She Was Dispatched to a Freezing, Purple Woman. How Healthcare Professionals Allegedly Mistreated The Woman Inspired Her to be a Nurse
After what happened to this patient, she was inspired to become a nurse.
When EMS paramedic Ivy Melanson (@chronicallystayingstrong) was dispatched to help a 34-year-old woman, she thought it would be a simple case. But after learning of her patient’s depressing fate after she left them in a hospital waiting room, Melanson said she was spurred to become a nurse.
“Her mom says she doesn’t know what’s wrong. She just can’t get out of bed,” Melanson told TikTok. When she and other EMS staff arrived at the home, she said the mother looked frantic, as for the past three to four days, her daughter had been feeling weak, cold, and experiencing severe abdominal pain.
“I realize as I’m touching her, she is frozen. But the house is like, warm,” Melanson stated. She was informed that the woman had several health problems, so she asked the mother if her daughter was on medications. When the mother listed the medications, Melanson claimed that none of them could cause her to overdose. She tried waking the woman, but she was barely responsive.
The paramedic checked the woman’s vitals, but Melanson said they appeared normal. Not knowing what was wrong, the paramedic told the woman’s mother that they’d have to bring her to the hospital for further medical assistance.
They reassured the mother that they’d take care of her daughter, and that she could follow them to the hospital. In an urgent situation, emergency services must respond with care to the person who’s in dire need of help. But a man from Atlanta alleged that when he called 911, he was transferred to an AI chatbot. Melanson and the EMS responders on the scene, however, were determined to give the patient the care she needed.
Her body had signs of death
“It looks as if someone had died, and all that blood was pooling,” Melanson said of the patient’s back. As they were moving her to the ambulance, she had to ask another EMS what they thought was wrong, but even they were stumped. They were still far from the hospital, but monitored her every step of the way.
“Everything’s fine, except for the fact that she’s freezing, she’s purple, and the fact that her stomach is hurting so bad,” she added. Melanson was thinking about what the problem might be, and guessed that the patient had a bowel obstruction. When they reached the emergency room, Melanson met with a nurse.
“She can go into the waiting room,” the nurse allegedly stated. Melanson claimed she hadn’t even been asked before the nurse made that decision. From the nurse’s response, Melanson recalled having an ominous feeling that her patient wouldn’t make it.
“She’s 34 years old, she’s just being dramatic, she probably wants pain meds,” the nurse allegedly said. Melanson defended her patient and spoke with a doctor to assess the woman.
“I think she’s drug seeking. She’s been here a few times for different issues,” the doctor reportedly said. Melanson didn’t believe them, but her patient was still assigned to the waiting room. The EMS personnel told the woman’s mother to keep an eye on her daughter and to call the nurse and make a scene if anything happens. Melanson said that the mother was crying because she was in the waiting room with her sickly daughter, and she felt stressed out by the ordeal because she had to leave.
“I didn’t want to leave her, but I had to”
“I didn’t want to leave her, but I had to,” Melanson said, and eventually, she did. As she was leaving, Melanson said that she saw the woman slouched over. She tried telling the nurse again, but the nurse allegedly dismissed Melanson’s concern once more.
“I found out a few days later… Her obituary was in the newspaper,” Melanson said. She alleged that the patient she rescued that night had died in the waiting room of the hospital she left her in. The EMS personnel believed that she and the hospital staff were not cooperating, and called for healthcare workers to listen to one another.
“When someone says, ‘I think something is wrong,’ at least investigate it. And if you’re too burnt out or too tired to do that, then leave the field or take a really long, [expletive] break,” Melanson said. She believes that so many patients are left unheard, and many of them die because of the lack of care from medical professionals.
“That poor mother has to live for the rest of her life, thinking that she didn’t do enough, that she didn’t call quicker. That poor girl suffered to the very end,” she added. She said she later confirmed that the woman had a severe bowel obstruction, and the condition ended her life. Melanson is now in nursing school, hoping to save patients and advocate for them when they need it most. Also, here are some nurses talking us through the health decisions they would avoid at all costs.
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