ICU nurse shot over 3 year grudge

[telenurse]

http://dailyjournalonline.com/articles/2008/03/29/news/doc47ed998f85b01779994297.txt

Ga. town reeling after 3 shot at hospital, allegedly by man holding grudge in mother's death
By DANIEL YEE
Associated Press Writer
Mar 29, 2008 - 05:06:14 CDT

COLUMBUS, Ga. (AP) — Armed with a three-year grudge and more guns than he could hold, a former substitute teacher stormed a west Georgia hospital looking to punish the nurse he blamed for his mother’s death.

The nurse, another employee and a bystander are dead, the alleged shooter is being treated for a gunshot wound police gave him and a military community accustomed to grieving is reeling.

Charles Johnston, 63, was expected to face murder and assault charges in Thursday’s rampage at Doctors Hospital, Police Chief Ricky Boren said. Johnston was being treated at another hospital Friday.

“Apparently it had been on his mind for a while,” Boren said. “It’s a horrible crime, a crime that never should have taken place.”

Johnston went to Doctors Hospital with a gun hidden in his waistband and other guns in his pants and jacket pockets, authorities said. He made his way to the fifth-floor intensive care unit, where his mother had been treated in 2004 before she died of natural causes.


I really hope the guy gets life...does Ga. have the death penalty?

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[fab4fan]

http://dailyjournalonline.com/articles/2008/03/29/news/doc47ed998f85b01779994297.txt

Ga. town reeling after 3 shot at hospital, allegedly by man holding grudge in mother's death
By DANIEL YEE
Associated Press Writer
Mar 29, 2008 - 05:06:14 CDT

COLUMBUS, Ga. (AP) — Armed with a three-year grudge and more guns than he could hold, a former substitute teacher stormed a west Georgia hospital looking to punish the nurse he blamed for his mother’s death.

The nurse, another employee and a bystander are dead, the alleged shooter is being treated for a gunshot wound police gave him and a military community accustomed to grieving is reeling.

Charles Johnston, 63, was expected to face murder and assault charges in Thursday’s rampage at Doctors Hospital, Police Chief Ricky Boren said. Johnston was being treated at another hospital Friday.

“Apparently it had been on his mind for a while,” Boren said. “It’s a horrible crime, a crime that never should have taken place.”

Johnston went to Doctors Hospital with a gun hidden in his waistband and other guns in his pants and jacket pockets, authorities said. He made his way to the fifth-floor intensive care unit, where his mother had been treated in 2004 before she died of natural causes.


I really hope the guy gets life...does Ga. have the death penalty?

I think it was a waste of medical resources to save the man. Let him molder away in a cell for the rest of his miserable life.

“Apparently it had been on his mind for a while,” Boren said. “It’s a horrible crime, a crime that never should have taken place.”

Talk about understatements...

 

[julie walker]

Oh boy, this man needs to be rehabilitated. He seems to be severely depressed. However, this mental illness gives him no reason to committ murder. I think this man should have gotten couseling when his mother died but apparently society does not care until bad things happen.

 

[Miss Mab]

Hi Hopefully RN Soon,

I think this man should have gotten couseling when his mother died but apparently society does not care until bad things happen.

and you were able to intuit this how exactly?

 

[core0]

Oh boy, this man needs to be rehabilitated. He seems to be severely depressed. However, this mental illness gives him no reason to committ murder. I think this man should have gotten couseling when his mother died but apparently society does not care until bad things happen.

Sadly this is what they teach in nursing school. Fortunately good nurses become good nurses despite this "education". Note you forgot to add some "nursing diagnosis" to this "nursing assessment".

David Carpenter, PA-C

 

[telenurse]

Oh boy, this man needs to be rehabilitated. He seems to be severely depressed. However, this mental illness gives him no reason to committ murder. I think this man should have gotten couseling when his mother died but apparently society does not care until bad things happen.

Society does not care if health care workers are assaulted. It happens every day. The end result is a tragedy like this. The nurse has a 13 year-old at home who is now fatherless. The unit secretary was also killed. Also an innocent man on his way to an appointment.

