"I will stand by and watch her die," said the Nurse

[Joe Guy]

[dales]

Thought about posting this. I find this absolutley disgusting.

This never happened when we had a Republican in the White House.

[Joe Guy]

This never happened when we had a Republican in the White House.

How true.

And if Reagan were still president, old people would be living longer than they do now.

[Lord Jim]

Un-friggin believable....

This woman would have had a better chance if she had collapsed on a sidewalk with just strangers passing by than with this so-called "nurse" standing over her....

Any person with a modicum of decency and humanity, who saw an elderly lady suddenly collapse would call 911 and do whatever the dispatcher said to do to try to save the woman's life...

This isn't an "independent living facility" it's a death trap....

[Joe Guy]

The nurse sounded drugged to me. She seemed completely unaffected by what was going on. I wonder if she can be charged with a crime. She should not be allowed to call herself a nurse.

[TPFKA@W]

WTF? Seriously? I would have to see a great deal more information on the event to even begin to comprehend what happened.

I would think I would feel better erring on the side of getting fired for disobeying the rules and then being able to live with myself.

OTOH I observe that administration of CPR meets with little success with that age group. Nevertheless....

[Gob]

I've repeated this tale more than once here, this happened in one of our all too frequent H&S lectures.

H&S Lecturer: "If you are on hospital or health authority property, you are not to try to intervene to prevent people falling."
Me: So if I'm walking down the corridor in work, and a little old granny trips in front of me, I'm supposed to step out of the way and let her hit the deck? Possibly breaking a hip or worse?"
H&S Lecturer: "Yes, you would not be insured for any back or other injury you may sustain."
Me: (barely controlling anger,) "I was brought up better than that."

[oldr_n_wsr]

I've repeated this tale more than once here, this happened in one of our all too frequent H&S lectures.

H&S Lecturer: "If you are on hospital or health authority property, you are not to try to intervene to prevent people falling."
Me: So if I'm walking down the corridor in work, and a little old granny trips in front of me, I'm supposed to step out of the way and let her hit the deck? Possibly breaking a hip or worse?"
H&S Lecturer: "Yes, you would not be insured for any back or other injury you may sustain."
Me: (barely controlling anger,) "I was brought up better than that."

The way around that is to hide your injury then trip and fall at a later time.
OHHH my Back!!!!!!

[Rick]

Que in Twilight Zone music...

[Scooter]

On paper, it makes perfect sense. They are an independent living facility that does not provide medical care to the residents. They can't be sued for not doing what they aren't supposed to provide, hence no liability if someone dies for want of CPR. But if they do perform it, and it doesn't work, or it causes more injury, they will be sued, and good samaritan laws have sometimes proven not to be the shield that they were intended to be.

But that's on paper. If I collapsed in the lobby of my condo building, I would hope that the concierge sitting steps away at the desk would attempt CPR, even if the condo corporation doesn't provide medical care for our residents either. But then again, it wouldn't occur to me or to anyone I would leave behind to sue the person who tried to save my life.

[oldr_n_wsr]

But if they do perform it, and it doesn't work, or it causes more injury, they will be sued, and good samaritan laws have sometimes proven not to be the shield that they were intended to be.

I just took a first aid/CPR course and the instructor (an FDNY fireman and certified instructor of everything from basic first aid to HAZMAT) said that even poorly performed CPR is covered under the good Sam law. Of course performing CPR on the victims face is a problem, chest compressions done in approximately the right place would not be. (and yes I asked this as it has been years since I took a first aid/cpr class. Much has changed)

[Gob]

Yup, I do a CPR / general first aid course every 6 months (refresher) as part of my work, it would never occur to me to worry about being sued before using whatever abilities I have.

[Sean]

Interesting... My mum is a nurse in the UK and under the terms of her registration she is obliged to help in situations such as this one.

[oldr_n_wsr]

Reminds me of the final Sienfeld episode where the gang didn't help some guy getting mugged and because of the law where they were (I believe it was Boston), they were obligated to help and received jail time because they didn't.

Only this ain't TV, it's real life (and death).

[rubato]

Interesting... My mum is a nurse in the UK and under the terms of her registration she is obliged to help in situations such as this one.

In the US "Nurse" is used to describe very low-level positions with little training. To the best of my knowledge an MD or RN (registered nurse) is obliged by their state medical boards to render assistance.

yrs,
rubato

[Jarlaxle]

Jesus fuck, you're an idiot.

[Econoline]

No, there ARE a lot of categories that are sometimes lumped together and called "nurses" by people outside of the field--some of which ARE "low-level positions with little training" compared to others: there are (from lowest to highest) CNAs (Certified Nursing Assistants), LPNs (Licensed Practical Nurses, which I think are the same as LVNs [Licensed Vocational Nurses] in some states), RNs (Registered Nurses), Certified Nurse Midwives, Nurse Practitioners, Clinical Nurse Specialists, Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists and maybe even some more that I don't know of. You'll notice that rubato put RNs together with MDs in terms of professionalism.

[oldr_n_wsr]

My aunts an RN (retired). Anything my doc says about my health, I run it by her.

[Econoline]

My mother is a retired RN and my sister is a working RN; though my mother is quite old and out of practice they both know as much about medicine and medical care as many young doctors. And yes, when a doctor tells me something I usually run it by my sister too.

[Jarlaxle]

My wife's best friend is a nurse (AP-RN)...and nobody calls a CNA a "nurse"! (I hear them called a CNA or a "nurse's aide".) An LPN/LVN, yes...but not a CNA.