Some people are stupid – really stupid. A case in point was the job I had this morning. We got called to a male with vomiting. When we got there we were given a letter explaining that he has “Idiopathic cyclic vomiting“. Which, translated into English, means he has episodes of vomiting which cannot be explained by any other means. When we got there he was doing the “dry heaves”, he had a temperature of 38.1C (Normal range is 36.2C-37.2C) so he was hot, and feeling terrible for it.
So obviously his family had wrapped him up in a blanket “to keep him warm”. When people get a high temperature they often feel cold. The solution for this is to cool them down, and they will soon feel much better – often the trip in an ambulance will do this nicely.
I explained all this to the patient, and his wife but they insisted on bringing the blanket with them (like we don't have enough blankets in the back of our ambo). I refused to let him wear it, and lo and behold, he began to feel better as he cooled down. I explained all the above to him and his family again – that he was now feeling better because his temperature was lowering, that the blanket is the worst thing you can do, etc, etc…
We booked him in at the hospital, and as I turned around to leave, what do I see but the bloody idiot wrapped in his big thick blanket.
Well, if you are that stupid you deserve to feel like crap, and as I wasn't going to repeat myself again I left him to suffer.
I got home to find a message on my answer machine from Occupational Health asking me to ring them as soon as I can. Unfortunately I'm home too late to ring, and because Monday is a Bank holiday, I suspect that the first time I will be able to ring them is on Tuesday.
I'm hoping that the reason for the call is to remind me to get a blood test over the weekend and nothing more serious.
But I think I'm in for three days of vague worry as various scenarios rattle through my head.
Here in the desert we have ingrained cultural stupidity. Working triage at the local ER you get children (daily) with temps in the 103 to 105 range. This kids are often dressed in a snow suit. Honest to god I dont know what these people are thinking. Covering the snow suit will be some sort of blanket, usually unwashed and puked on, with indescribably offensive odors emanating from it.You unwrap the blanket, after donning gloves, undress the kid, and give them an antipyretic, at the correct dose, something parents are incapable of doing. Almost as if by magic the kids temp is down to normal by the time the doctor sees them. That is if the parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, sisters, brothers and family dog and cat havent put the snow suit back on the helpless snotling.
Its too bad it seems only stupid people are reproducing. Erv, chlorine on isle four, defective gene pool.
I can only agree with you, we see the exact same thing (minus the desert) day after day.
Nope, unfortunately they don't, and again unfortunately, they 'mean well' and 'love' the person they are trying to kill!Glenda