Too Much To Ask

My patient was admitted with back pain, but his real problem was that he wanted to kill himself. While in the holding area earlier, he had tried to strangle himself with the phone cord. He told anyone who would listen that he wanted to kill himself. The doctor ordered a one-to-one sitter and requested a psych consult.

The shrink said that he didn't want to see the patient until the back pain was under control. Since it was a Friday afternoon, that meant the patient would not be seen until Monday.

The patient was not delirious with pain. He was perfectly lucid and able to talk coherently. He was in mental anguish and didn't want to live another minute. During a one minute break when the sitter went to get some water for the patient, he tried once again to strangle himself with the phone cord and hid under the blanket to hide his suicide attempt.

This is a man in mental anguish who needs to talk to a shrink and get started on some medication to ease his suffering. Instead, he is expected to wait until Monday. Also, because the shrink didn't see him, we don't have a 72 hour hold on him. Anytime he wants, he can just walk out the door and the only thing we can do is wave bye-bye.

Yes, that shrink is Richard. The real problem is that he doesn't like being called for consults on Friday afternoons. Can you tell that I'm pissed off at him? (He didn't even come visit me.)