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Jacob Goodwin's avatar

This resonates deeply with me. While in my neurology residency, I evaluated a man in the ER dying from a brain hemorrhage. He needed to be admitted to an ICU to be supported until his family could arrive to see him, but he languished in the ER for a few hours because different ICUs had different “policies” that prohibited him from coming to their unit, saying they were unqualified to take care of someone with his medical history. I spent much of that time on the phone playing middle man between the ER and admitting teams, growing angry that no hospital floor would take a dying man for his final hours so he and his family didn’t have to say their goodbyes in an ER resuscitation room. Perhaps these policies, at their best, allow patients to get the best care possible for their illness, but all this patient needed was a compassionate nurse who could minister to his needs as he lay dying. Policy books almost got in the way of that. He thankfully was ultimately admitted to a neurology floor where he died the following day.

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Maxwell Bonanza's avatar

Beautiful article. I'm glad to hear that your baby was okay. My wife and I lost our baby last year at 40w5d gestation. It has shattered our world, but it is good to know that there are people in our world that truly care of others.

This reminds me of ~10 years ago at an airport where there was a McDonalds ministore and this was when the stupid ordering kiosks were first being tried out. This old man (late 70s?) was trying to order at the counter, and the young man behind the counter said he was sorry that he couldn't help him. After a brief exchange, the man became frustrated because he wanted to eat and not use the kiosk. The young man was frustrated because he didn't even have a register at the counter to take an order. The old man eventually just left in frustration after the young guy offered to help him order at the kiosk. Such a stupid and frustrating situation was created by someone that likely won't have to be on either end of this unnecessary interaction. I think about this often.

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