Question from layperson re: refusing treatment in an emergency situation

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ccfccp said:
If that's the case, this is a moot question anyway... because even if you were in a 5mph rear-end collision... you are most likely doomed.

You better go out and get a tattoo just in case... hey... it could be of a cat (or all nine of them... that would be more protective...):laugh:
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I'm a huge needlephobe. I don't think I could handle a tattoo without major sedation. And this is bad, because I'm also a college graduate and am hoping to enter grad school within the next few months. Surely those facts raise my likelihood of dying from something like a paper cut, y/y? :scared:
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Kittenmommy said:
LOL, Niner! :D

My husband and I have nine cats and a beagle. All hope of sanity is lost, and I'm OK with that. ;)
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By my count that means you have a cumulative 84 lives in your home. Odds are pretty good you won't need an ambulance...
 
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NinerNiner999 said:
Kittenmommy said:
I'm a huge needlephobe.
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And I'd like to refer to the 2 cat rule above - "anxiety toward basic medical procedures..."
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Tattoos are "basic medical procedures"? Is your practice next to a Hot Topic? ;)

But yeah, not a fan of needles. I can endure them for medical procedures (have to go get a blood test in month to check my cholesterol, even though last time it was unbelievably low), but I'm not going to go seeking them out for fun and giggles. Plus, I'm not a fan of how tattoos look. They're OK for others, but they're just not my thing.

NinerNiner999 said:
By my count that means you have a cumulative 84 lives in your home. Odds are pretty good you won't need an ambulance...
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Well, that's good to know. I can relax now! ;)
 
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Kittenmommy said:
Tattoos are "basic medical procedures"? Is your practice next to a Hot Topic? ;)
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It's part of the latest JCHO quality standard.

We have to tattoo "This is the site of the open fracture we propose to reduce" above the pointy-bone-stickee-outee-thingee on the correct leg (the one with the pointy-ouchee-thingee) and "This is NOT the site of the open fracture we propose to reduce" above the leg without the pointy-bone-stickee-outee-thingee on the other leg.

Of course, we also are required to obtain a signed informed consent form telling them of the risk of getting swine flu from the tattoo needle before doing it. It's on page 253 of the form, right before acknowledging the risk of contracting HIV and ebola from the toilet seat.

Hope this clears things up. It's all part of medicine's commitment to patient safety.

Take care,
Jeff
 
Jeff698 said:
It's part of the latest JCHO quality standard.

We have to tattoo "This is the site of the open fracture we propose to reduce" above the pointy-bone-stickee-outee-thingee on the correct leg (the one with the pointy-ouchee-thingee) and "This is NOT the site of the open fracture we propose to reduce" above the leg without the pointy-bone-stickee-outee-thingee on the other leg.

Of course, we also are required to obtain a signed informed consent form telling them of the risk of getting swine flu from the tattoo needle before doing it. It's on page 253 of the form, right before acknowledging the risk of contracting HIV and ebola from the toilet seat.

Hope this clears things up. It's all part of medicine's commitment to patient safety.

Take care,
Jeff
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One rather serious drawback to this immediately springs to mind.

After reducing the open fracture on the leg with the pointy-bone-stickee-outee-thingee, the pour hapless soul patient will still be left with two tattoos, the content of which might impact future treatment if s/he were to get an open fracture complete with pointy-ouchee-thingee on the other leg later in life. Are the tattoos removed directly after the procedure in order to insure a situation like this doesn't happen? Or do they just draw lines through the old tattoos and put new ones on and hope for the best?

Please advise!
 
Kittenmommy said:
One rather serious drawback to this immediately springs to mind.

After reducing the open fracture on the leg with the pointy-bone-stickee-outee-thingee, the pour hapless soul patient will still be left with two tattoos, the content of which might impact future treatment if s/he were to get an open fracture complete with pointy-ouchee-thingee on the other leg later in life. Are the tattoos removed directly after the procedure in order to insure a situation like this doesn't happen? Or do they just draw lines through the old tattoos and put new ones on and hope for the best?

Please advise!
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Epic fail?
 
Kittenmommy said:
On whose part? Because I'm pretty sure I was going along with Jeff698's silly, absurd post. ;)
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JCAHO's, obviously. Or whatever the hell they want to be called these days.
If it's a stupid rule, it's usually theirs.

I just hate re-tattooing if I have to change my central line point of entry. Because you know, that time out must be done according to the rules.
 
dchristismi said:
JCAHO's, obviously. Or whatever the hell they want to be called these days.
If it's a stupid rule, it's usually theirs.

I just hate re-tattooing if I have to change my central line point of entry. Because you know, that time out must be done according to the rules.
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Do you do your own tattooing, or do you outsource it to the local tat parlor down the street?
 
