Darn and he's was so close to winning that this year.

This isn't technically the worst thing that's happened in a children's hospital.

And when you learn that, you'll learn why they took the recliners out of the public ICU waiting room.

Let's see
Kid burned with lighter
Lighter ≠ drugs, but it is helpful to have them around
Dad stealing cheap crap that he can flip for a few bucks
By themselves = eh
All together = white trash crackhead

Still not like the guy beating his newborn in the hospital nursery.

DownDaRiver: All together = white trash crackhead

Meth head, not crackhead.

BronyMedic: This isn't technically the worst thing that's happened in a children's hospital.

And when you learn that, you'll learn why they took the recliners out of the public ICU waiting room.

Someone brought a pet to Ophelia?

Umm...  Am I the only one thinking that it's kind of weird that a burn from a cigarette lighter would require surgery?

BronyMedic: This isn't technically the worst thing that's happened in a children's hospital.

And when you learn that, you'll learn why they took the recliners out of the public ICU waiting room.

Was it fleas?

Aside from mistreatment by medical "professionals" the worst thing that I ever encountered in a hospital was fleas.

At least they weren't bed bugs or lice.

All sorts of people go to hospitals.

I'm not sure how a 5 year old burns himself with a lighter badly enough to have to have hospital care. This is just one reason I am not a parent.

I pretty much only had access to matches when I was a kid and I never burned myself badly enough to even mention it to my parents. I once got burned by a soldering iron too - I survived without a hospital visit.

Maybe people shouldn't go to the hospital every time someone feels pain. I'm just saying. I'm pretty sure I broke a few toes a year or two ago. It hurt like hell and I limped for a while, but they got better and I don't owe the hospital a million dollars to put an Ace bandage on my foot and tell me to try not to put any weight on it.

Happy Hours: BronyMedic:

The thing is, it required surgery.  So it's not a case of stubbing a toe and seeing a doctor.  As for how the child came to be injured so badly, I'm willing to bet not one person on that hospital staff believes the story the family is giving.  I'm sure an investigation is underway, but no one is wanting to comment.  Or the kid just set himself on fire.  Kids can do silly things, but I'm not sure how many manage that.

robohobo: I'm assuming this is a public hospital. And if so, why the FARK do they have video game consoles? Especially consoles worth stealing.

Video games are awesome for recovery and for getting the families distracted from their worry.  Many hospitals also give out ipods for patient use during surgeries and dvd players for kids' rooms.

doglover: BronyMedic: This isn't technically the worst thing that's happened in a children's hospital.

And when you learn that, you'll learn why they took the recliners out of the public ICU waiting room.

Well? Spit it out.

This was before my time, but if stories are to be believed, a mother who's child was in the ICU was continuing to see her "clients" in the ICU waiting area. At the time, the ICU was basically a gigantic room with bedspaces seperated by curtains, so the parents couldn't stay with their kids.

BronyMedic: This isn't technically the worst thing that's happened in a children's hospital.

And when you learn that, you'll learn why they took the recliners out of the public ICU waiting room.

I'm starting to think you're either Lord, Liar or Lunatic. So which is it?

caught stealing?  off with your hand.

Seriously.

The arab world is really really messed up but that's one thing they got right in terms of punishing criminals. Hell I just read they are executing 4 guys that had huge roles in some multi-billion dollar fraud recently.

Besides he's already in the hospital - so it will be all nice and sanitary like :)

Maus III: I'm starting to think you're either Lord, Liar or Lunatic. So which is it?

It's hard to believe that people would have sex in a hospital?

Damn. Hope you never plan to eat in a resident's call room ever. Or sleep without changing the sheets.

How pathetic. Not only to having to stoop so low as to do it while visiting his own son in the hospital, but also because the stuff he's stealing are meant for the kids in the hospital, like his son.

It's sad that the kid has a dad like that.

robohobo: I'm assuming this is a public hospital. And if so, why the FARK do they have video game consoles? Especially consoles worth stealing.

A surprising number of people donate game consoles to children's wards. It's not uncommon.

accelerus: caught stealing?  off with your hand.

Seriously.

The arab world is really really messed up but that's one thing they got right in terms of punishing criminals. Hell I just read they are executing 4 guys that had huge roles in some multi-billion dollar fraud recently.

