Doctors And Nurses Are Sharing The Most Shocking Thing They Witnessed At A Hospital

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“I was an RN in the OR (Operating Room) of a large midwestern University Hospital. It was not unusual for us to treat and do surgery on prisoners, as both a state and federal prison were less than 40 miles away. My coworker and I were returning to the OR from lunch when two guys got on the elevator with us. One was carrying a bouquet of flowers in a big, shallow ceramic vase. They asked if the elevator went to nursing unit 4B, and we said yes and gave directions. The minute they got off, we looked at each other and laughed, saying they looked out of place and not the type to bring such a big bouquet. I barely got in our locker room and changed into fresh scrubs when the intercom went off and my boss, an old army nurse, was yelling for me to get to OR #12, scrub in, and set up for Chest Trauma. She also requested that any and all available nurses get down there to help. ‘Patient is on the way,’ she screamed. Suddenly, a bloody gurney crashed through our door.”

“Three doctors in street clothes were bagging the unconscious patient, and a nurse was holding pressure on blood-soaked towels applied to the chest. The surgeon was suddenly right on top of me, demanding I gown and glove him. He hadn’t even scrubbed. What the hell? This was definitely not protocol. I gowned him and pulled up to the field with only an emergency scalpel and four clamps. The surgical instruments I desperately needed were still in the autoclave being sterilized. This set the surgeon off on a tirade of cussing and screaming about the cheap university that would not buy enough equipment for the OR. The more he cussed, the faster he worked, and he was able to make the incision and slow the bleeding with those four clamps, some suture, and my hands spreading the ribs like the mechanical retractor we needed. Once the instruments arrived, he was able to explore the chest, remove three bullets, and resect a lobe of the lung. Finally, we were able to take a breath. The medical student asked what the heck had happened to the patient. It was then that I learned our patient and another guy entered the room of a guarded federal prisoner, pulled a gun from a vase of flowers they were carrying, and shot.”

—Anonymous