frozen patient
Came into work in the emergency dept last night at 1600 and everyone was talking about our most prolific patient TK being found dead in the bushes yesterday morning...He was a chronic alcoholic who lived on the streets. He was good for about 200 ED visits per year, sometimes 3 in one day. He had money from a pension and could have found an apartment or even gone to a motel on a cold night like Monday night, but chose to stay on the strrets. The hospital had probated him to a nursing home and to several detox facilities in the past year, but as soon as he would get out and hit the streets, he would go for the Bukoff....He hated himself. This was his way of committing suicide. Urine soaked and unconscious.
I last saw him Friday night Christmas eve, when he was one of many drunks who came in. I wished him Merry Christmas and got a "fuck you!" in return. He tried to punch me but had no motor skills due to his BAL. We peeled the six layers of clothes off him and got him changed and he went to bed. He came in again Saturday and Sunday and Monday. He was last discharged Monday and must have froze Monday night as temps hovered around zero.
He had 3 ex wives and a son in Florida who he had no contact with. He had been an intelligent man and was a management supervisor in an earlier life.The police./fire/EMS/hospital grapevine was alive last night. Some people truly felt sorry and others were grateful he is gone. He had been verbally abusive and physically assaultive to staff. He was the true test for a care giver. If you could be compassionate to him after all those times, you truly were a compassionate person. We were kindof wondering who among the regular drunks would step up and take his place.
I last saw him Friday night Christmas eve, when he was one of many drunks who came in. I wished him Merry Christmas and got a "fuck you!" in return. He tried to punch me but had no motor skills due to his BAL. We peeled the six layers of clothes off him and got him changed and he went to bed. He came in again Saturday and Sunday and Monday. He was last discharged Monday and must have froze Monday night as temps hovered around zero.
He had 3 ex wives and a son in Florida who he had no contact with. He had been an intelligent man and was a management supervisor in an earlier life.The police./fire/EMS/hospital grapevine was alive last night. Some people truly felt sorry and others were grateful he is gone. He had been verbally abusive and physically assaultive to staff. He was the true test for a care giver. If you could be compassionate to him after all those times, you truly were a compassionate person. We were kindof wondering who among the regular drunks would step up and take his place.
