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Debbie Wilson - 15 Jul 2005 11:00 GMT

Good morning Howard - saw this sad item in today's news, and thought of
you:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4684505.stm

Deb.

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"He looked a fierce and quarrelsome cat, but claw he never would;
He only bit the ones he loved, because they tasted good." S. Greenfield

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Howard C. Berkowitz - 15 Jul 2005 12:17 GMT

> Good morning Howard - saw this sad item in today's news, and thought of
> you:
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4684505.stm
>
> Deb.

Thank you. I am ashamed to admit I thought Dame Cicely had died several
years ago; perhaps she had reduced her workload. Thinking about it, I
probably confused her non-death with the death of Elizabeth Kuebler-Ross.

Even in the medical community, palliative care, and all ranges of pain
management, don't seem to get much respect. AFAIK, no pain researcher
has ever been nominated for the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology.
The gate control theory -- and clinical applications -- are the
foundation of modern pain management, but Melzack & Wall apparently were
never considered for a trip to Stockholm.

Some excellent workers operate under special handicaps, such as the
chief of the pain management and palliative care service at Memorial
Sloan-Kettering, one of the world's finest cancer centers. One can't but
help the imagine the doubletakes when a patient gets a referral, over
the phone, to Richard Payne, MD. http://www.appealproject.org/payne.htm

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Cathi - 16 Jul 2005 08:23 GMT

>Some excellent workers operate under special handicaps, such as the
>chief of the pain management and palliative care service at Memorial
>Sloan-Kettering, one of the world's finest cancer centers. One can't but
>help the imagine the doubletakes when a patient gets a referral, over
>the phone, to Richard Payne, MD. http://www.appealproject.org/payne.htm

Strangely enough, when I worked in the Health Service, I knew a pain
control nurse whose name was indeed Julie Pain. And, utterly no
relative, was a friend's mother who was a phlebotomist, Mrs Pain. And
that was what she inflicted when she saw one of her clients - her
daughter's ex-boyfriend, who had made some ungentlemanly comments about
her daughter after the break-up.

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Cathi

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Pamela Shirk - 17 Jul 2005 01:22 GMT

> Strangely enough, when I worked in the Health Service, I knew a pain
> control nurse whose name was indeed Julie Pain. And, utterly no relative,
> was a friend's mother who was a phlebotomist, Mrs Pain. And that was what
> she inflicted when she saw one of her clients - her daughter's
> ex-boyfriend, who had made some ungentlemanly comments about her daughter
> after the break-up.

Rob has a great story about his medic roommate and some MPs from his first
tour in Korea. The medic was hassled by a MP for holding his Korean
girlfriend's purse while she was doing some shopping. The purse had some
drugs that were legal for Koreans, but not for American soldiers. Needless
to say the medic got out of the problem by the skin of his teeth. And then
it came time for everyone to get their annual flu shot...

Of course the medic was one of those giving the shots and the MP who gave
him the trouble made sure that he wasn't in his line. His partner was in
the same line as the MP, in fact, right behind him. What neither of them
knew was how popular the medic was. The first MP got to the head of the
line and looked over at the table where the medic he'd harassed was working,
only to see him nodding at the medic who was to give him the shots. The MP
finally got a sense of his forth coming doom when he saw the medic preparing
his shot.

Now the flu shots came in pre-prepared needles, and the medic was preparing
it by taping the point of the needle onto the table. Everyone who knew
anything about needles and shots was watching with varying grimaces of pain
on their faces. Rob said that the room was suddenly and totally silent.
All one could hear was that slow tap...tap...tap as the medic blunted and
dulled the needle. Then he prepared the injection site, in the meatiest
part of the MP's arm, jabbed the needle in, changed the angle of the needle,
injected the serum, then twisted the needle as he removed it. Blood flowed
down the MP's arm as he left the staging area.

The guy's partner was next in line. Fearfully he walked up to the table and
said, "you know I was only with him, right?"

"I know," replied the medic as he prepared and gently injected the flu shot
into the medic's arm. You're done here.

None of the medics ever had to worry about being needlessly hassled after
that.

Pam S.

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Christine Burel - 17 Jul 2005 22:17 GMT

> > Strangely enough, when I worked in the Health Service, I knew a pain
> > control nurse whose name was indeed Julie Pain. And, utterly no relative,
[quoted text clipped - 39 lines]
>
> Pam S.

Oh, this made me cringe -- I guess that medic made his point ;o).
Christine (ducking and running)

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Howard C. Berkowitz - 17 Jul 2005 22:30 GMT

> > > Strangely enough, when I worked in the Health Service, I knew a pain
> > > control nurse whose name was indeed Julie Pain. And, utterly no
[quoted text clipped - 68 lines]
> Oh, this made me cringe -- I guess that medic made his point ;o).
> Christine (ducking and running)

My mother was an Army Medical Service Corps reservist. When her
hospital unit was giving mass inoculations, she observed that there
always was maneuvering to get into the line to be injected by the
veterinarian.

Asking some soldiers about this, they said he was the gentlest of any
practitioner. When she asked him, he said "I have to be. My patients
bite."

Mind you, I do know of a major teaching hospital in which the Resident
from Hell became a patient one day. People bid for giving him
injections, but everyone got to use the bucket of ice outside his room
-- to chill their stethoscopes.

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