Comments on: N.C. Patient Dies While Staff Plays Cards

Video Shows Man Choking On Medication While Nurses Stood Nearby; State Mental Hospital May Lose Federal Funding Over Incident

[soulstice58]

I teach psychiatric nursing and was a psychiatric nurse for nearly 2 decades. The first thing I teach is kindness and compassion for those less fortunate. I also teach how to properly care for patients and nutrition and fluids are the most basic care that we must provide.
I also explain that as people are more educated about the mentally ill and how to well take care of them, they tend to do a better job. Someone stated that higher wages aren''t the answer....perhaps not, but at this time in this country, we ARE getting what we pay for. By that I mean that those people we often hire to take care of our mentally ill are not trained well enough to do that. They may very well be people who have chosen not to finish formal, let alone informal, education. To them, it''s a paycheck. To them, they are caring for people who have no voice and who they can mistreat just as they feel they are mistreated by society as a whole.
We choose not to hire those who are not only dedicated but also educated because we can hire someone else cheaper. We are getting what we pay for.

One last thing, what these people did is so so so wrong and they should so be prosecuted BUT, I do want people to know that playing cards with patients and having dances and doing fun things with them IS therapeutic and is accepted care. I don''t want people to think that because staff are doing that that they are lazy. Nothing gets a pt. back to reality or gets them to open up more than those kinds of activities.

[aldon61]

I''''m a yankee who''''s lived in North carolina for 11 years now and i''''ll take southern hospitality over northeast rudeness and ignorance any day of the week.

When was the last time anyone moved north?


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by realpatriot1 at 04:46 PM : Aug 19, 2008

Amen brother, amen!

[pnbandaid-2009]

A HUMAN BEING, IS A HUMAN BEING, IS A HUMAN BEING. FORGET, RACE, NATIONALITY, AGE, OTHERWISE. A HUMAN BEING, IS A HUMAN BEING - AND ONE OF OUR BROTHERS - AND THESE BROTHERS DESERVE THE BEST OF US IN THEIR TIME OF NEED AND OTHERWISE.

[toolmangler-2009]

This is a very sad story. Is there a racial aspect to this story that is not being told ? What was the race of the poor man who died, and those not taking a least bit but paid to take care of him ? Be it whatever race, I would like to know, because I smell a rat here, not being explored.
Posted by COLONIEny at 06:57 PM : Aug 19, 2008



This should never happen to "ANYPERSON" regardless of race creed or any other physical thing. ''If'' you (or any one) tries to make this racist then you have done your race a diservice

[bozworth4]

This is a very sad story. Is there a racial aspect to this story that is not being told ? What was the race of the poor man who died, and those not taking a least bit but paid to take care of him ? Be it whatever race, I would like to know, because I smell a rat here, not being explored.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by COLONIEny

I believe it is called the HUMAN race!

[formrusmcsgt]

The newspaper said the death was one reason federal officials said they might cut off funds for the facility.
---

MIGHT cut off funds?

How many have to die from negligence for them to say they WILL cut off funds?

Give me a break.

[aldon61]

federal officials said they might cut off funds for the facility. Hospital officials have about two weeks to develop an improvement plan and try to persuade federal officials to continue providing funds.


MIGHT cut off funding? You''ve got to be kidding! Criminal charges need to be charged, the hospital administration replaced, and STRICT state oversight for years to come. This story is pitiful, and my prayers are with his family.

[stn_sage]

So much for a couple of pro-medicine news stories CBS ran recently---reality comes back to bite you every time!

Medicine should be nationalized. It''s that simple.

[sociald63]

same thing happened to a richmond, ca man who was complaining of chest pains and died after a couple of hours - while staff was "busy" ... read this article at www.oaklandtribune.com

[mediabrat60]

Most of the people in those places, also nursing homes, are either doing their intern just to get thru school or do it because it''s a job you can get by with just being plain lazy, people that can''t hold a job any where else.! A gravy train job!.
The majority of folks who work there could care less about the patients!!

[perimogi]

My mother is in an assisted living facility that I watch constantly. Some there lack the drive to care for the elderly. Having said that, caring for some with terrible diseases is one of the most difficult things to do. Let''s hope that justice prevails in this case.

[barbaram99]

Tucker,glad ye still here. Thank ye for locking yer gun up. That is the right thing. It is so sad when a person is robbed of their mind and shoved in a bloody nursing home. My step father used to know me.. Now it''s who when I call. Break my heart as mother has to do more for him.

[colonieny]

This is a very sad story. Is there a racial aspect to this story that is not being told ? What was the race of the poor man who died, and those not taking a least bit but paid to take care of him ? Be it whatever race, I would like to know, because I smell a rat here, not being explored.

[annia1233]

sad but patients of mental health are the last on the list and no one believes them (because they tend to invent things they imagine and say them as if they were facts) Then I am sure those were not NURSES but licensed practical nurses (a 2 1/2 semester nursing student trained to give medications and no much more) and mental health technicians (these ones are like certified nursing assistants but have to be strong to wresler with unruling and out of control patients).
Nurses, people, are professionals with 4 year of university degree with license by a board that hold them to high standards and if something is taught in those 4 years is to be responsible. Nurses may do medication errors, but leave a patient 22 hours without food and let them shoke with meds, NO.

[dashortround]

This sort of thing is actually a fairly common occurrence within our dysfunctional, badly broken US health care system. The only thing unusual here is that it got reported at all.

[love4all2]

tucker you know you always try to be superior to others on here and you are not. shoot the old geezer was a stupid comment in my opinion. but that is just what it is my opinion. so take it for what it is worth show a little more compasion. it goes a long way in discussions

[stresa70395]

There is a difference between Buch and Chaney and this stupid war that is not our buisness. This patient did''t have a say on the way he was going to die, He didn''t have to die this way.

[love4all2]

I whine about nothing. you irritate me with the trash you talk. you need to buck up and be more sensative about peoples feelings. i guess you have no idea what it is like to care for a sick relative. it is the most heart breaking thing ever. Especially when they were very independant people at one point in their life


the health care here totally s u c k s. we pay alot of money for nothing.

Posted by love4all2 at 05:59 PM : Aug 19, 2008

It appears we agree so I''''m not sure what you are whining about.

[jerr11]

In a related story, 4142 Americans died in Iraq while Bush and Cheney play golf and hung out in Crawford drinking warm beer.

Life is gooood in this US of A!!!!

[stresa70395]

It makes me soooo sick and sad to read this. I have a handycap son and he cant speak or comunicate. Its a shame that this society lives on law suits but these nurces need to be responsible for neglect. Then there are so many people without jobs and then there are those that have a job and abuse it. SHAME ON YOU