Last Friday was homecoming and the local high school had a big dance after the game. The only thing worse than Homecoming is Prom, why? Because we can be guaranteed to get one or more drunken, spoiled brats from the party.
Last week was no disappointment. Our guest was a 16 year old female with a BAC of .24 - a respectably high number for a teenager, I would guess that it was not her first rodeo as she was still conscious and screaming, kicking and spitting at all and sundry. Her lovely dress was covered in vomit and her carefully applied makeup was streaked down her face, carefully covered by the medics with a spit hood. I might have been a little more sympathetic if she hadn't managed to kick me in the hip while we were restraining her, and if she hadn't called me a "motherfucking, cocksucking bitch" every time I entered the room.
I could have put up with all that easily, after all it is pretty run of the mill for us - a little verbal and physical abuse is part of the territory, right? That was until her mother showed up. As soon as she came in she went running into the room screaming "MY BABY !!!!!!!!! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY BABY!!!!!!!!"
What have I done to your baby? Puhleeze.
She then proceeded to sit at the side of the bed stroking her daughter's arm and saying "oh you know mommy loves you, it's OK."
Uh, no it is NOT OK. Your underage daughter drank enough that she could have suffered serious harm. She has a tolerance which means she is drinking regularly. She assaulted a health care worker and worst of all.....she is a brat.
The mom then starts to scream at and verbally abuse the doctor and myself for the horrible way we have treated her little darling. She demands to have the restraints taken off which we refuse to do as the patient has become more and more agitated since mom arrived. Enraged by our refusal and subsequent offer to have her removed by the off-duty police officer she grabs the ankle restraint and unbuckles it at which point her daughter kicks out and connects with mom's mouth, knocking out two of her front teeth and splitting her lip and chin open.
Some days it is really hard not to believe in karma.
Bet mom doesn't think her kid is such a little darling now.
Friday, October 31, 2008
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30 comments:
Nice ending!
And she probably still said it was the nurses fault because if they didn't have her restrained none of this would of happened.
good grief!
HA!!! That's all I have to say.
It's people like those two that make me consider having my tubes tied.
Agree with Jeremiah, she'll blame the Doctor and Nurse for her injuries, threaten to sue, probably call the Administration (who will undoubtedly side with mom because mom's hubby is some big-wig of some sort in town), the brat will not be punished, continue to abuse alcohol, proceed to drugs and prostitution.
And visit the ED regularly for STDs, pain meds and food.
God, I love this country!
Wow! I was really annoyed at Mom and daughter until I reached the end of your story. Instant karma is the best kind. :)
I think it would have been great if you could send people like that home with a Polaroid face shot, so they could see how lovely they looked in public. At least a few might have the sense to be mortified.
Ah yes, karma is a beautiful thing. I'm quite certain mom will find a way to pay it forward.
Here here for instant karma! There is no better kind. Great story :)
very nice blog site some how i found you looking for things on our sons birth defect esophageal atresia, i wish you all the best.
That little scene would have made a night's worth of babysitting drunks worth it.
If only security cameras could have caught that one ...
Oh yeah, and don't forget, when you finally discharge the little bastard who verbally abused you (and his/her parents all night) at discharge Mom asks for a school excuse for the little darling. My standard response is "Absolutely not! In fact, if I were you, I would make sure he is up at the first beep of the alarm, and then sit him down to a nice big breakfast of greasy bacon, 2 fried eggs, and toast; and see that he eats it. And then personally escort Prince Charming onto the bus, after making him aware that if the school nurse calls to have him picked up due to "illness" when he arrives home there will be a list of chores to be done, and his head will not see a pillow until the entire list is complete. (Probably sometime well into 2010)!
You should have just admitted that it was all your fault. I mean, how ELSE did that little sweetheart get such a BAC?
Just admit that you inserted an NG and pumped a fifth INTO it instead of OUT of it. Hmmm... I may be ON to something LOL
I don't usually see such a level of excitement, as I work postpartum right now.
HOPING to become a CRNA, if all goes well with my pre-reqs etc. I must be insane--I am 48.
Oh Tex! you're such a cynic LOL
Karma can be the best :) I work in adolescent psych and it sickens me how much some parents coddle their kids and don't make them take responsibility for their actions. Then again, these kids (like the one you had to deal with) are learning this behavior at home and the parents can't understand WHY their kids are out of control!
Don't you love it when the monster parents have created turn around and bite them in the butt?
I see this with an alarming regularity. Same scenario, different kids. Then I go home and TELL MY TEENQUEEN how her peers have been behaving badly. Hopefully, that'll give her the picture that you can't do that....and you can't do that to MOM.
