Drug Sucker
My patient was a classic drug-seeker. He knew exactly what he wanted and he wasn't going to shut-up until he got it. What he wanted was dilaudid and norco together. The other patients had been suffering through hours of belligerent yelling and I was ready to kill him when the doctor finally agreed to give him what he wanted. Once drugged, he was sleepy and not that much trouble.Half-way through my shift, we got another nurse who took over that patient from me. I warned her to keep him sedated because we really didn't like him when he is wide awake. She just laughed and told me that I'm funny. I wasn't being funny, I was serious. Needless to say, she allowed the medications to wear off and soon we had a raving lunatic on our hands again. He also got the hots for her and wouldn't stop asking her out and making inappropriate sexual remarks. After that, she drugged him up again.
He had no insurance, so my hospital tried to transfer him to USC, but they wouldn't take him. There were no beds available. We had no choice but to treat him for his antibiotic resistant infection in his leg. After a few days, we were sick to death of him and his manipulative drug-seeking behavior. Then the discharge planner had an idea. She got an order to discharge him home and told him to drive to the ER at USC. Like us, they can't refuse patients coming to their ER and so they would have to admit him. She even copied some of our records to send with him to make sure that USC would know exactly how serious his infection was. I bet USC is mad at us, but then really, who isn't?
After he left, I opened his dilaudid pump and discovered that the bag was empty. The pump is inside a locked case, so I couldn't figure out how he got the drug. It was then that I noticed that the tubing was cut. He must have sliced the tubing and sucked out the dilaudid.
On the way out, he also stole a wheelchair. He had one at home. Wasn't it enough that he got several free days of care along with mind-blowing drugs? Did he have to steal a wheelchair as well?
And guess who got blamed for the stolen wheelchair? Me. We routinely allow family members to wheel out patients to the entrance. We are so short-staffed and transportation is so slow that we don't have much choice. Normally people leave the wheelchairs at the entrance. How was I supposed to know that he would steal his?
Written by Melissa on 12:57 AM
Me
Melissa blogging from sunny Santa Clarita, Southern California, United States.
Friends
9 Comments:
It is really sad to see someone reduced to that state. His life must really be hell. And he doesn't mind trying to make other peoples' lives hell too. Like the saying goes, misery loves company.
lovely, just lovely. glad you got rid of him... but will soon be replaced by another, I am sure.
It's people like this that make it so expensive for people like me to get insurance.
I was reading through some of your old blogs. You sure put up with a lot.
Your intro mentions being an attorney as well as a nurse. Did you ever do a blog on the career field conversion?
Wow! Why didn't I think of that?! They had just changed my MS drip when the doc dc'd it! There was almost 30 cc's in there!LMAO!!
Gary, more than anything I feel sorry for him. I would not want to be him for anything in the world.
Madwag, that is sure true. I'm so tired of drug-seekers that I almost wish that people could buy all of the drugs they want at any grocery store. Then they wouldn't have to play these games to get
the drugs they need.
Connie, you are right. We have to factor in the cost of taking care of people like this when we set our rates. It seemes like it would be cheaper to close our ER. Then we wouldn't have to admit non-members, but I guess that someone did the math and figured out what it would cost to have our members go to other hospital's ER's.
Alan, I've never done a post on the subject. It happened during a time in my life when I hit rock-bottom. My husband had just left me for another woman and I decided to start my life over again, including career and name change. While married, I used my maiden name. After the separation, I switched to my married name.
It's a long sad story; maybe someday I will do a full post on the subject, but I don't especially want to depress people (or myself). Now I am much happier than any other time in my life.
Despite everything, I like being a nurse. I write about the bad things because it is entertaining, but there are many positive experiences that aren't mentioned. Do you really want to hear about all of the people who praise me and feed my ego? It's fun to be an angel. The only thing I miss about being an attorney is looking nice when I dressed up for court.
I did not want to lose my husband and I still miss him, but he did me an enormous favor by leaving. I'm much happier without him.
Sarah, what's wrong with you? That was a golden opportunity. :)
Actually, for being such an idiot, he was smarter than me. It never would have occurred to me to cut the tubing and suck or steal a wheelchair.
I'm surprised the hospital doesn't report incidents like that to the police. Or do they? The wheelchair theft, if nothing else. Why should the public pay for that? Going cold turkey in a cell would make him think twice, I'd hope. (Am I terrible?)
Dave, we don't report thefts like that. We can't really prove that he took it, we just know that it disappeared after he left. The police have better things to do than investigate the theft of a wheelchair.
He would probably go cold turkey in a prison hospital if he was caught. That would mean that some poor nurses would have to put up with him during the ordeal. I don't wish that hell on anyone.(I'm talking about the nurses, not the patient.)
Post a Comment
<< Home