Advice

Just wanted to address a couple of comments we've received.

First of all, we will not be giving out any medical advice on here. Please do not ask questions, as we will not respond. Go see your personal physician.
Second, yes I have seen some political psychiatric fallout. Last fall, I had a patient whose first psychotic break occurred during the Republican National Convention. This was a mid 40s male. If I was a Republican, I might have freaked out too when McCain picked that airhead for his running mate.

Now for what this blog is supposed to be about - interesting medical tales with a sprinkling of what's messed up with today's health care system.
Yesterday, a female was brought to the hospital by EMS for a suicide attempt. Her blood sugar was a little high en route (200s) so they took her to the ER first. She wasn't seen in an urgent care bed, advanced triage, or even a short stay area. She was treated in one of the trauma bays, because the entire ER was full. This patient shouldn't have been taking up a trauma bed in my opinion. Keep in mind this is a brand new, 100 million dollar facility that was just completed. It is already at capacity. Where can we possibly put all these patients?
Now I never make fun of suicidality, but here is this lady's story when she got to psych.
"Why are you here today, ma'am?"
"I tried to commit suicide."
"Oh my gosh that is terrible. What did you do?"
"I tried to overdose on my pills but my boyfriend stopped me."
"Wow. How many pills did you take?"
"Oh, I didn't take any. But I was going to take three 800 mg Ibuprofen."

Just keepin' it real.

psycho