She Refused to Let Me Treat the Wound
I was working on a general surgery unit as a new nurse. An elderly diabetic patient ran over her second toe with the bedside table and her nail was ripped off.
She was incredibly mean and didn’t want anyone touching her. I tried to explain the severity of her injury, especially because she was an uncontrolled diabetic and already had compromised circulation to her feet.
She still refused to let me treat the wound. She also refused care from the physician. There was really nothing we could do other than a gentle cleansing with antibiotic ointment and sterile dressings, which she eventually relented to.
She was refusing everything else despite not being demented or disoriented. We just had to respect her wishes. She had overall poor hygiene and still refused more than just the bare minimum care days later.
All of her objections would eventually lead to the worst-case scenario. When she came back to the hospital, she needed to have her leg amputated.
That toe was now gangrenous and everything below the knee had to go. The doctor told her she likely would have been fine if she didn’t refuse treatment.
Except, after her amputation, she again tried to refuse care. We did what we had to do and eventually she was discharged back to the nursing home where she came from.
Reportedly, she still sabotaged her own healing several times by introducing new infections to her wounds via neglect and carelessness.
I saw her obituary in the newspaper a few weeks later. dairyqueenlatifah