A Comment from a Hostile Medical Worker

Here is one of the comments I received which I did not post.  It illuminates what I am saying about the mindset of medical minions perfectly.  Let's see what this medical person has to say, shall we?

"Hmm. Psycho, much? The RELATIVE of a competent adult does NOT get final say over the anesthetic choices of another adult. Tantrums notwithstanding, this woman was NOT the patient here. And "fuzzy mental processes for two weeks after sedation with Versed"? As a pharmacologist, I have a high suspicion of BS. The "stress" of a relative of a patient is a FAR lower priority than the stress of the actual patient, IMHO."

on Knee Replacement, Versed, and an Enlightened CRNA


We start right out with the insult.  "Psycho"  Sorry commenter anonymous, I am not psycho.  I know you guys try to convince yourselves that anybody who disagrees with your exalted wisdom is a psycho, but it doesn't work like that.  I think you are projecting.  Are you familiar with that psych term?  Moving on.

I guess you guys are not accustomed to making medical decisions in a family.  My husband is NOT a child.  We make decisions based on our own experiences, research and by asking others who have had the same surgery what the results were.  We do NOT blindly trust any medical "human resources" opinions.  Not after my debacle.  Who knew a simple wrist surgery would cause such problems...but it's not about me, as you pointed out, it's about my husband.

So, genius, do you really think that after my husband saw what happened to me after the Versed incident, saw what happened to others, listened to my phone conversations with hysterical people from all over the country who had a very bad reaction to Versed, you think he wanted to try it?  You really are off your rocker if you think he would.  Absolutely NOT!  My job was to make sure that he didn't get it.  Guess who was on the paperwork with power of attorney?  That would be me.  Guess who was on the paperwork of the advance directive, genius?  That would be me as well.  So you see that your whole premise is a falsehood.  I was in charge of my adult husband's medical treatment.  Oh yeah, huh?  Forgot about that part didn't you?  Maybe you didn't know about POA and advance directives?

(added later; what do you think advance directives and POA do?  If you know about them, do you know what they entail, and/or do you regularly defy them, knowingly or unknowingly?  I'm curious.  I may have to instruct the next medical people on what these legal papers mean.  These documents are not just a formality or a "hold harmless" agreement like "informed" consent has devolved into.  They are not open to interpretation and are legally binding.)

I didn't have a "tantrum".  Is that supposed to be more of your psychic abilities?  I was simply very firm.  I know what happened to me and extrapolating from that, patients and their caregivers need to be more than just firm. A firm NO might convince the minions that you really didn't mean "no", you might mean "no, unless you have a better idea", or "no, unless you really, really want to".  You have to make sure that NO is interpreted as NO.  It isn't my fault that I have to do this, it's yours (plural).  If it had been necessary to have a "tantrum" as you put it, then we would have gone home and rescheduled with somebody else.  No tantrum.

The "fuzzy mental processes" statement was a direct quote from the crna whom I allowed to work on my husband after our brief conversation.  If you don't believe the crna about her own experience with Versed, what can I say?  I don't see where YOU get off making a statement like you did without even knowing the people involved.  Your accusation about the crna's statement being BS is really over-the-top.  How would you know what her experience was?  Are you psychic?  Or just narcissistic?  I am very defensive about her, as *I* liked her.  You have no right coming on here and talking about her experience with Versed like that.  She is a crna.  I'm supposed to doubt her when her experience parallels mine to a degree?  Wow.  You guys are just upset because I'm playing favorites.  Get over it.

In your final statement, honey babe, the stress of the caregiver has a direct correlation with healing post surgery.  I'm sorry you can't see that.  What would have additionally stressed "the patient" is to have his caregiver stressed out.  The very last thing we needed was to be stressed out worrying that Versed would have the same effect on him as it did on me.  Does that make sense?  Or does that seem all "psycho" to you?

I have had crna's coming here, extolling their virtues and claiming that their previous nursing experience makes them better at what they do.  IF that is true, then you guys know full well how important the patients support group is, whatever form that takes.  Yet here we have an alleged fully trained professional with a "high suspicion of BS" taking the opposite tack.