"Just Tell Them...

I have worked 40 years to make the Women's Suffrage platform broad enough for Atheists and Agnostics to stand upon, and now if need be I will fight the next 40 to keep it Catholic enough to permit the straightest Orthodox religionist to speak or pray and count her beads upon."

Susan B. Anthony

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Dallas Cop Waaaayyyyy Out of Line: Detains Family of Dying Woman

I have to renew my nursing license again this summer. Seems like I just did that! Aaaccckkk! I need 24 hours of CE credit. Between now and August 31st. Lucky for me, I have been volunteering at Hospice since last August. So, the nursing department there is allowing me to sit in on their community based classes. Interesting stuff, for free!! I am also ordering a couple of CE offerings to do at home. One on "End of Life Care." One on "Stages of Dementia."

A lot of times, when people hear of my background... 25 years as a mother/baby and pediatric nurse... they are baffled. My decision to switch to end of life care seems so "opposite" to them. Let me just say... it is. And it's not. Attending either a birth, or a death, is profoundly rewarding. Helping families prepare and experience sacred passages .... well, it's sacred.

So now I am gonna say .... THIS I CANNOT BELIEVE!

The nurse even comes out to explain the situation to Officer Robert Powell. I listened closely to the videos and... I believe I heard her tell the officer that they are doing a *third* code blue. Which means, to me, that they are trying to keep the dying woman alive long enough for the family to say goodbye. Any officer should know this. But, not this one. He STILL detains the son-in-law, who ran a red light, for 20+ minutes. In my nearly 30 years as a nurse, I've dealt with plenty of police officers. And, I have never seen anything like this! EVER!! Most of the officers I have known are proud (as they should be) if they manage to escort a family member to a birth or death on time.

Some people have no moral conscience. And those people should definitely NOT be police officers. I'm sorry, but it's gonna take more than a simple apology to make this kind of conduct go away. Mr. Powell needs psychiatric help. And... he needs a different job. Far, far away from protecting the citizens of Dallas.

SYD

PS. H/T to Tennessee Guerilla Women for alerting to this story.

3 comments:

  1. I have a friend who went from being a midwife to working with the elderly. A wonderful experience to be there for people when they come into this life and when they move on to another life. Blessed work.

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  2. That was a horrible, sickening story, was it not? At least the wife got to see her mother before she died, but to detain the son-in-law. I guess there is no teaching compassion to some people.

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  3. I have been a neonatal ICU nurse (sometimes PICU) and found myself working with the elderly lately---. Death comes to both groups and families want to be there for each other.


    Yes, that cop needs a new job.

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