Because Mercedes relates any medical facility to her Endocrinologist appointments (where lab work is completed), dr. visits with her are not much fun. Totally understandable, but not much fun. The last several times she has been to the dr., nurses have been unsuccessful at getting her vital signs because Mercedes is just too upset. Thus far, no medical establishment has had an issue with it.
She was fit to be tied yesterday because not only was she ill, but due to being ill, she has had very little sleep. Just flat out cranky. Again, totally understandable.
We were able to get her weight & height & into the waiting room we went. I sat Mercedes on the waiting table & the nurse came in with the blood pressure equipment. I tried to explain to the nurse that at the last few dr. visits, nurses have been unsuccessful retrieving her vitals. The nurse just looked at me blankly like I was crazy. Alrighty then.
So on goes the cuff & Mercedes went ballistic, just as I predicted. She kept trying to remove it while saying "No, don't want to! No, take it off!" while huge, crocodile tears fell. I felt bad for her because she just didn't feel well & agitation was making it worse.
At that point, the nurse shut the machine off. She put on the most serious face she could find (no grin, no smirk, no smile, no nothing!) & stared my Mercedes right in the face/eyes. Mercedes began to simmer down. The nurse continued to glare her in the face & said "are you finished?" all the while never taking her eyes off of Mercedes. Mercedes didn't answer - she had no clue what the lady meant, but the nurses' serious/hateful glare had her completely intimidated. The nurse said again "are you finished? Because I'm just going to wait until you are".
At this point, I'm thinking, what the hell? In my mind I was trying to get a game plan. Is the nurse just teasing with her? If so, when is she going to smile? (She never did, by the way.) Or is she serious? What do I do? Grab my baby & get the heck out of there? Speak up, & instruct her to immediately stop treating my child that way? How dare her! I had tried to "break the ice" (or, "break the eye contact") numerous times, but the nurse totally ignored me & continued to glare at Mercedes. This continued for a good 12 - 15 seconds. No, that's not a lot of time. But trust me, count it out while intimating a sick child that just turned 2 & actually, it is quite a long time. Mercedes just stared back her - now that some time has passed, I think she was terrified. I was a little terrifed myself. Creepy.
Finally, the nurse turned away & the visit continued. She wasn't rude after that, but she wasn't friendly, either. Then the "physician's assistant" came in (she wasn't that friendly either!) & we wrapped up the visit.
Because Mercedes is sick & because I am sick & all that's going on - I kind of just forgot about the incident. Obviously, not subconsciously. It kept me up almost all night. Now that I've had time to process what happened, I'm a little angry. How dare a professional treat my child, any child, in that manner. We weren't there because we had nothing to do on a Friday afternoon & wanted to blow a co-payment, we were there because I had a sick baby who needed some medication. I'm also disturbed. I should have intervened immediately but I think I was caught so off guard, I just didn't know how to react.
I've decided to write a letter to the Office Mananger. Or, maybe I should just give her a call on Monday. Hopefully this was an isolated case but nevertheless, I think I should let them know. And to portray yourself as a Christian organization & have this type of behavior demostrated to patients? To children? Disgusting. I guess I won't transfer the children's medical records until this is resolved.
The best part? The nurse tried to get Mercedes' blood pressure a 2nd time. And failed. Giggle. Ü
2 comments:
I just switched dr's this week after a long talk with the office manager. Good luck with that and hope she's better soon. :)
I'd find another place and write a letter--that way there's a record of it. That is completely unacceptable IMO. And while I'm also Christian, I would actually be concerned with that much in-your-face Bible stuff. Clearly, they don't practice what they preach.
Post a Comment