Tired said:
They are now called "Joint Commission". Originally, they were JCAHO (Joint Commission on Accredidation of Hospital Organizations), but because they decided to branch out and institute rules and standards far beyond simply hospital accredidation, the name needed to be changed.

Also, you never mark the contralateral side with something like, "Do NOT Operate on this Leg!" because doctors, with their traditionally low IQ and poor reading comprehension skills, will invariably misread that as "This is the correct leg to operate on, make incision now."
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If I ever need surgery, I'm going to get a black Sharpie and write "CUT HERE". Or do you think that will confuse them too? :confused:
 
One of the surgeons I rotated with was, for reals, getting in trouble because he had the unmitigated gall to draw a smiley face on the surgery side. Joint Commission is one of the heaviest, out-of-touch, bureaucratic steaming piles of horse**** in the country, and that's saying something.
 
Phledge said:
One of the surgeons I rotated with was, for reals, getting in trouble because he had the unmitigated gall to draw a smiley face on the surgery side. Joint Commission is one of the heaviest, out-of-touch, bureaucratic steaming piles of horse**** in the country, and that's saying something.
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If you pay attention to what their acronym is now, you'll get an idea of how important they think they are.
 
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Tired said:
Some surgeons like to bitch and moan about this, but even more embarassing that having to do a "timeout" is finding out later you cut on the wrong side.
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Or worse, cut off the wrong thing - "Oops, it was supposed to be the left foot! Sorry, my bad!". :eek:

And imagine a guy who went in for an appendectomy ending up with a vasectomy instead!
 
Kittenmommy said:
And imagine a guy who went in for an appendectomy ending up with a vasectomy instead!
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HAHA that would be pretty funny. The guy would probably be wondering why he's being put under for an outpatient procedure. :idea:
 
Kittenmommy said:
That guy would be wondering lots of things, I'm sure! :eek:
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I was just thinking the same thing. Somehow I doubt the outpatient procedure thing would be the first thought.

"You cut WHAT?!!!"

:)

Take care,
Jeff
 
back to your original question kittenmommy, do you really value your cat's lives more than your own? I'm not mocking you just extremely curious. I love pets as much as the next guy and my girlfriend is an obnoxiously big animal lover so I mean no offense. but you're a person who probably has a family and friends who'd be devestated over losing you, do you honestly value the lives of your furry companions more than your own? I think someone said it best when they mentioned they probably couldnt pick you out of a lineup. ps I have a cat too who seems to like me more than everyone else, but by no coincidence as I feed her more!
 
BlueAvenue said:
back to your original question kittenmommy, do you really value your cat's lives more than your own? I'm not mocking you just extremely curious. I love pets as much as the next guy and my girlfriend is an obnoxiously big animal lover so I mean no offense. but you're a person who probably has a family and friends who'd be devestated over losing you, do you honestly value the lives of your furry companions more than your own?
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Could you imagine asking someone, "Do you honestly value the life of your child more than your own?" No, my cats are are not literally my children, nor are they literally babies (I may be bat****, but I'm not that bat****!), but I value them as highly as a parent values a child.

I know others feel differently about their pets, and that's OK. I don't think it's very nice to dismiss my feelings because you (collective you, society in general, not you in particular) don't understand them or think that my way of relating with my cats or my feelings for them are valid.

BlueAvenue said:
I think someone said it best when they mentioned they probably couldnt pick you out of a lineup.
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1. Well, the kitty in my icon recognized my voice on the phone when she was hospitalized for an abscess and immediately began crying for me to come get her and bring her home! It was her "Mommy, Mommy, I want Mommy!" cry, which is very distinct from her other vocalizations.

2. Newborn infants probably couldn't pick their parents out of a line-up either. Heck, older babies probably couldn't manage it. So... yeah.

BlueAvenue said:
ps I have a cat too who seems to like me more than everyone else, but by no coincidence as I feed her more!
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Oh, I'm sure that's not the only reason she loves you. ;)
 
I would argue that if you are killed or severely injured because you refuse emergency services you aren't helping your cats. You said you were married, but I live alone, and if something happens to me, my cat is off to the shelter that he came from. I don't see that as beneficial for the cat. If I'm wheelchair bound, he can't feed me or help me to the bathroom. If he gets injured, I can make accommodations for him. I don't know if any of you ever watched battle bots on comedy central, but the guy that created biohazard got into the bot building when his cat was hit by a car, and lost the use of his hind legs. The guy built his cat a motorized plane (plane as in surface, not airplane), so that the cat could be placed on it, and there were two buttons, one foreward, and one turn, that the cat could push with his front paws. After a while, the cat learned how to use it and regained some mobility. Find a pet that will do that for their owner.

As much as I do love my cat, I have no doubt he would trade me in for a nice Maine lobster.
 
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