She called the cops on me . . . .

[Sapphire Silk]

So the question came up in Argabarga's latest post about whether or not anyone had actually has a SC call the cops on them, and they got in trouble for it.

I came close. It is an amusing tale I will relate to you . . . .

I was just starting out as the charge nurse in a very busy ER back in California. In fact, I think it was my first shift as charge on my own.

We had a new nurse, I'll call her Caroline (not her real name). She was great, a former neuro ICU nurse with a lot of common sense and great skills. But ER was a totally new game to her.

We got a walk in: Mom brings in her 15 year old son who had supposedly swallowed a big bottle of pills. He had his 15 year old girl friend with him. Mom was freaking out. Kid was grinning and giggling, and treating the whole thing like a joke.

I assign him to Caroline. Doc orders Activated Charcoal (a solution of charcoal powder) and a "pump and dump"; ie, gastric lavage.

Gastric lavage involves putting a tube down the throat into the stomach, suctioning out the stomach contents (which presumably still has pill fragments in it) rinsing the stomach out, and putting down the charcoal to absorb any medication we missed and preventing it from being absorbed into the blood and metabolized.

We had a great kit for this that involved a hand held pump that would simultaneously pump and remove water and stomach contents. Then we could add the activated charcoal and pump that in to finish off and remove the tube.

Needless to say, the boy was not happy about this process.

I found out the depths of his unhappinessness when I heard a slap, and the Doc (the nicest guy on gods green earth) yell out, "Don't you hit me!"

I ran into the room to see the Doc restraining the boy, and the girl friend trying to push the doc and Caroline away from the boy. Mom is trying to restrain the boy and crying.

I immediately told the girl to leave the room. She tried to argue, I told her I'd call security. Mom hustled her out.

Girlfriend got very angry, yelling at us about how we were treating her boyfriend.

Me: I'm sorry this is unpleasant for him. But it's the treatment the doctor ordered, and it's absolutely necessary to ensure he doesn't suffer any real harm.

Girlfriend: You have no right! No right! If you don't stop, I'll call the police! You're hurting him.

Me: It's time for you to leave. You can wait in the waiting room. If you give me any more trouble, I will have security escort you from the property.

Girlfriend: You can't do that!

Me: Absolutely I can do that. You are not a relative. You have no legal right to be here. The only reason I'm allowing you to wait in the waiting room is because you are a minor, and it's getting dark.

Girlfriend: I'm going back in there.

Me: No, you are not.

Girlfriend tries to push her way past me. I fold my arms across my chest and get firmly in her way. Dr. V, our other doc, immediately comes over to me and backs me up.

Girlfriend leaves.

About 15 minutes later, PD shows up. They'd gotten a 911 call about a doctor hitting a patient. I explain to the officer it was the patient who hit the doctor, and that the doc, nurse, and patient's mother will back that story up (which they all do). Girlfriend is standing behind the cop looking smug until Mom comes out and backs us up. Cop slaps his notebook shut, says, "Well, we figured it was something like this. You guys have a good night. Do you want this girl to leave?"

I graciously allow the girlfriend to wait in the waiting room when the Mom says she's willing to take the girl home.

[Mishi]

I hope someone pointed out to the kid that his girlfriend was willing to let him die, rather painfully, instead of having the doctors and nurses try to minimize the damage and help him. She sure 'loves' him.

[Sapphire Silk]

I actually am not sure he told the truth about swallowing the pills. We didn't find any pill fragments (which doesn't mean anything either way), and his behavior made me feel he was pushing Mom's buttons.

But we couldn't take the chance.

If I'm right, he got a good lesson in why faking a suicide attempt is a bad idea.

[BlaqueKatt]

If I'm right, he got a good lesson in why faking a suicide attempt is a bad idea.

I was once informed that most people only attempt overdose by pills once, as having one's stomach pumped is very unpleasant, plus the hospitals around here usually make the patient drink the charcoal just to add to the unpleasantness.

[kpzra]

I once had a transport of a girl who I first saw during an ER rotation a few days before. She came in as a Tylenol OD (Costco size bottle of extra strength) and we were taking her to U of Michigan for a liver transplant. I felt bad for her, she remembered me from the ER and felt comfortable talking to me. She was a sexual abuse victim, and her abuser had been given custody of her in her parents divorce (not either of her parents). I made sure the admitting nurse knew and noted it on her chart.