Besides he's already in the hospital - so it will be all nice and sanitary like :)

Yeah...."right"....by that you mean exclusively punishing rape victims, "blasphemers", and foreign workers, right?

Aside from the fact that intentionally maiming a human being goes against modern human rights doctrine, and is pretty counter-productive to do if you're seeking to control crime (Hey, I'ma chop this guys hand off for stealing. I'm sure he can get a job as stumpy!), Saudi Arabia has a notorious history of disproportional punishment of foreign workers, which are treated lower than shiat in the country.

Stay classy, Skursky.

robohobo: I'm assuming this is a public hospital. And if so, why the FARK do they have video game consoles? Especially consoles worth stealing.

Damage control, I'm guessing.

When you have both parents visiting and spending long hours with a severely injured kid, you need a place to keep the brothers and sisters occupied lest they wreak havoc (or just end up racing each other down the long hallways).

Resident Muslim: Damage control, I'm guessing.

When you have both parents visiting and spending long hours with a severely injured kid, you need a place to keep the brothers and sisters occupied lest they wreak havoc (or just end up racing each other down the long hallways).

The big reason is for the patients themselves. Some are there for weeks, months, or even years depending on their condition, and it's to keep them involved and enriched, as well as provide morale and distraction based on their respective age groups.

Child Life Specialists do nothing but work with kids all day with games, movies, and video games to help them. It's a pretty awesome job.

The place I work at has one of those Hotel Game-on-demand systems in each room other than in the ER, that has Gamecube and Playstation 3 games on it. It's pretty freaking neat.

robohobo: Fair enough, so long as they're donated.

Why? It's a University Hospital, in this case. Bought with their own funds or funds from their fundraising arm. And it's shown that play improves psychological outcomes and speeds healing of sick children rather than just letting them lay in bed.

BronyMedic: Resident Muslim: Damage control, I'm guessing.

When you have both parents visiting and spending long hours with a severely injured kid, you need a place to keep the brothers and sisters occupied lest they wreak havoc (or just end up racing each other down the long hallways).

The big reason is for the patients themselves. Some are there for weeks, months, or even years depending on their condition, and it's to keep them involved and enriched, as well as provide morale and distraction based on their respective age groups.

Child Life Specialists do nothing but work with kids all day with games, movies, and video games to help them. It's a pretty awesome job.

The place I work at has one of those Hotel Game-on-demand systems in each room other than in the ER, that has Gamecube and Playstation 3 games on it. It's pretty freaking neat.

I stand corrected.

gadian: Happy Hours: BronyMedic:

The thing is, it required surgery.  So it's not a case of stubbing a toe and seeing a doctor.  As for how the child came to be injured so badly, I'm willing to bet not one person on that hospital staff believes the story the family is giving.  I'm sure an investigation is underway, but no one is wanting to comment.  Or the kid just set himself on fire.  Kids can do silly things, but I'm not sure how many manage that.

I admit, I stopped reading before I got to the surgery part. I just rechecked TFA and it does mention surgery.

Surgery for a burn suffered from a lighter? Yeah, there's gotta be more to it than that. I've burned myself with lighters and cigarettes over the years, but usually only when I was so drunk that it took a few seconds to notice I was burning myself. That stuff heals fine without treatment.

Unless you burn yourself so badly that you need skin grafts I'm not sure what kind of surgery would be done to a burn victim. And even a kid playing with a lighter is probably going to drop it before they need skin grafts. Probably even faster than my drunk ass.

So chalk this up as another poorly reported news story.

I'm sure he was just grabbing stuff to pawn so that he could pay the hospital bill.

The United States: A nation of children.

Happy Hours: gadian: Happy Hours: BronyMedic:

The thing is, it required surgery.  So it's not a case of stubbing a toe and seeing a doctor.  As for how the child came to be injured so badly, I'm willing to bet not one person on that hospital staff believes the story the family is giving.  I'm sure an investigation is underway, but no one is wanting to comment.  Or the kid just set himself on fire.  Kids can do silly things, but I'm not sure how many manage that.

I admit, I stopped reading before I got to the surgery part. I just rechecked TFA and it does mention surgery.

Surgery for a burn suffered from a lighter? Yeah, there's gotta be more to it than that. I've burned myself with lighters and cigarettes over the years, but usually only when I was so drunk that it took a few seconds to notice I was burning myself. That stuff heals fine without treatment.

