the situation there were many people concerned about the health and well-being of the patient.

Here I really wanted to tell the yente to butt out! We did turn to the parents saying , it is their choice and we would do what we thought was in the patient’s best interest.  At three o clock in the morning, driving up to an hour  out-of-the-way passing several hospitals including the one where this child was being seen was out of the question and not in the child’s best interest. Fortunately the father spoke up and put his foot down. We gladly, took the child to their hospital of choice.  It was in the child’s best interest for many reasons.

All the while on these calls, I remain professional, carefully keeping in my place so as not to offend anyone and take care of my patient.

Sometimes it is so difficult to hold my tongue. After calls like these , we talk about it amongst ourselves as a way to debrief.

After calls like these, I thank God for healthy children. I am thankful that in our family we value life at all ages and stages. After calls like these I need to write.

Be thankful for your parents, kids, and grandparents. Cherish and treasure all the people in your lives and respect their wishes.