lab tech comment

What is the name of your state? wisconsin
My 12 year old had to have a blood draw during wich she was yelling, crying and fighting she was scared..during the course of the time we where there one of the tech walked to the back and said "if she were my kid i would slap her in the face" this was loud enough for my wife to hear. After I confronted this person she admitted to saying this and her apology was a poor excuse at best. Do I have a legal recourse? What has she done wrong besides piss me off and insult my daughter?

[enjay]

Originally posted by mark theiler
What has she done wrong besides piss me off and insult my daughter?

Nothing at all. You can't sue people for giving an honest opinion, regardless of whether or not you agree with it.

[JETX]

"Do I have a legal recourse?"
*** No.

"What has she done wrong besides piss me off and insult my daughter?"
***Nothing, except state her opinion.

Your daughter is twelve years old? Time to sit down with her and explain that a little pain is not worth upsetting everyone in sight. She is almost grown, and it is time for her to act as an adult.

Oh horsecrap on any response who says the tech did nothing wrong. Unbelievable. The tech was an ass, and since she was ass enough to let you (or your wife) hear what she had to say about your child (which was totally uncool), you need to jack her ass up a notch with a few words to her and also complain to the office manager.


hmmbrdzz

I would'nt pay for the office visit!! And I would tell "big-mouth" to go back to her ethics class!! Lawsuit, no. Satisifaction, yes!
Katy

[ellencee]

So, the lab tech was rude. Big deal. Rude people are everywhere and I'll bet she didn't seem rude to the other people in the lab. Likely, they were wanting to jack-slap dad for not making his child behave and stop fighting and silently praised the lab tech for having the guts to point out the child's need for discipline.

Pay the bill; you have no legal reason not to pay.

Of course you have to pay the bill, but you need not think that that kind of a comment by a lab technician or phlebotomist or nurse (or anyone in a healthcare setting) is acceptable in ANY circumstance. It's not. Screaming and kicking and fighting is the behavior displayed by some children (and some geriatrics) when drawing blood. Outlandish behavior during lab procedures is certainly not remedied by slapping the patient across the face. The tech might feel that way, but in this case the tech got caught saying it out loud. That is just a big no-no. A manager in that type setting would have no choice but to take action of some kind if a loved one complained about that comment. Result of the complaint: Tech either says "go piss up a tree" and doesn't work phlebotomy anymore, or tech will put a smile on her face and never make such a comment like that again where a loved one can hear it. It's common courtesy, actually.



hmmbrdzz

[pele]

I have to agree with ellencee. When working as an xray tech, we found the best way to get cooperation from a child was to keep the parents out of the room. Some children act up in front of their parents because they know they can get away with that behavior. We did very well too, it did not take very long to assure a child, even a screaming one that, in most cases, nothing was going to hurt. We did have children who needed IV injections for certain procedures, for the most part they were pretty good. I never had a 12 year old carry on like this child. I must say the lab tech's comments were out of line, especially stating the child needed to be slapped. Hopefully, your daughter will not need blood taken very often, I suggest the next time you leave her to the techs, walk away, however hard it is, and let them handle it. Hopefully you can take her to another facility. I hope your daughter remains healthy and does not need blood taken again for a long time.

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

My response:

Why does this story remind me of a scene from "Airplane!"?

CAMERA CENTER
We see a crying, screaming 12 year old girl sitting on an examination table.

CNA walks up to girl, winds up, and slaps her across the face. Girl cries even louder.

CAMERA PANNING LEFT AND AWAY FROM FROM GIRL
We see a line-up of various medical professionals in the office hallway, patiently waiting to go into the examination room. These persons are holding various and sundry weapons such as chains, knives, bats, pistols, etc.

IAAL

Originally posted by I AM ALWAYS LIABLE
My response:

Why does this story remind me of a scene from "Airplane!"?

CAMERA CENTER
We see a crying, screaming 12 year old girl sitting on an examination table.

CNA walks up to girl, winds up, and slaps her across the face. Girl cries even louder.

CAMERA PANNING LEFT AND AWAY FROM FROM GIRL
We see a line-up of various medical professionals in the office hallway, patiently waiting to go into the examination room. These persons are holding various and sundry weapons such as chains, knives, bats, pistols, etc.

IAAL

=======================================

LOL ! That is a great vision with my a.m. coffee! I hope Chuckie greets the tech in the exam room for a little "child's play".


hmmbrdzz

[enjay]

Originally posted by ellencee
So, the lab tech was rude. Big deal. Rude people are everywhere and I'll bet she didn't seem rude to the other people in the lab. Likely, they were wanting to jack-slap dad for not making his child behave and stop fighting and silently praised the lab tech for having the guts to point out the child's need for discipline.

Pay the bill; you have no legal reason not to pay.

Ellencee, I think I love you. The tech shouldn't have said anything, but there's no law against it. Some people just manage to justify everything their kid does. It isn't normal for a 12 year old to cause such a disturbance and the parents should have quelled that before it pushed anyone over the edge.

Originally posted by enjay
Ellencee, I think I love you. The tech shouldn't have said anything, but there's no law against it. Some people just manage to justify everything their kid does. It isn't normal for a 12 year old to cause such a disturbance and the parents should have quelled that before it pushed anyone over the edge.

=====================

No law against it? You better think twice about that. And "not normal"? You also better think twice about that. Disturbances such as this are totally normal in all kinds of healthcare settings, and agitated patients have to be handled very carefully. It's the tech who is responsible to quell herself in the face of the worst behavior, and it's her supervisor who is responsible to push her over the edge if she can't quell herself, and it's the parent's attorney who could give this situation some legal input regardless of any action (or lack of) taken against this tech. A healthcare professional uttering comments about slapping an agitated patient can be turned into assault by any good attorney.


hmmbrdzz

[djohnson]

I agree that there might not be anything you can do legally but it was very uncalled for and unprofessional. I would report her to whoever I had to in order to make sure she was properly trained on how to deal with patients. I would not return to this medical facility. Slapping a 12 year old across the face is illegal threatening to do it makes you a coward. I think it is appalling that some of you think this is ok. What if a parent would have said that to their child. It would still be bad. There was better ways to handle. This person needs to be sent to customer service training.

[enjay]

Originally posted by hmmbrdzz
=====================

No law against it? You better think twice about that. And "not normal"? You also better think twice about that. Disturbances such as this are totally normal in all kinds of healthcare settings, and agitated patients have to be handled very carefully. It's the tech who is responsible to quell herself in the face of the worst behavior, and it's her supervisor who is responsible to push her over the edge if she can't quell herself, and it's the parent's attorney who could give this situation some legal input regardless of any action (or lack of) taken against this tech. A healthcare professional uttering comments about slapping an agitated patient can be turned into assault by any good attorney.


hmmbrdzz

Sorry, I disagree. The tech didn't threaten to slap the child, she stated that if it were her child that's how she would handle it. There is a difference. If she stated, "I'm going to slap that child," then a very weak case could be made by an attorney with nothing better to do.

Seems to me that in this case the child was "yelling, fighting, and crying," in which case the parents should have stepped in to try to calm this kid. It's human to get agitated, and the tech is human. She shouldn't have said anything. She should be reprimanded. To suggest that making a comment concerning what she would do is illegal is a huge stretch.