Unless you burn yourself so badly that you need skin grafts I'm not sure what kind of surgery would be done to a burn victim. And even a kid playing with a lighter is probably going to drop it before they need skin grafts. Probably even faster than my drunk ass.

So chalk this up as another poorly reported news story.

Well, to be fair, "surgery" to a reporter with no medical knowledge could really mean the kid suffered a second or third degree burn to a joint or his hand, and had to be taken to a conscious sedation room to have it debrided and dressed.

Most adult hospitals won't do anything surgical to a kid because of the liability, let alone not being equipped to do so.

BronyMedic: Maus III: I'm starting to think you're either Lord, Liar or Lunatic. So which is it?

It's hard to believe that people would have sex in a hospital?

Damn. Hope you never plan to eat in a resident's call room ever. Or sleep without changing the sheets.

The timestamps show he was probably typing that post while you were typing yours, so he hadn't seen the new context you added. His post is still asking you to reveal why the recliners were removed because a few others had asked as well. I will speak for him in saying yes, he believes people would have sex in a hospital.

/forgive the intrusion

BronyMedic: Well, to be fair, "surgery" to a reporter with no medical knowledge could really mean the kid suffered a second or third degree burn to a joint or his hand, and had to be taken to a conscious sedation room to have it debrided and dressed.

I guess but I'm probably as clueless as the average reporter when it comes to medical knowledge and to me surgery means cutting someone open. I suppose giving someone stitches to close a wound would count, but I would say they got stitches rather than having surgery.

Most adult hospitals won't do anything surgical to a kid because of the liability, let alone not being equipped to do so.

I'm still uncertain if getting stitches counts as surgery, but thank gawd I was able to get stitches as a kid otherwise I wouldn't be able to flip people off.....almost lost the tip of my middle finger on my right hand. IIRC, that was 27 stitches and a few months of you're not allowed to go swimming or get your finger wet.

I probably got at least that many stitches in other incidents that weren't as severe (farking X-Acto knives and sharp corners on furniture and such).

Happy Hours: I'm still uncertain if getting stitches counts as surgery, but thank gawd I was able to get stitches as a kid otherwise I wouldn't be able to flip people off.....almost lost the tip of my middle finger on my right hand. IIRC, that was 27 stitches and a few months of you're not allowed to go swimming or get your finger wet.

I probably got at least that many stitches in other incidents that weren't as severe (farking X-Acto knives and sharp corners on furniture and such).

It depends, really. If it's a simple laceration repair and they don't have to ketamine or propofol the kid to get them to comply (depending on where you go, some won't even do a versed sedation on a child if they're very young), some of the smaller rural hospitals will do it rather than make the one or two hour drive to the nearest large children's hospital. If the kid is very small, very combative, or the wound is complex or on an area of the body which is cosmetically scarring or poorly healing, such as the face, vermilion border or the eyes, they'll send them to the nearest childrens hospital and let an ER fellow and his EDT suture it up.

By the way, Plastics NEVER comes in at two in the morning to do a suture, if the doctor tells you they're going to for your kid. :)

It has a lot to do with liability versus not being able to care for them, really. 18, legally, is a magic number that before it's reached anyone is a baby in a crib as far as the lawyers are concerned. Adult hospitals won't admit a teenager that is the size of an adult even for surgical care unless they can get a pediatric surgeon or pediatrician to attend to them there.

MagSeven: robohobo: I'm assuming this is a public hospital. And if so, why the FARK do they have video game consoles? Especially consoles worth stealing.

I remember when I was around 8, I was laid up in the hospital for 4 days from strep throat complications with an added tonsillectomy. After 2 days of laying in a hospital bed with nothing to look at besides daytime soaps that I had no frame of reference to, the smile I gave them when they finally hooked up their Nintendo in my room could have probably powered a small country.

/there's no pain like being in pain and simultaneously watching Days of our Lives.

This is why I never leave home without my phone. At the very least I can surf the web.

