Feeding time at the work site

[Tarri]

One of our clients, he is MRDD, can't walk or talk, had a visit by the friendly neighborhood dentist, one that makes housecalls. How nice you would say, yes? It turns out our client has a cavity that needs to be filled. The friendly neighborhood dentist ends up having to call several staff into the room. (I wasn't there , I work nights). He needs the staff to hold our client still so he can drill out that nasty cavity out and fill it. It is not until they are half way thru the proceedure, ( see three staff holding client down if you please) and the client is trying to get away from them, that one staff person has the brains to ask if our client was given anything for pain......

Was he given anything for pain? No...

The friendly neighborhood dentist, said he did this all the time without giving something for pain.

Did the friendly neighborhood dentist finish, why yes. Was the manager of the house told of what happened. Why yes. Was the dentist questioned, brought up on abuse charges, confronted afterwards in any way?

I think you can answer that question. Of course not. Everyone was appropriately outraged, and upset for the client, and than everything went back to normal. (You do not want to know what goes for normal in these places.)


The manager, the Nurse, the LPN's, the Case Worker, the Floor Staff, did nothing.

If I had been there I would have lost my job. And I would have been the only one to loose it.
I'm the only one that is still raging about it.

Now here is the part that is hard to swallow, hard to live with, makes me feel like spit on the back of a slug. If I report this to the state, and try to fight for the client, which means fighting the "system", I would loose my job, mom and I would loose our place of residence, and a whole shitload of "you should of thought about what you were getting yourself into" would bury me.

The reason I am posting this is because I can't let it go, it happens so much, and sometimes I feel like I will go insane. And I need someone to tell me I'm not the worthless creep I feel like I am sometimes.

Of course I am taking the chance that you will agree with my assessment of myself.

There are many cases that I do speak up, and I score maybe one out of thirty of my battles for the clients. I do go as far as I can without ruining my life. '

Its just horrible to watch the beasts feed. And watch everyone around you hand them the fork.



Thanks for listening. Tarri

 

[allen]

The reason I am posting this is because I can't let it go, it happens so much, and sometimes I feel like I will go insane. And I need someone to tell me I'm not the worthless creep I feel like I am sometimes.

You are not the worthless creep you feel like sometimes.

Seriously, I know how you feel. Your post had me thinking that because normal people do often feel like this when faced with ponerization, normal people are also inclined to accept all the trumped up and flat out fictionalized stories of suicide bombers. Some times you know what it feels like to just want to explode!

But all you will be if you let your emotions get the best of you is a virtual suicide bomber. One big explosion and you are out of the game...and you've only added fuel to perpetuate exactly what you were fighting against. You will look like the bad one as you lose control. In what way could you fight for this poor man who had his teeth drilled? Certainly not by losing your temper.

You live in Oregon. How many people are even aware of the folks who lived in old growth redwoods there? Hardly anyone at all. If a few forests were saved in your backyard, they were decimated in someone else's. You are not up against flaws and problems in a system, you are up against a completely ponerized system. This sort of thing can be the kind of shock that can help you wake up.

 

[Ruth]

Its a shame you can't make an anonymous complaint, to the health commisioner, ombudsman or perhaps even the media or a dental board.

I have a sneaking suspicion that if a full scale inquiry was done you wouldn't be the only one losing your job, all the people who did nothing would too. Except for the dentist who would probably get away with it.

You could always encourage the place you work (and other places) to stop using this particular dentist. The more people who know about this widescale abuse the more chance there is of stopping it and the less chance there is of victimising the 'whistle blower'.

 

[mudrabbit]

Does this patient have family you can depend on to back you up? Tell them then let them go to the authorities. Is this a possibility?

Peg

 

[Tarri]

Thank you. You are telling me everything that the small voice in the back of this anger has been trying to whispering to me. Its hard to deal with the anger and frustration. And sometimes hard to stop and listen.

I have in other places made the anonymous complaint in two of my jobs. . It never stays anonymous for long. And I have always had to move on. I am older now and realize that this will happen where ever I go. So I might as well stay. And learn from it.

