ER Doctor Suspended After Mocking Patient Suffering From Anxiety Attack - Sensationalist Headlines

https://www.theroot.com/er-doctor-suspended-after-mocking-patient-suffering-fro-1826901510 An emergency room physician has been suspended after a video of her mocking a patient claiming to be suffering from an anxiety attack was posted to Facebook, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. In the video, Dr. Beth Keegstra, of El Camino Hospital in Los Gatos, is seen doubting Samuel Bardwell’s account of what happened to him, saying, “You are the least sick of all the people who are here, who are dying. So you put your head up. Don’t try to tell me you can’t move. Come on. Sit up.” She tries to force Bardwell to sit up by pulling at his arm, even though he clearly tells her that he is unable to. “You want us to wheel you to tour house in a gurney?,” she asks him. Bardwell was hospitalized Monday after experiencing an anxiety attack after a basketball practice. His father, Donald, said Samuel has a history of anxiety attacks, for which he takes Klonopin. It treats seizures, panic disorder, and anxiety. Samuel had not been taking the sedative leading up the Monday anxiety attack. “She never first came in and introduced herself,” Donald said. “She never said her name, she never asked for his name, she never really examined him.” Keegstra even accused Donald and his son of coming in for drugs. And people wonder why there's so much untreated mental illness in the US.

If you have no empathy you shouldn't be a doctor

Jesus fuck, just watching that video gave me anxiety. What an awful doctor.

You know after seeing so much suffering for such a long time I'm honestly not surprised that some medical workers get like this.

That video annoyed me more than it should, it seemed like she tried her damnedest to get them to say anything so that she could kick them out. Even going as far as moving up to his face, and using her own patients to make him feel bad that she's treating him and not them right now. I can only imagine that would only scar that guy, since he might attribute his condition as a burden to the world. That it would be his fault the world is crumbling before us. Then she finally runs out of fuel and drops an F-Bomb when the guy confronts her about trying to twist their situation. What a wonderful example for our medical system!

I wish there was far more education about anxiety/depression, because the amount of stories I've heard from friends who have it is insane. Old war vet became a manager, and my friend confronted them about a bunch of bullshit they pulled. Started yelling at her, even after she started having a panic attack. Yeah, that'll fucking fix it. But an asshole manager is one thing. A doctor is a whole other ball game. Awful.

How is this person working at a hospital?

Oh, fuck off. The doctor diagnosed a panic attack, the patients agreed with the diagnosis, and then were told to leave because the ER doc can't do much for them past that point. Patients started being difficult and demanded to be given a controlled substance, to which they said they already have a prescription for. And the article is trying to spin this into a story about the doctor being racist towards them? Give me a fucking break. Why do you think you wait 4~8 hours to see a doctor in the emergency room? It's not uncommon for one doctor to be in charge of 30+ patients at a given time. Doctors tell stories of how people CODE and DIE while trying to consult these types of difficult patients.

You can sympathize with the doctor, but they still shouldn't act like this.

while thats true, the real solution to these issues is to look at why these things keep happening. which is primarily because of not enough doctors, at least in the US. while we are running out of doctors, medical schools are becoming harder and harder to get into, to the point of being comically random at this point. I know people my senior who had 4.0 GPAs (one of which was dual majoring in engineering and premed), near perfect MCATS, and 4 years of lab research experience, and they get rejected. and then if you do get in, the workload then (and frankly, student loans for med school) is so high that you put yourself in a pit. and after that you often have 12+ hour workdays, with overtime on top of that. you are essentially not allowed to report having stress or depression, since the people you work with are also doctors, and will find out if you are going to therapy or anything. You will be dubbed "weak" and unfit to work. theres a reason why doctors commiting suicide is so common I dont think there is ever a true excuse for human beings to jerks to each other, but when you have to go through this level of hell for years on end, what do you expect will happen?

They should have acted more professional but the patient was being more of a victim then he actually was.

