Tonight a young man came in by ambulance. Upset at losing his job, he wanted to ‘get messed up’. He took 14 Klonopin (0.5mg), drank two pints of liquor and smoked some marijuana. He fell off a porch (surprise!) and hurt his ankle. He had no desire to hurt himself, but wanted checked out, and wanted us to hurry. Then, through slurred speech, looking through red, half-closed eyes, had the audacity to ask for narcotic pain medicine, and to be annoyed when I said no.
You want what? You’ve got to be kidding. This is the sort of thing that drives nurses and physicians crazy, and that can’t be conveyed to most people, who just think we’re heartless, uncaring, money-grubbing scumbags.
He won’t be discharged on pain medicine either, unless his ankle is broken!
Funny, I, too, just saw a patient tonight who overdosed on 18 tablets of “Xanie Bars” and chased it down with some beers after “my old lady left me for another guy.” He, too, adamantly denied that he was trying to harm himself. “I was just mad. That’s all.”
or the guy who comes in drunk, slurred, telling me he’s trying to get off the Xanax. “Oh, but can I just have something for the shakes?”
And before he leaves…”by the way, my tooth hurts. I can’t pay for a prescription. Do you guys give out samples of Vicodin?”
Intoxicated, and wants narcotics. Trying (allegedly) to quit the benzos, and truly doesn’t understand my point when I tell him that’s counterproductive.
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Funny, I, too, just saw a patient tonight who overdosed on 18 tablets of “Xanie Bars” and chased it down with some beers after “my old lady left me for another guy.” He, too, adamantly denied that he was trying to harm himself. “I was just mad. That’s all.”
Speaking of drug seekers, I just blogged about something very similar.
or the guy who comes in drunk, slurred, telling me he’s trying to get off the Xanax. “Oh, but can I just have something for the shakes?”
And before he leaves…”by the way, my tooth hurts. I can’t pay for a prescription. Do you guys give out samples of Vicodin?”
Intoxicated, and wants narcotics. Trying (allegedly) to quit the benzos, and truly doesn’t understand my point when I tell him that’s counterproductive.
and you wonder why we’re bitter….
I too, blogged about something similar, quite frankly I am sick of these people and I sure am glad you told him no.
Good blog post. I personally await reading a lot more from you.