Be careful what you say at the hospital about an injury

My wife and I have been crying with laughter about a story my wife heard at her breakfast club this month. A mutual friend and her husband are a wee bit overweight.....they are big people. Well the wife is in the kitchen unloading the dishwasher when their dog was getting frisky and the wife turned slipped and fell back into the open dishwasher.......which happened to have a butcher knife which promptly proceeded to put a pretty good wound right on her anus.
Now both of these people are professionals, and very religious. However, the bleeding was significant and they immediately decided to pack the wound and go to the hospital.

Well on the way to the hospital they both got the giggles.....I mean the giggles that you get in church when you are not supposed to be giggling. The wife is in pain but she is literally crying with laughter and her husband is weak in the knees with laughter.......they get to the emergency room crying with laughter when they are asked what happened.......the staff immediately asked to separate the couple and they take the wife in a room an examine the wound. While they are examining the wound a staff member is taking a statement from the husband on what happened. As they are working on the wife they ask....."Do you feel safe at Home" and the wife almost crying with laughter said no.......thinking it was funny......and hour and a half of intense questioning later they were able to leave, and they realized that perhaps they should have been a bit more circumspect and controlled when discussing her wound, and certainly a funny answer of "no" to a question which set off red flags only compounded a terrible evening.
Staff are being trained to view any potential abuse very carefully, but in HINDSIGHT it was funny.

The husband having not had enough of the fun was at a party the next week when they approach a mutual friend who is a doctor and the husband asks the doctor very seriously.....hey if you get a chance could you ask my wife if you could look at her wound........needless to say there was a not too happy wife, and an embarrassed doctor who got set up by a husband who almost found a jail cell because the two of them could not stop laughing.

Seaoat, that is a standard question that is asked now in EDs and physicians' offices. I am asked every time I go to my doctor.

It is a good question! I applaud whomever decided to make this question purposefully vague. The question is open-ended, for one thing. Women (or even men) who are being abused are more likely to respond to a question of that nature rather than the old question, which was (generally speaking) "Are you experiencing physical or emotional abuse in your home setting?"

This question is almost always asked by the nurse who is performing the initial patient assessment.

That aside, please ask your friend to place knives and forks blade and prong down in the dishwasher from now on.   

Nanny state

Nanny state


Wife beater?

2seaoat wrote:Nanny state


Wife beater?

Probably.

PB is correct... screening for domestic violence/abuse is part of the patient routine assessments...domestic violence continuing education is required for physicians and nurses in order to renew their license.

PB is correct... screening for domestic violence/abuse is part of the patient routine assessments...domestic violence continuing education is required for physicians and nurses in order to renew their license.


I understand the protocols and why they are in place......it just lead to a very funny situation. If you knew the people, you probably would have been crying like my wife and I.

Code:

h

2seaoat wrote:PB is correct... screening for domestic violence/abuse is part of the patient routine assessments...domestic violence continuing education is required for physicians and nurses in order to renew their license.


I understand the protocols and why they are in place......it just lead to a very funny situation.  If you knew the people, you probably would have been crying like my wife and I.

I understand...common sense is very important, especially in the ER.

Keeping a straight face in many medical situations, especially the ER, is extremely difficult. I have had to excuse myself many times to regain my composure.

 ---Im sorry but I cant help but laugh--  --But on a serious note I took my daughter into the hospital when she was little and the doc said he would have called children and family services but didn't because I was so upset , he said there was no way I could be a bad parent or abusive he said I was crying to much. A dresser fell on my daughter after her playing with the drawers , she was trying to open a drawer and the whole dresser fell over , she cried at first then got silent scared me to death But when I ran and put her on the couch she looked fine ,and then she made a sound I was so glad to hear any sound--- but she had a red patch on her stomach , I ran to her room and started throwing the dresser off her like superman.
He said he gets many children who have died this way , He lectured me about nailing the dresser to the wall , so I went home and nailed the dresser to the wall and thanked god she was fine.

They question you plenty when you bring a child in for sure.

Oops! don't trip and shove a butcher knife up your asshole.   

yeah, the odds.