The hardest part are the emotions. Allen, what you say is all true. (I do all my venting at home. Mom has been in this business also so she understands. )

There was a subject on the forum the other day with someone asking how one begins dealing with the issues within. Laura recommended four books to read. I have already ordered them.

As horrid as the situation is, I know inside that it is also a learning experience, and hope that trying to learn how to deal with the turmoil inside me will at least help me not to contribute to, what Allen stated, to not contribute to what I am fighting against. Give myself permission to gain an understanding to what is REALLY happening.


As far as not bringing the Dentist back, its a joke really. We have a MD that has been treating the clients since the house opened, and he is another horrid form of the Frankinstien syndrom. Lets experiment on these people, see how long they can suffer without outright dying. Everyone complains about him, but they won't change MDs. The House RN's won't listen to the floor staff, or the two LPN's that seem to care. It's totally unbelievable how these people simply won't respond in a careing way. Its like its latin to them . They don't comprehend what you are trying to get across. ("Daaa"), yes I realize this is on many subjects on this site, but when you are in the middle of it, it totally blows you away.

This man does have parents, and they truly think he is getting the best of care. A couple of years ago, his breaks failed on his wheelchair, (still not fixed) and he fell to the pavement and gashed in his forhead. The PTB did not want to tell the parents but one of the floor staff called anyway. She was fired several weeks later supposedly from some completely seperate incident. The parents did not seem upset, nothing came of it. Maybe they just want him taken care of and realy don't care. I don't know. Don't want to know.

So what I guess what I must think on is this.
Change things where I can. When I can't , realize this and go on. NO GUILT. Learn how to deal with it in a constructive manner. My helping myself, is helping others. And stop beating myself up for things that I can't change. And the guilt that I feel for not being able to do anything is a mechanism that allows them to feed on me. So again, change what I can, and stop being (allowing) a victim of the situation.

I think I'm thinking straight now.

Thanks guys. You're great backup. Tarri

 

[the_hammer]

Reminds me of a story my mother, who is a nurse, told me about the time when she worked on a maternity ward. A doctor wouldn't give the women anything for the pain when he stiched them up, so an other nurse went up to him with a needle and thread and asked him to give himself a suture down below to see wether that would hurt. Afterwards he changed tactics and always made sure the women had had something for the pain.

I know this it is a completely different senario from the one you are in, but I still think most people (apart from the +6%) wouldn't apply other people pain if they didn't have to. Most of the time I think it has to do with not understanding the situation properly. Of course just brushing the teeth on mentaly disabled can be regarded as abuse, but when it comes to drilling in the mouth and not giving anything for pain to the people who don't understand what's going on, that's a completely different story.

Seeing you are an American, it might just be down to money. The doctor might get a certain amount of money for every filling, and can't be arsed paying for the anesthetics himself..

 

[T.C.]

Maybe, in relation to these types of situations, remembering the four attributes of warriorship can be helpful. Control, discipline, forbearance, and timing.

 

[Tarri]

Attributes of warriorship. Very appropriate. Thank you.

Tarri

 

[dj]

Tarri
I appreciate your reaction to what you've seen. I also have been involved in healthcare and have seen the disregard those in power often have for their charges. It's really widespread and is not just tolerated but apparently encouraged, often by citing increased efficiencies or lowered costs, etc.
Any reasonable look at it will put the lie to their justifications but that's not the point for them, is it?

For what it's worth, what you've described is not as uncommon as it should be. The dentist I went to as a child worked on his own son without novocaine in order to teach him to take care of his teeth. Imagine that - his own son. He was none to gentle with his other patients, either, I can tell you.

Also, on a slightly more positive note, my own wife, in the past, has often opted to not get numbed up while her teeth are being worked on - she simply doesn't like getting the shot and will endure the drilling instead. I really can't understand it, but it's of her own free will, and usually against vigorous protestations by the dentist.

I bless you for your concern for your patients - it matters to all of us who do care. Somehow, someway, we surely will be able to make a difference, even with the cards stacked against us. Having awareness of the cruelty is an important step, tho' a painful one.
dj