Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
Aug
22
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
“…I Keep Having Bowel Come At Me…”
“What are you doing to me up there? I keep having bowel come at me!” -OB to Anesthesiologist during a repeat cesarean on a very anxious mother. The “joke” had to be explained, by others, stating it was nothing that anyone, especially the mother was doing.
There are 18 comments to this post.
The Deranged Housewife had this to say,
Aug 22, 2010 @ 5:16 am (Quote)
Well, thanks for letting us know. I suppose the patient had to ask several times before someone actually listened to her?
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OY! Although it might be “funny” it certainly isn’t funny for the patient..especially if she’s already scared. fortunately, when I was in for my c-section my doctor actually admonished the staff that was in the OR for talking about what they were going to be doing that weekend. She looked at everyone and said “Lets all focus on what we are doing here please, your weekend can be discussed at a later time” I wanted to kiss her. For all intents and purposes, even though I didn’t want it, it was a very humane c-section and my doctor was an excellent surgeon, and very sensitive to the fact that I was terrified and deeply upset that we had to go ahead with the c-section.
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Cmat Reply:
August 22nd, 2010 at 9:28 am (Quote)
I like your doc’s comment. It would bother me that they’re chit chatting while working on my insides!
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Lisa in Texas Reply:
August 22nd, 2010 at 11:50 am (Quote)
I just had my first c-section 17 days ago after having 4 homebirths before that. I was surprised to hear the nurses and the anestesiologists talking about a recent vacation one of them had taken but in hindsight it was only while they were waiting for the surgeon to arrive. And it didn’t bother me at all…just surprised me.
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doc,
Think before you talk.
Treat mom with total respect and dignity, just like you expect others to treat you.
You are not the main character in this scene, mom is.
You are more educated, not smarter. There’s a difference.
You are assisting, not running the show.
In essence, you are hired help. Act like it.
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Can someone explain the “joke” to me? I don’t get it.
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Kayla Reply:
August 22nd, 2010 at 10:41 am (Quote)
Thought I was the only one.. I don’t get the “joke”
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Alyson Miers Reply:
August 22nd, 2010 at 10:48 am (Quote)
I think it’s supposed to be an in-joke between the OB and the anesthesiologist and the rest of us aren’t supposed to understand it. Sounds like a “you had to be there at some point in the past” deal.
Which does not make it acceptable in front of a mom who’s wide awake and terrified while getting her belly cut open on a repeat basis.
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Jennifer B. Reply:
August 22nd, 2010 at 1:23 pm (Quote)
Imagine changing your child’s diaper and you call out to your spouse who is at the other side of the room and say “What did you feed this child?!” or “Hey, quit blowing raspberries on her belly, you make her crap stink!” or something stupid like that… same thing. Just a bit of light humor to make an unpleasant situation funny… the problem is that it is totally out of place in the operating room if the patient is awake.
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Doc, hello!!! If mom is anxious, you don’t do dumb stuff like this. It makes her more anxious! I don’t think it is possible to teach bedside manner in med school, so maybe we should invent a vaccine for it. Docs are all about vaccines, so they should be more than willing to take it. 
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At a friend’s C section, her doctor chatted about her previous kids (who he delivered) and how they were, congradulated her on her second oldest’s new martial arts belt, and told her about how his granddaughter was born on that day and “Its a great day to be born, you know.”
She says she actually felt a little guilty for “keeping” the doc from his grandkid’s birth, and the OB told her that “Its fine. Her part isn’t until Saturday, and if you’ll let me, I’m sure she’d love to see a pic of her “Birthday Buddy”)
I’m not sure what her OB would have to say about this “joke” but I’m sure he would be pretty ticked off. He is my GYN and one of his favorite subjects of conversation is that the act of giving birth should be dignified, since its (In his opinion) the moment that one woman goes from being a single life, to being two lives. (And no, I have no clue why he thinks that a baby inside a mother is the same life AS the mother, but he does.)
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Nicholas Fogelson had this to say,
Aug 25, 2010 @ 7:48 am (Quote)
not a joke, misunderstood as so by the patient.
When closing the abdomen, there is too much muscle tone the bowel may squeeze up through the incision, which makes it difficult/dangerous to close the incision. Communicating that to the anesthesiologist so he/she can do what it needed to get some more muscle relaxation is quite appropriate and in the patient’s best interest.
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Krista Reply:
September 11th, 2010 at 6:44 pm (Quote)
Fair enough. I don’t think I personally would have been bothered by the comment, but I definitely think it could have been worded differently in order to not sound like the mother was deficating all over the place. When I read the quote (without the explanation of the situation), I assumed it was a vaginal birth. I know that’s something a lot of moms are shy about. Even with a CS, that would be something that would freak out a lot of moms. Definitely sounds like something that should be communicated, but delivery is everything in a highly emotional situation. I’m also assuming that it was said with a light tone or else Mama probably wouldn’t have taken it as a joke. I may be wrong, but that’s my guess. It also sounds like a joke.
If you weren’t a doctor you probably wouldn’t know that. Imagine you were getting a vasectomy and the doc said something similar. You’d probably be freaked out as well.
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Add Your Comment.
Poor OP! Stupid, insensitive doc! You know I can almost understand when a regular doc makes ‘doctor only’ jokes in an OR, they are used to their patients being out. (Almost). But an OBs patients are usually awake and such humor is completely out of place. I’m glad someone was there to explain to the worried mother it was just the doctor being an insensitive jerk.
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