Bardwell brought his son to the emergency room, where they encountered Dr. Beth Keegstra, who was tasked with treating Samuel. "She never first came in and introduced herself," Bardwell said. "She never said her name, she never asked for his name, she never really examined him." Bardwell said that Keegstra accused them of coming in for drugs, and tried to get them to leave. "She said, 'I know why you people are here, you people who come here for drugs,' and I said 'What do you mean you people?'" Bardwell said. "She was rambling on so angrily that's why I pulled out my phone." https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Los-Gatos-El-Camino-Hospital-doctor-viral-video-13000026.php No they didn't. Stop making shit up so you can feel like you're the one in the right.

Spend a day in the emergency ward man. It's unprofessional, and everybody knows it - they also know how fucked up hospital working conditions can be. To you, it's a doctor getting pissed at a patient. To the hospital staff, it's a drug seeker that has been told to leave, and is being condescending towards the doctor who is trying to get to the huge lineup of patients waiting for them.

The only thing that gives me pause about this video is him saying he can't get up, he can't move, he can't breathe, despite doing all of those things. He's speaking calmly with perfect O2 sat and claiming that he can't inhale and has "labored breathing" which is bullshit, then says he can't lift his arms up even though when she grabs him, he forcefully yanks his arm away and can clearly move. She's being really unprofessional and rude but in the ER that's kind of standard practice tbh, especially when someone comes in for a panic attack and then calmly argues and acts snide about how they "can't move" while yanking their arms around. imo this is like a 50/50 as to whether or not the guy was full of shit.

I watched a patient die in front of me a few nights ago. Guy seized up, coded, and was gone in about 30 seconds.

Is a panic attack in and of itself necessarily something to go to the ER for if the person has a history of them? Shouldn't they just go to a GP if their prescription expired?

Usually panic attacks are accompanied by an underlying condition, although sometimes it's just hereditary or the result of very stressful events. I so happen to have anxiety alongside depression and have experienced many panic attacks as a result. It's not so important that he can or can't do what the doctor wants him to do, but rather that he feels like he can't carry out those basic functions. Now apply this same feeling to every aspect of his life. It all depends on how it affects your daily life. Sometimes just the fear of having another panic attack can prevent someone from doing their daily activities. If this is the case then maybe they can't see a GP in a timely manner or don't have access to one.

why is this being spun as racist? what was racist about it?

I think the doctor said something like "You people always want this/ come for this" and the patient is like "What do you mean you people?"

The doctor was an ass, but I agree. The guy said he couldn't breathe yet he was speaking normally and as the doctor said his O2 sats were 100%. As a doctor I would know right there that the truth isn't being told by the patient

I think this is fairly hard to judge considering we don't have video from the beginning of their conversation - she says he's changed his story, and we literally can't know from this clip to what extent this patient might've been wasting her time completely.

It's a really tough call. Some people have panic attacks and know they're just panic attacks that suck, but will go away on their own. They're harsh, but not severe enough to warrant a trip to the hospital. Other people have panic attacks that are so bad, a trip to the ER feels like the only thing that can help. Story time to put that in perspective. When I have an attack bad enough, I start stuttering like something is wrong with my brain, my muscles tense up and my entire body feels like it's collapsing on itself, I'm shaking uncontrollable, and I'm throwing up to the point of becoming dangerously dehydrated. To me, the moment the attack starts I seriously feel like death itself is squeezing the fucking life out of me and every breath I manage to take is some kind of miracle if I'm not hyperventilating. So, I end up at the ER because it's difficult to tell if it's just a horrible, debilitating panic attack, or something is seriously wrong and threatening my life. The first time it happened I was at the ER for a little over a day because I couldn't walk, I couldn't speak, and I was so dehydrated they needed to keep me on fluids for a long ass time. All because of a panic attack. It sucks, especially since you can't predict when it might happen. It just does. I've even been woken up from a sound sleep by an attack.