The Spitting Bastard

My shift ended with me waiting in ER to be seen by a doctor. I was there all because of the spitting bastard. What happened is that earlier today a tube had been pushed down his nose and because he didn't cooperate, it turned into a bloody mess. No, I'm not the one who did that to him. Anyway, blood was oozing out his nostrils and bubbly, bloody saliva was running down his chin. He's a drooler. Later, the bastard's IV line became occluded and while I was bent over him fixing it, he spit in my face. Little droplets of blood got in my eyes, nose and mouth. I yelled at him, but left without killing him. I have so much self-control.

I reported the incident and had to fill out a stack of forms. He needed to be tested for HIV and various forms of hepatitus, which was a problem because he was too confused to sign a consent for the HIV testing. We ended up doing it without a consent. I'll worry about that glich later. Then, most annoying of all, I had to go to ER to get my blood drawn also. There was no chance that I infected him, the concern is that if he does test positive, they want to be able to establish whether I acquired the illness from him. If I test negative today and positive at some future date, then their liability is established. However, if I test positive today, then they have no liability no matter what the patient's test results are.

The bastard is at low risk for having anything. This is more of a nuisance than anything and because ER kept me waiting so long, I walked out without being seen. I'll have to go to work early tomorrow to take care of that.