5 West Nursing

If there’s one thing that makes me really mad, it’s reading stories like this one which I came across while browsing the local newspaper’s website. The article talks about a 26 year old ex-marine who killed a 27-y/o female while he was driving under the influence. You can read the rest of the story by clicking on the link.

The sad part of this story was the fact that the 27 year old was a mother of two. The children also also lost their father after he died of a heart attack in the months after her death. Now the children are under the care of the grandmother… orphans, because of a string of events caused by a 26 year old ex-marine who is not man enough to take the responsibility of his actions, instead blaming “post traumatic stress” for this drinking problem. That infuriates me. I couldn’t agree more with Mr. Common Sense’s comment. Yes, nobody cares what you did in the past… what matters is the present. Like he said, who cares if you’re an ex-marine… you make a stupid decision, nothing else matters.

As an ICU nurse I see this all the time. Most of the time I get patients who are victims of their own doing. I’ve taken care of patients who ended up in our unit because of driving under the influence, and believe me, its tough taking care of patients like that, not because they are difficult, but because of the fact that they could have severly injured or killed someone while driving intoxicated. That someone could be one of your own.

I’m sure you don’t drink and drive. But if you do, just make sure you don’t hurt or kill someone except yourself. Hey, do us all a favor and just drive off a cliff!