Ran into a situation at work today that reminded me of an incident a few years ago. I had had weekend rounds and we admitted a new patient transferred from an out of town hospital. She had a broken hip from advanced bone cancer.
As I headed into her room the nurses flocked around to warn me/complain about her husband. It was a litany of he's a lunatic, interfering with care, obnoxious and on and on.
Once in the room I found an obviously ill patient and before I could even cross the room her husband was practically in my face wanting to know what we were going to do, why we hadn't done it yet, and telling me how horribly incompetent the staff at the other hospital were. Mind you, she hadn't been in the room for an hour.
I examined her while he yammered and once he had run down some asked about her medical history. According to him she had none, except for not being able to get out of bed for the last 6 months. Seems he didn't like doctors and hadn't ever brought her to one before. (They lived out in the country and she didn't drive.) He actually told me the only reason he had brought her in this time was that she was keeping him awake at night with her moaning.
I did all of the appropriate medical things for the patient and, not being comfortable with her situation, reported it appropriately. I also asked Social Work to follow up and make sure it was investigated.
Weekend over, on Tuesday I was standing in the hall talking with her oncologist (we were discussing something terribly important, like where to go for lunch) when the spouse from hell came trotting up all in a lather. Dressed in his usual none too clean camo fatigues, he was wearing a military style cap with tarnished medals attached to tattered ribbons pinned all over it. The medals dangled off the sides, back and bill of the cap and swayed when he moved his head which I found distracting as he was doing quite a bit of head bobbing. He was all of a tizzy because he was being investigated by social services and went into a tirade during which I learned some new words. And positions. With animals.
During this diatribe Dr. Imperturbable's only noticeable response was the gradual raising of his left eyebrow toward his hairline.
To wind up his tirade the spouse from hell screamed, spittle flying, "I'm an ex-SEAL and ex-CIA and I used to KILL people for a living."
To which Dr. Imperturbable replied, "I'm an oncologist. I still do. What's your point?"
Took the wind right out of his sails.
I love watching Dr. I interact with people.
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