The Players:
Dr. Who
Dr. Suess
Mayo Medical Center
Mustard Medical Center
Patient Zotbot
Silly Social Worker
A Big Fish
The Situation:
Zotbot arrives at Mayo Medical Center's emergency room flanked by Friend One and Friend Two. Zotbot, merely visiting the state, ran out of meds and came to the ER for refills because he was feeling a bit off. Zotbot sad. Zotbot had a bad day. What a day Zotbot had.
When Zotbot's back was turned, Friend One hands a note to Dr. Who: Zotbot is suicidal but won't admit it! Dr. Who, being a doctor and all, asked Zotbot some questions and then got to the heart of the matter:
Dr. Who: Zotbot, are you suicidal?
Zotbot: No, I'm not.
None-the-less, Dr. Who called in Silly SW for the full assessment. Silly SW arrived at Mayo Medical, completed the assessment and upon exiting the room received this message from the receptionist: "Dr. Seuss just called. One of the Big Fish of Mustard Medical Center is in ER. Patient is to go to a psychiatric facility."
Huh?
Who is Dr. Suess? And what does Mustard Medical Center have to do with the price of tea in China? And by the way, Zotbot is decidedly NOT suicidal, so sending him to a psych ward is sorta not on the table here.
Hmmmm.....
Working on a hunch, Silly Social Worker went back in to Zotbot's room and asked just one more question: What, per chance, do your parents do for a living?
Come to find out one of Zotbot's parents works for an affiliated hospital, one Mustard Medical Center. Oh, all right. Said parent is the one of the big fish at Mustard Medical Center. And said parent is apparently quite convinced Zotbot (a full-fledged adult, incidentally) is suicidal. Even though Zotbot flatly denied this to the nurse. And the doc. And Friend One and Friend Two. And the social worker.
However, parent, being a Big Fish and all, called upon a friendly MD (read: minion), one Dr. Suess of Mustard Medical Center, and tried to arrange a psych admission via the inside track.
Despite the fact that Dr. Seuss didn't actually evaluate Zotbot. Despite the fact that said parent was actually not in the ER (it wouldn't have mattered one way or the other) but in another city. Despite the fact that--and this is, admittedly, a minor point--Zotbot wasn't suicidal. And didn't want to be in the hospital. And had an appointment with a psychiatrist in 36 hours.
Dr. Who held firm, called Dr. Suess and gave him the score. Zotbot went home with prescriptions in hand. Silly Social Worker triple-checked her documentation before going home. To wait for the ax to fall. Because frankly, Silly Social Worker wants no part of going toe-to-toe with The Man, even if it is by three degrees of separation. ->
Read the complete post at http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/tXCM/~3/512681716/tales-of-entitlement.html
Posted
15 Jan 2009 7:46 AM
by
Trench Warfare
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