[Ellain]

I was once informed that most people only attempt overdose by pills once, as having one's stomach pumped is very unpleasant, plus the hospitals around here usually make the patient drink the charcoal just to add to the unpleasantness.

Unfortunately, I can tell you this is not accurate. I have a friend who OD'd on Tylenol on at least 3 separate occasions.

[Teskeria]

I'd say it is 'most people FAKE overdose just once' Sadly, if they are determined, they will try again.

[Sapphire Silk]

It's amazing what people will put themselves through to manipulate someone else.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I took an overdose once; not a suicide attempt, just an extension of my self harming at the time. The doctor gave me a charcoal drink and that fixed it; I never did that again, tho I did continue cutting myself and pulling my hair out for a time after.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

We had an asshole call the cops on us once after I had his car towed for parking illegally.

The cops were not happy at being bothered with something like this. They sent this cop over that looked like he could tie a hog in in a knot with his bare hands. The cop was not in a good mood.

He was not happy with Mr. Illegally Parked Asshole. Hilarity ensued. Soundbite from incident follows....COP: Sir, there is only one car on this property these people cannot legally tow. And that car is mine."

Cop got into his car and drove away, leaving the asshole stranded. Asshole ended up begging a ride from our tow truck driver, who is nicer than I am and gave him one.

And no, I did not get in any sort of trouble over it.

[NateTheChops]

If I'm right, he got a good lesson in why faking a suicide attempt is a bad idea.

Winding up on a 72 hour watch would clear that up pretty quickly.

[Zaiida]

Huh, never had the charcole treatment when I tried to shuffle off this mortail coil. It may have been because my mother waited nearly 16 hours to take me to a Doc so by then it was all absorbed so they couldn't really do anything as I was bringing up only bile by that time. I was out of it for 3 days then sent home *shrug*. Hallucinate away that was one hell of a trip. The transforming ballet dancing fire extingisher was really funny.

Charcole treatment was used on my dog when she ate a moisture sachet. They had to do it twice because they were not fast enough to stop her eating what she had brought up the first time idiot dog. She greets people by licking faces and I found out how popular she was when I went to pick her up and half the staff still had black smudges on their faces. She did the same to me. That stuff gets everywhere.

Never had a 'I'll call the cops' threat but I have been threatened with 'I'll get my brother/father/cousin/some knucklehead to fuck you up'. It's never been followed through because knucklehead didn't want to piss me off. They behaved better after that fell through. I never knew I could be that scary

[Thuringwethyl]

Winding up on a 72 hour watch would clear that up pretty quickly.

I can back that up. Worked on me!

Though in my case I had changed my mind after I took the pills and rushed to my parents for help - so I wasn't hardcore suicidal. Being with people who had major problems (but still trying to cope) cemented my decision.

Thank goodness I didn't take much medication normally and thus had no idea what the lethal dose was. They didn't pump my stomach or make me drink charcoal; the kids at the center told me I had gotten off light.

[Sapphire Silk]

I'd usually get several kinds of kids with these kinds of cases.

1) Like Thuringwethyl, they realized, "Oh, shit! I don't really want to die!" and got help right away, and never ever considered doing it again . . .

2) The seriously messed up kids who had real mental illness and weren't coping well and/or medicated properly . . .

OR

3) Sadomasochistic twerps who liked the attention they got from the whole messy deal. They'd come in, deal with the pump and dump, and spend the rest of their time in the ER calling the boyfriend/girlfriend (sometimes the parents) to tell them what terrible people they were to drive them to try and kill themselves.

It would get quite vocal. The drama would get so thick that I adopted the policy of removing all property from the "patient" as soon as they arrived.

It was partly safety: I had to make sure they didn't try to swallow more pills in their purse or whatever (it got tried a couple of times, I walked in just in time) or otherwise use something on them to hurt themselves.

But it also gave me the excuse to relieve them of their cellphones. I'd also remove the hospital phone from the room and instruct the staff not to give them access to one.

Boy, they would get pissy.