Yesterday, I had a new experience as a nurse…. I was bitten by a patient.
I was team leading (same as a relief charge nurse) & helping another nurse admit a patient to the ICU from the cath lab. He was in his 50s, had a heart attack, and the lesion was successfully opened and stented by the cardiologist. This patient was spanish-speaking (surprisingly, something we don’t see in my area of Phoenix as often as you’d think) and he was waking up from sedation very wildly – thrashing all over the bed and trying to sit up. I was holding one of his arms down, and the other nurse was on his other side, because he still had a sheath (big IV access) in his groin and if he sat up, he would run the risk of severe bleeding. We were attempting to get him to calm down, when he pulled his arm (the one I was holding) up to his face and bit my arm. I pulled away quickly and used my other hand on his forehead to keep it on the pillow.
Two more male staff members came into the room to help us physically restrain the patient (now for our safety as well as his own). We then called for security and the house supervisors to come to the room and the patient was placed in restraints and his sedation from the procedure kicked back in.
I know that there were many variables that act as excuses for this patient to act how he did (language barriers, confusion from sedatives), but there was a spanish-speaking staff member in the room while the patient was acting out and the patient was fully aware of what was going on. He knew that he was in the hospital and remembered coming to the emergency room with chest pain. If a person is awake enough to realize these things, I think there is no real excuse for actions like that. I’m sure it’s hard being in that situation – not knowing what exactly is going on and having people trying to restrain you, but to lash out and bite someone when you willingly came into the hospital for help is inexcusable.
Situations like these make me weary of getting as close to patients as we often have to. But, my two options as a nurse are to 1) attempt to restrain him and put myself in danger, or 2) let him do what he wants, which would cause a life-threatening bleed from his artery onto the bed or into his abdomen.
What’s a nurse to do?
As a licensed nurse in the State of Arizona is protected under Arizona Revised Statutes 13-1204.A.13. The bite is considered aggravated assault and is a class 6 felony. My suggestion is to call the police department in the city the hospital is located and have them complete a police report.
Think I need to mention that Ryan is a police officer in Arizona and a good friend of mine. Just to put some reference to that comment.
Hmmm.
Given the 2 choices — I would probably pick #2.
And maybe that is one of the reasons they didn’t let me be a nurse.
Justin
Wheel his ass right out of the hospital and into a family member’s car. Charge him for the bed.
Yesterday at work, I had a patient who almost bit the end of my finger off. The patient was postical and was not oriented to his surroundings. I was attempting to place a dobbhoff tube that had been ordered by his physician but when he bit me I was no where near his face…he literally sat up in bed and latched on to my finger. It took 6 RNs to control this patient! The really aggravating this was that I had called his attending the night before (because he was becoming agitated) to tell him the patient appeared to be going into DTs secondary to his long history of ETOH abuse. He excused my concern and later had a seizure on the night shift. Being fully aware of the patients confusion and combativeness, the physician still wrote no orders for physical or chemical restraint and because of his lack of concern for my assessment of the patients mental states the patient had a grand mal seizure and I got bit, requiring a tetnus shot, 10 days of antibiotics (which I had to pay for) and lost 9 hours of work which I will not be compensated for because I am a pool RN. Do I have legal right against this MD? This not the first time our staff has delt with these sort of injurys with this MD as the attending!
Sorry to hear about what happened to you. Situations like this are never a good thing for any person involved (especially the person who got bit)
I am definitely not an expert in the legal field (nor do I claim to be an expert in ANY field really), but I would say that your best course of action would be to file a complaint with your facility. I know that my facility has a process where I can report the physician and he/she will be required to respond to the complaint in front of a group of his/her peers. Staff complaints have caused physicians to get their privileges at the hospital suspended (which causes them to lose income). Also, I have seen these hearings change physician behavior after they see their peers reprimanding them for their poor behavior and/or decisions.
Again, I’m no legal expert, but I can’t imagine that suing the physician (and paying the legal fees associated in doing so) would be worth your cost in antibiotics and 9 hours lost at work.