EnglishLady
Veteran Expediter
LOS, I think you are mixing bigotry with gender preference.
Some patients won't see nurses of different race
- Thread starter EnglishLady
- Start date
That's when you strangle them and throw them against a wall
Having fun? Sometimes it's like dealing with kids in here. No context, as per normal.
I'm with Layout on this one, 100 percent.
One of the primary tenets of the Hippocratic Oath is "Do no harm." When a patient is sick or injured, there is already a high level of anxiety and stress, and to force a patient to accept care from someone they are not comfortable with only adds to that anxiety and stress. When a patient is healing, any added stress takes away from their body's ability to heal, and can greatly retard the healing process, and in some cases the right combination of illness/injury and stress can even be fatal.
Should a black patient be able to request that the burly male nurse with the shaved head and swastika tattoo on his forearm not treat them? What about the white male 80-year old Baptist preacher requesting that the young effeminate male nurse wearing the door-knocker earrings and strawberry lip gloss not treat him? Should the Iraqi War veteran with pneumonia and a staph infection be able to request a non-Muslim nurse?
One of the primary tenets of the Hippocratic Oath is "Do no harm." When a patient is sick or injured, there is already a high level of anxiety and stress, and to force a patient to accept care from someone they are not comfortable with only adds to that anxiety and stress. When a patient is healing, any added stress takes away from their body's ability to heal, and can greatly retard the healing process, and in some cases the right combination of illness/injury and stress can even be fatal.
Why is a woman requesting a female doctor perfectly understandable, but not the other? It doesn't take a lot of hard contemplating to realize the absurdity of such a double standard. As is noted in the linked article, many people are more comfortable being treated by people within their own demographic, whether it be gender, race or religion. I live a block away from the hospital here and know several people who work there, and these kinds of things happen all the time.
Better to inconvenience the patient, and induce Hippocratic Oath-violating stress, than to inconvenience the hospital? Really?
There can never be equality as long as people are different from each other in any way. If everyone was exactly the same, we'd have equality. Going to McDonalds and requesting your burgers be flipped only by someone of a certain race, creed, color or gender is ridiculous, but it's not at all ridiculous when you're talking about things of an intimate, personal level such as medical care. You have to be comfortable with who is treating you, and it's not wrong for requesting it.
Should a black patient be able to request that the burly male nurse with the shaved head and swastika tattoo on his forearm not treat them? What about the white male 80-year old Baptist preacher requesting that the young effeminate male nurse wearing the door-knocker earrings and strawberry lip gloss not treat him? Should the Iraqi War veteran with pneumonia and a staph infection be able to request a non-Muslim nurse?
Yes...it is their problem...and they should take it elsewhere. I wouldn't allow if it I were the hospital administrator. Preference based on qualifications, performance...sure. Preference based on stupidity? the same door that let you in will let you out.
Then you very will kill someone. Not my idea of good care. No, I am NOT being dramatic, that is a VERY real chance. Is it worth a life?
Good questions by the way, makes me think and adds to the thread nicely.
EnglishLady
Veteran Expediter
Turtle ...
Why then is not an upfront, open mandate?
"It's been called one of medicine's "open secrets" — allowing patients to refuse treatment by a doctor or nurse of another race"
Why then is not an upfront, open mandate?
"It's been called one of medicine's "open secrets" — allowing patients to refuse treatment by a doctor or nurse of another race"
But they offered the care needed. The idiot chose to be an idiot and refuse it. One less idiot... would be my thought.
Right now you are not hurt, sick, and you are rational. It DOES make sense to accept qualified care, to you. I can promise you that MANY people that rational on a daily basis OFTEN become otherwise when hurt or sick.
A GOOD provider does EVERYTHING they can, within safety limits, to provide for the needs of the PATIENT, not the staff's feelings.
EnglishLady
Veteran Expediter
Same question to you ......
Why then is not an upfront, open mandate?
"It's been called one of medicine's "open secrets" — allowing patients to refuse treatment by a doctor or nurse of another race"
Just a reporter trying to cause problems. It is not a "secret". It's called proper care. The patient is, and should be, 100% in control of their care. Anything less is unacceptable.
It's not about the staff's feelings. It's about the fact that they offered competent care. Unless you can show me a qualification or a performance issue with that person, I would not allow a change based on bigotry. I just wouldn't allow it.
I'm not sure that I would even allow a change based on sex...as English Lady mentioned. It is a professional environment and duties should be assigned by qualifications and performance...nothing else.
Then you are saying you would be willing to risk the life of a patient? I would not, could not, do that. It WOULD go against the oath I took as an EMT to "do no harm".
Wow some of you are not able to comprehend what your rights are...i dont agree with it but its his CHOICE..his health..if he doesnt like someone because of their race thats his choice..he should not be FORCED to recieve care from someone he will be uncomfortable around..he has that right. Does it make it logical? Does it hurt someone elses feelings? Well he has that right period..and for someone to get butthurt over it is just as dumb..if he dont want a black person working on him or his kid and you were black WHY WOULD you want to even be around him??? Why i never understood intergration in the south..if i had a restruant and refused blacks in the 50s & 60s why in the world would you even want to come eat at my place? ..people have rights to choose how they feel..doesnt mean you have to like it but its their right..
No sir...the patient is risking their own life. I didn't demand something stupid, they did. I've never made such an oath. I'm not sure that making an oath requires you to succumb to bigotry. Your oath is "do no harm"...what if the same guy pulled out a gun and pointed it at you?
I apologize, but I've read that question several times and I still don't understand it. Can you rephrase it, as if you are talking to a 3 year old?
If you are asking why it's an "open secret" rather than a promoted option that is openly and actively offered to patients, it's because hospitals and caregivers don't really want to encourage that sort of thing, for a plethora of reasons not the least of which it would, in fact, create a scheduling and staffing nightmare for the hospital. Most people really don't care who treats them, as long as they are qualified, as Rocketman said. But, for those who wouldn't even consider making such a request, if you offer them the option up front, now you've got them thinking about it, and if it's an option, why not take advantage of it? The fewer people who know that it's even an option, the better. So it's rather ironic that the nurse in the article is actually making the situation worse by educating the public about the option.
Don't think rational, that is the mistake you are making.
As to some putz STUPID enough to pull a gun on me, I am NOT treating that person, but likely some one will be! I have no fiduciary duty to that person.
Now IF a person I WAS treating pulled a gun the first rule of emergency service is protect yourself.
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Ok... I should have shut my phone off 2 hours ago. I gotta get around. We're not going to go anywhere from here. If I were the administrator, there would be one less idiot in my facility...whether he found adequate care and lived or not...wouldn't concern me in the least.
This has been a pretty good thread, good questions for the most part, kinda fun!