Karma usually takes longer, what a lovely instant gift!
Thank goodess the daughter did exactly what everyone in the ER would have LOVED to do :o)
WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE!?!
I am 31 years old and I have often said that my generation have made the absolute worst parents. People wonder where the socialist ideals of late have come from and I believe part of it is the idealistic idiot parents. I have recently heard stories about how kids have been removed from sports for being too good, too tall, etc. A swimming competition of 7 year olds gave the 1st place ribbon to the second place winner because the boy who came in first was too fast. God forbid kids hear the word "no" or have to endure one second of proper direction (whether they like it or not). These nightmare parents are determined to allow their kids to freely express themselves to the misfortune of everyone else. It is a lesson in selfishness. We've been informed that too many anti-bacterial agents actually cause bacteria to become resistant and make people more vulnerable to illness. I think that sanitizing kids worlds with the word "yes" and avoidance of the age old "battle of wills" makes kids vulnerable to mental instability. Not to mention it never teaches them about impulse control because consequenses for their actions do not exist.
My mother would have not only left me in the restraints, she probably would have refused to be in the room for fear of killing me herself...and it would have all been out of love LOL. Also, she would have apologized with every fiber of her being for my behavior toward ER staff and I would have never heard the end of how disappointed she was in me and how much I embarassed her. The next morning, school or not, she would have been waking me up with a vengeance. I shudder to think how life would have unfolded in the following weeks. And the truth is, I would have deserved every clever punishment she and my father could have invented. My parents were never unreasonable but trust me, they had the ability to become evil geniuses in the punishment department. There were a couple of times they were able to make me seriously regret my actions and any attempts at manipulation on my part were futile. And I turned out just fine...I think. HA HA!
That mother deserved what she got. I had a couple of drunk kids with helicopter parents like that as well. It baffles me to no end that the parents can actually DEFEND thier kid when they're so obviously tanked. I was seriously contemplating sending them home with a polaroid of them missing items of clothing and covered in thier own vomit and other excretions and kicking all involved swiftly in the ass on thier way out!
Don't you wish that you could report(or at least threaten to report) this child's activity to the police? Mom may have actually had some culpability as we well know. I am so sick of being abused by people like this! Myself, I'm all for video taping these performances. Seems a shame that these kids will not even remember what occurred.
Should've kept them in the same room as you treated Mom's injuries, so she could more clearly see her little angel's behavior. Hope you did.
Some how i found you looking for things on our sons conditions esophageal atresia and others and i just wanted to say great blog i wish you the best our son was a preemie as well.
Wow, this is an instant classic! Would LOVE to hear any follow up tales that may come to light!
I find myself shaking my head in disbelief but not really surprised by "mommy's" behavior. It's an all too common scenario in my ER since I work in a college town that is home to 4 different colleges.
I do have to say that I'm occasionally naughty and will take a polaroid of the intoxicated guest and hide it in an article of clothing to be found later.
I really enjoyed that mommy got a taste of her little darling's behavior and ended up with an ER charge all her own. It made me smile. :D
Oh the joys of mixing high school, alcohol, and cuttin' a rug. Sigh.....
Oh the joys of mixing high school, alcohol, and cuttin' a rug. Sigh.....
I saw something very similar in the pediatric ER. The foul language coming out of this 16 year old girl would make a sailor blush!! Unfortunately, All the other little sick kids in the peds er had to hear it too..Ahhh a spit hood that would have been nice!
We're not allowed spit shields...they're considered "inhumane" Ah well.....they need o2 by mask right? Anyway- anonymous at 7pm on 11/5- BRAVO. That was my life too- I would've been scared shitless to drink like this, as my mom would've killed me (in a loving way of course) I hope I can be the same kind of mom when my first one comes in April. I'm 27, and I hope my generation can turn it around. I look back and remember how proud I was when I got my first "first" place ribbon in swimming. I worked for that! Sure it was unfair that only the long term "townies" got picked for the good softball team in the summer (not "new" people like me) but I sure learned how to be a good loser, and to take pride in just playing a good game.
Love it!!! Would have made a great You Tube video!
Perfect! I love it, karma indeed. Yes we get those little darlings too, way too often these days. And when it's college game night, oh the fun never ends. De ;)
Congrats EE!! :-)
Wow, a .24 in her teens? Before I started recovery I was in an ER with a BAC of .47, and was still able to walk...I just wasn't very oriented to reality lol. But waking up in a detox and not remembering how I got there was my cue to change things.
I hope your patient finds recovery soon.
This may sound funny here, but, I was taught that nurse's provide compassionate care without regard for personality, intelligence level, or child rearing preferences. Sorry you had a bad day it goes with the territory.
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