Moronic medical team of the year award goes to …
We get an appointment mid morning today for 2:00 as an “urgent care” visit in the adolescent clinic and arrive at 1:50. Because we were not called in until 2:55, we missed an important blood draw during her medicine trough, we missed her timely feeding (so she was getting cranky), she got her scheduled meds 45 minutes late, but none of this is all that big a deal. I don’t expect doctors to really care about the patient’s schedule or needs.
The nurse takes us to the room. We discuss that she is the one who will catheter my daughter to get a urine sample since I suspect a urinary infection (UTI). She tells me she does these often and mentions her past experience with another group where she did this often.
Dr. M comes in. We never met her before. She says hello to me, ignores my daughter.
So, she has strong smelling urine.
I never said that, why do you?
That’s how we started. No acknowledgment of my daughter and some made up symptom. I go on to explain why I think she has a UTI.
The nurse will catheterize her and we decided to use this numbing cream.
This makes me chuckle. She honestly said “… we decided …” First, I insisted on it several hours before. Second, they never use it. Third, they actually asked me how to. But Dr. M “decided” … at this point I decided she was an idiot.
The nurse cleans my daughter while another nurse and I hold her. The doctor is across the room. She never touched my daughter, didn’t look at her, nada. Just made stuff up.
The nurse is not getting any urine. She asks the other nurse to push on my daughter’s bladder. Hmmmm … very dark red urine comes out … no … wait … that’s menstrual blood. The experienced nurse put the catheter in, well, the wrong place.
Again, the “experienced” nurse put the catheter in the very wrong place. The doctor did not blink.
Second try worked. The doctor took the sample and left. Never touched my daughter, never looked at her, but I bet she got paid for this “visit.”
So, let’s see … an hour late, does not acknowledge my daughter nor her own lateness, makes up symptoms my daughter does not have, does not examine her nor even look at her, claims credit (?) for medical decisions she did not make, stands by as the nurse randomly chooses orifices for a catheter, and when she did talk to me it was if I was a high school kid or something.
Dr. M … I vote that it stands for “moron.” As for the nurse, someone please explain some anatomy to her … does she confuse her own urethra with her vagina? Or only innocent young ladies … And no, she never apologized to my daughter. How incredibly rude is that? She sticks a catheter in the wrong place (and don’t think it was comfortable, my daughter was reacting negatively) and does not apologize to my daughter (nor to me, which would have been misdirected but trivially appropriate).
Moronic medical team of the year.
Hi, I just found your blog tonight and have been reading along from the start. When I came to this post, it just brought back so many memories. The worse was this: Shortly after I adopted my son who was 3 years old at the time and has spina bifida, I took him to SB clinic for the first time. I knew his orthopedist well, as he had treated my other kids, but the pediatric surgeon who evidently was in charge of the urological part of the clinic was a new one to me. He flew into the exam room, coattail billowing behind him, and, without saying hi to my son or introducing himself to me, announced to the nurse, “We need to get a tap.” He proceeded to wipe my son’s abdomen with an alcohol swab. “Oh, that’s cold,” said my son. “That’s too bad…he’s going to feel this,” the doc mused aloud. He then proceeded to jab a huge needle into my son’s abdomen. “Damn, I’m not getting a damn thing!” the doc screamed as he jabbed a few more times, while my son screamed and cried. He threw the syringe down in disgust and stormed out of the room. (Only later did the nurse explain that he was attempting to do a bladder tap, sticking the needle directly through the abdomen into the bladder to withdraw urine.) I never let that man touch my son again.
Unfortunately I’m sure you could fill a book with similar stories from thousands of parents.
I’ve just started reading through your blog from the start, hence random replies to long past entries. I’m enjoying it – you’re a good writer.
I’ve had my vagina accidentally catheterised quite a few times – seems pretty common for nurses to get that one wrong – I suspect because they’re squeamish about trying to get a good view of the area.
Slightly disconcerting sensation but painless – until some idiot starts pushing on your abdomen, anyway. Grr. Poor Pearlsky, how horrid.
I have just found your blog today and have been reading the entries from the “start-here” point. I have really enjoyed reading so far. As a student nurse, I do just have to add that it is fairly common for even an experienced nurse to accidentally catheterize someone’s vagina. Depending on the individual’s anatomy it can be difficult to see the urethral opening as some women have a “hidden” opening. Not that this is an excuse for not giving you an explanation or for the horrendous experience you had with the physician.
I hope that all the aforementioned idiots who call themselves “professionals” are reincarnated not as insects (that would be too merciful) but as severely disabled humans.