You do not know if the man recieved counseling after his mother's death, none of us do unless we were directly involved in that particular case. But all of us raised in the U.S know that murder is wrong. This nurse was shot once, then shot a second as he was running for his life. What that man did is despicable.

 

[fab4fan]

Society does not care if health care workers are assaulted. It happens every day. The end result is a tragedy like this. The nurse has a 13 year-old at home who is now fatherless. The unit secretary was also killed. Also an innocent man on his way to an appointment.

You do not know if the man recieved counseling after his mother's death, none of us do unless we were directly involved in that particular case. But all of us raised in the U.S know that murder is wrong. This nurse was shot once, then shot a second as he was running for his life. What that man did is despicable.

Which is why he should spent the rest of his life in jail. He killed three people and destroyed the lives of many others. He doesn't deserve a second chance. I'm sorry he was grieving, but because of his actions, many other people are needlessly grieving.

 

[core0]

It's not her fault, she's busy teaching the PAs everything they need to know, since they're so stupid. [/sarcasm]

Its true. We all really stupid. We really should be doctors or nurses you know. Or better yet Dr. nurse. After all shes going to be an NP and its all about autonomy (did I miss any hot buttons there?).

If I wasn't sure that she was a troll, it would be interesting to see what happens when she engages the real world.

David Carpenter, PA-C

 

[murseflowers]

Sadly this is what they teach in nursing school. Fortunately good nurses become good nurses despite this "education". Note you forgot to add some "nursing diagnosis" to this "nursing assessment".

David Carpenter, PA-C

ineffective coping r/t death of mother as evidenced by lighting up the icu

 

[helpfuldoc2b]

http://dailyjournalonline.com/articles/2008/03/29/news/doc47ed998f85b01779994297.txt

Ga. town reeling after 3 shot at hospital, allegedly by man holding grudge in mother's death
By DANIEL YEE
Associated Press Writer
Mar 29, 2008 - 05:06:14 CDT

COLUMBUS, Ga. (AP) — Armed with a three-year grudge and more guns than he could hold, a former substitute teacher stormed a west Georgia hospital looking to punish the nurse he blamed for his mother’s death.

The nurse, another employee and a bystander are dead, the alleged shooter is being treated for a gunshot wound police gave him and a military community accustomed to grieving is reeling.

Charles Johnston, 63, was expected to face murder and assault charges in Thursday’s rampage at Doctors Hospital, Police Chief Ricky Boren said. Johnston was being treated at another hospital Friday.

“Apparently it had been on his mind for a while,” Boren said. “It’s a horrible crime, a crime that never should have taken place.”

Johnston went to Doctors Hospital with a gun hidden in his waistband and other guns in his pants and jacket pockets, authorities said. He made his way to the fifth-floor intensive care unit, where his mother had been treated in 2004 before she died of natural causes.


I really hope the guy gets life...does Ga. have the death penalty?

So what did the nurse do wrong that he thought killed his mother in his mine? I am confused? And why the nurse and not anyone else that made him have that grudge. I mean yes the guy is pyscho but why only go after the nurse?

 

[telenurse]

So what did the nurse do wrong that he thought killed his mother in his mine? I am confused? And why the nurse and not anyone else that made him have that grudge. I mean yes the guy is pyscho but why only go after the nurse?

Maybe the nurse didn't do anything wrong at all. Maybe it was just that nurse's luck the guy's mom took a turn for the worse on his shift, or died on his shift. Or maybe the guy didn't like the way the nurse turned/repositioned mom. Or maybe the nurse was busy in a code down the hall and took too long to answer the call light for mom, and the guy didn't care the nurse was busy, mom's more important than the dying guy. Perhaps mom's dinner was cold. Maybe the doc changed mom's pain meds and didn't tell the family, so it's the nurse's fault for bringing the "wrong med". Maybe the family didn't want mom being taken care of by a male nurse of a different race. Maybe the TV wasn't working right, or they weren't able to get the room with the view.

These all sound stupid to you and me, but these have all been valid complaints that nurses have been cussed at and threatened over.

 

[fab4fan]

So what did the nurse do wrong that he thought killed his mother in his mine? I am confused? And why the nurse and not anyone else that made him have that grudge. I mean yes the guy is pyscho but why only go after the nurse?

