My family and I had a WONDERFUL day yesterday because of, believe it or not, teabaggers!

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118. There was around 4 family members

visiting a very sick patient, I would say dying patient, an elderly lady. The husband and their kids and their kid's spouses etc. We did everything we could to make the family and patient comfortable and to be sensitive to their needs.
It did make the room very difficult to navigate as our hospital rooms are very small.

The roommate had one visitor to see and talk with her. She did not have tv because she did not have a credit card to buy the service and did not speak English. She had had a heart attack and was going to have a procedure to clear out the blocked artery. An interpretor phone was used to explain the procedure to her. However, I was not sure if she had misgivings or any more questions and it was hard to engage her with idle conversation that could unearth that. It was difficult to establish a rapport. The family member there was giving her the reassurance and security that I could not.

The family of the dying woman was waiting for another family member to come up, this was the son, the Doctor Son. They were not going to make decisions without him. While waiting for him, the son in law and father came to the desk to ask for a private room because "she doesn't need to hear all that chattering and babbleing gobbledy-gook from those people."

I found that very offensive. It changed my view of them. After all, this was an Italian family-- Spanish is not that different from Italian--they are both Romance languages.

We put an official request for a private but those are very hard to get however we made the plan to do that. Meanwhile we were waiting on a room to open up on the palliative care ward. Luckily one opened up. I felt bad for the patient because she was uncomfortable but the experience made me feel less compassionate for her family. Partly I was insulted by it because the way they said it to me and the secretary was like we were in agreement with them that the roommate and her daughter were "The Other" and somehow less worthy.

I have to say that I view most all of my patients as equal in need but I do prioritize their care depending on what is wrong with them. I don't prioritize based on race, language or religion-- those things mean nothing to me clinically. When I say most, I am referring to my acute patients. Most meaning acute. Subacute by it's definition have a lower priority.