The last time I went to the ER the nurse said "Oh sure, you can afford a cell phone, but you can't afford insurance." (I was still holding the phone I used to call the ambulance). I swear to FSM if I hadn't really been in a lot of pain I would have stuffed that asshole's head up his ass. As a matter of fact, I DID have insurance and I was really not a drug-seeker. Yeah, this biatch of a nurse (who was a guy) told the doctors his diagnosis of me right from the start and it was his diagnosis that I was a drug-seeker faking pain. They almost gave me morphine, but upon this nurses advice made me piss for them before they gave me anything. They then learned that I did not take any pain medication whatsoever but gave me something different anyway.

And this is why I hate medical "professionals" more than cops. I've met a few asshole cops in my life, but they have never treated me as badly as some medical "professionals".

I wonder how people in the olden days dealt with the boredom of hospitals.

Happy Hours: The last time I went to the ER the nurse said "Oh sure, you can afford a cell phone, but you can't afford insurance." (I was still holding the phone I used to call the ambulance). I swear to FSM if I hadn't really been in a lot of pain I would have stuffed that asshole's head up his ass. As a matter of fact, I DID have insurance and I was really not a drug-seeker. Yeah, this biatch of a nurse (who was a guy) told the doctors his diagnosis of me right from the start and it was his diagnosis that I was a drug-seeker faking pain. They almost gave me morphine, but upon this nurses advice made me piss for them before they gave me anything. They then learned that I did not take any pain medication whatsoever but gave me something different anyway.

And this is why I hate medical "professionals" more than cops. I've met a few asshole cops in my life, but they have never treated me as badly as some medical "professionals".

It's called burnout, and it's pretty common in ER nurses - especially in large urban areas that serve a socioeconomically disproportionate population.

It's also the reason that everyone in a given ER fark like jackrabbits with each other and the Fire/EMS guys, tend to have at least one failed marriage on average, and tend to have alcohol and substance abuse problems.

robohobo: I'm assuming this is a public hospital. And if so, why the FARK do they have video game consoles? Especially consoles worth stealing.

Because... http://www.childsplaycharity.org/

My guess would be the "lighter" was actually a blowtorch for daddy's meth pipe.

BronyMedic: It's called burnout, and it's pretty common in ER nurses - especially in large urban areas that serve a socioeconomically disproportionate population.

It's also the reason that everyone in a given ER fark like jackrabbits with each other and the Fire/EMS guys, tend to have at least one failed marriage on average, and tend to have alcohol and substance abuse problems.

Yeah, I sort of understand but still do not approve. I didn't make a big deal out of it because I really was in pain and eventually got relief and then realized I had something that needed to be treated so I was more concerned with that than getting some sort of satisfaction from the belligerent ER nurse.

But it still left me bitter and I think it should have been a firing offense but not necessarily a career ending offense.

"Oh sure, you can afford a cell phone but you can't afford insurance" was literally the first thing I heard as I was wheeled into the ER. Other staff must have heard it. After I was piss-tested for drugs the doctors must have realized this nurse was an alarmist who saw junkies instead of patients with real medical conditions - especially when they saw that there was actually a medical reason to feel pain.

I'm probably missing the bigger picture that just about everyone else I dealt with was very professional and did exactly what they should have done from the ambulance and fire department workers (probably paramedics like you) who showed up at my door to the doctors who eventually treated my condition.

The costs didn't help either even though most of it was covered by my insurance. This was back in the late '90s but even then the ambulance was over $800. And yeah, I realize I'm not just paying for their gas but damn. If I really didn't have insurance....and I don't right now...I would call a cab. Probably a slower response time but I could probably tip the driver to help me down the stairs and shove me out in front of the ER for about 5% of that price.

And not that I have anything against the people who showed up - they did their jobs well but all they really did was transport me to the hospital. If I had thought I could drive there I wouldn't even have called 911 but I really did feel like I was dying - and not in "I have a really bad hangover" sort of way. I really thought I was dying.
And untreated, it probably would have killed me by now.

And it was a big city, but not the part of town that I would expect junkies to show up in the ER seeking drugs. Most of the stabbings, shootings, drug overdoses and shiat would probably show up at a hospital far away.

I've felt burnout at my job and a few times may have even let it affect my behavior but that's no farking excuse. It may explain a lot but it excuses nothing.

Vodka Zombie: Umm...  Am I the only one thinking that it's kind of weird that a burn from a cigarette lighter would require surgery?

Unless dear old dad burned his son with the lighter with the intention of stealing from the hospital (drugs more likely than video game consoles-they were probably a bonus).