They Stoled It October 1, 2007
Posted by keepbreathing in Coming to an ER near you, ER, asinine, nebulizers, stupid people, work.trackback
In my time as a respiratory therapist I have heard many excuses from patients. Typically the patients do not take their control medication; their excuses range from “I can’t afford the medication” to “I just forget to take it every single day until I come to the hospital…three times a month.” But today was the newest and my favorite excuse thus far.
I was working for most of the day in one of our ICUs, which was suspiciously calm, which I’m sure will not last long as tonight it is literally storming here. Towards the end of the day I got a frantic SOS from the therapists assigned to the ER, who were drowning in work. I responded to help them along with four or five of my comrades and was sent to the pedi ER, where a young man was wheezing away on a bed after not taking his medication for several weeks in a row. As he chugged down a fast nebulizer, I asked his mother about why he wasn’t taking his control medications.
“He don’t never feel like it! Fo’ real. He always sayin’ that he don’t need no medication because he feel good! He even tryin’ out for the football team.” The mother nodded at her son, who nodded to confirm her story.
“Well, I understand that he feels better. But if you stop taking the medicine, you’ll get sick. It only works if you take it. People often think they can stop, but if you don’t keep taking the medicine, you’ll wind up…well…like this. Do you have an inhaler or some albuterol at home for him to take? I mean, he needed to come to the ER right now, but do you have anything at home in case he gets sick?” The mother looked at me and laughed. A cigarette lighter and a fabric cigarette case dangled from her belt loops over dirty working boots.
“He ain’t got nuthin’! We used to have one of them things (here, she jerked her thumb at the nebulizer), but then somebody stoled it!“
:::
I know that there are criminals out there, but what kind of dumbass steals a nebulizer? You can’t do anything with it: it’s just a shitty air compressor with some tubing on it. I guess people could use it to make those “air shots” or whatever they’re called when you aerosolize alcohol, but a home nebulizer is so slow and powerless that it would take longer to nebulize than to drink. I suppose you could use it like drug paraphernalia, but…why a plastic cup? I guess I’m left in awe of the criminal mind, but from what I’ve been told the denizens of this county are known for their lack of intellect when it comes to stealing things.
A few weeks ago I had my underwear and socks stolen from the dryer in my apartment complex, so I definitely believe it’s plausible that someone would steal a nebulizer.
Yeah, I’ve had that happen too. Who would steal somebody elses underwear? What the hell is wrong with these people?
People will steal ANYTHING.
Maybe they sold the nebulizer at a Yard Sale.
Thieves remind me of my dogs. For either of them, something could be totally worthless to them… but as soon as they see another dog wants it… so do they, and they’ll try and take it even though they’ll remember the object was boring and stupid as soon as they have it. Until the other dog tries to take it back, at which point things start all over again.
I’d wonder if someone STOLED it, because maybe theirs wasn’t working ??? oh yeah, that must be it….
Lab Rat said it rather succinctly.
Loving Annie
-we had a patient that was vent dependent….couldn’t wean no matter how hard we tried-she had a family, sad to say, I could see pawning her home vent or some stupid crap like that.
These people were that crass, they’d bring checks for the poor woman to sign (you just know they were the poor woman’s pension checks..) show up to visit reeking of booze, pot, and my heart went out to the poor woman…she was so sweet (until she’d take herself off the vent a million times because she was depressed-shit, I’d be depressed too…).
She recently was D/C’d to a long-term vent facility. I wonder how she is, poor soul, with a crazy family like that….
yeah, I can believe the story of the air compressor being “stoled” from the poor kid, but his family not reporting it to the home health rental and getting a new one for the kid….what’s up with that?