Why? For all the reasons telenurse said. You have to understand that in the hospital world, everything is the nurse's fault. If the room is too cold, blame the nurse. If it's too hot, blame the nurse. Don't like your meal, blame the nurse. Just try enforcing visiting hours without being threatened. I can't even remember how many times over the years I have been physically or verbally threatened by a patient or family member/visitor. Management never wants to do anything. God forbid they should lose a customer. Nurses are replaceable.

 

[caroladybelle]

So what did the nurse do wrong that he thought killed his mother in his mine? I am confused? And why the nurse and not anyone else that made him have that grudge. I mean yes the guy is pyscho but why only go after the nurse?

Because the nurse is often the easiest and "softest" target, for all of the patient's/family member's aggressions. They are the ones at the bedside.

If the MD is perceived as not ordering "enough" pain med, it is translated as "the nurse is not giving enough pain med". If it is too much, it is the nurse "snowing" the patient to keep them quiet. If PT wants to give therapy, duly ordered by the MD or the patient needs to stay out of bed, it is the PT "nurse" being mean or the nursing staff being too lazy to put the patient back to bed. If the food is slow in coming, the nurse takes the complaints. If the patient is on a restricted diet (low Na or ADA), and the patient is not happy, it is the nurse that is at fault for not giving enough salt or bringing ice cream. If the patient is on thickit for swallowing problems, and doesn't like it/refuses it, the nurse is being mean by not giving sips of water and is trying to dehydrate/starve the patient. If the family gives water anyway, and the patient aspirates, it is because the nurse didn't warn or teach them enough (those big signs everywhere just weren't enough).

My favorite repeat complaint from families...the patient is dying of endstage lung cancer or emphysema. The patient literally CANNOT breath lying flat. I will get the patient comfortable and asleep, sitting up or leaning on the overbed table - the only way that they can breath. And invariably, a family member, no matter what the patient has said, nor how much "education" that the MD/nurse has done, they will attempt to put the patient in a flat position...whereupon the patient wakes because they cannot breath.

But it is the nurse being mean, not allowing the patient to lay down to rest. Meantime the fact the whole family is taking smoke breaks and the patient smoked for 30-40 years is blameless.

People feel the need to blame someone when a death occurs. PT is not that accessible, RT is hard to track down, the MD has an office and often people to answer the phone, and provide a boundary. Nurses do not have those protections. They are a much easier "hit".

 

[lawguil]

Because the nurse is often the easiest and "softest" target, for all of the patient's/family member's aggressions. They are the ones at the bedside.

If the MD is perceived as not ordering "enough" pain med, it is translated as "the nurse is not giving enough pain med". If it is too much, it is the nurse "snowing" the patient to keep them quiet. If PT wants to give therapy, duly ordered by the MD or the patient needs to stay out of bed, it is the PT "nurse" being mean or the nursing staff being too lazy to put the patient back to bed. If the food is slow in coming, the nurse takes the complaints. If the patient is on a restricted diet (low Na or ADA), and the patient is not happy, it is the nurse that is at fault for not giving enough salt or bringing ice cream. If the patient is on thickit for swallowing problems, and doesn't like it/refuses it, the nurse is being mean by not giving sips of water and is trying to dehydrate/starve the patient. If the family gives water anyway, and the patient aspirates, it is because the nurse didn't warn or teach them enough (those big signs everywhere just weren't enough).

My favorite repeat complaint from families...the patient is dying of endstage lung cancer or emphysema. The patient literally CANNOT breath lying flat. I will get the patient comfortable and asleep, sitting up or leaning on the overbed table - the only way that they can breath. And invariably, a family member, no matter what the patient has said, nor how much "education" that the MD/nurse has done, they will attempt to put the patient in a flat position...whereupon the patient wakes because they cannot breath.

But it is the nurse being mean, not allowing the patient to lay down to rest. Meantime the fact the whole family is taking smoke breaks and the patient smoked for 30-40 years is blameless.

People feel the need to blame someone when a death occurs. PT is not that accessible, RT is hard to track down, the MD has an office and often people to answer the phone, and provide a boundary. Nurses do not have those protections. They are a much easier "hit".

Is it true that nurses bit** a lot?