All In The Family

Despite the countless numbers of devoted and loving children, parents, siblings, family members, neighbors, friends and co-workers I've seen flock to the side of patients in the ED, it's always assholes who remain memorable.

Last night I took care of one elderly gentleman who was dropped off by family members at triage. When the left, we assumed they went to move their car, but instead they never came back. They left behind a confused, scared, and sick old man who spoke a language so rare that we did not have an interpreter readily available.

Later that evening, I took care of an older woman who had been stuck in the ED for most of the day. Finally ready for discharge, she gave me the phone number of her son and asked that I call him to drive her home. When I reached him, he told me that he had some "stuff to do" that night, and asked if we could just keep her in the ED until the morning.

I hope that when these two patients eventually die, they come back as ghosts and haunt the hell out of their ungrateful offspring.