A lack of understanding is the root of most problems. It's difficult as a specialist in any field (computer science, medicine, automotative, etc) to understand the lack of knowledge by others.
A 72 year old well appearing woman was brought in to the emergency department because she is diabetic and had recently had a blood sugar of 250. 250 is elevated but by no means constitutes an emergency. After talking with the patient and performing an exam her sons come in to the room.
I told her sons that their mother was doing well and that although her sugar was elevated that she appeared well an could go home. We were just going to wait for a urinalysis to make sure that she didn't have a UTI.
"But what about a diabetic coma?" a son says.
I stated that she was neurologically fine and that her blood sugar wasn't within a range that she would be in a coma with all her other tests being normal.
"But she is old" the son says. "She might go into a diabetic coma because of how old she is". I said if she ate regularly and took her insulin that those risks were extremely low.
"I don't think you understand" one son says. "I'm a vice president of a company" he stated for no no reason. "She could go into a coma at any minute and your not going to admit her because her sugars are normal now, we are leaving?"
He picked up his mother stating that he wasn't waiting for any tests and left the ED. I tried to stop him but my supervisors wanted to let him go. They new the patient was fine and they could be called with the results of a positive urinalysis.
I had really liked his mother and I think that he was just very worried but I still am confused about why he mentioned his vice presidency. I wish he knew how much time I think of him in additional scenarios stating he was vice president and picking people up and leaving.
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