HOUSTON, TX – Dr. Henry Witherspoon, a prominent general surgeon in the Houston area, began foaming at the mouth in anger, after an X-ray machine was not immediately available 2.3 seconds after he requested an X-ray in the operating room.
According to eyewitnesses, a needle count was performed at the end of the operation and one needle came up missing. As per hospital protocol, a flat panel X-ray was ordered. A long 2.3 seconds passed before Dr. Witherspoon became irate that the X-ray machine was not present yet.
“Where is X-ray!! I called for them to be here!” screamed Dr. Witherspoon. Foam was reported to be actually oozing out the side of his surgical mask.
X-ray tech Rose McDonald received the call at 3:15 p.m. to come to operating room 13. McDonald quickly finished processing her last film and left the medicine ward 48 seconds later after putting down the phone.
She pushed her 500-lb. X-ray machine over 400 yards and 3 floors with extreme precision avoiding multiple gurneys, IV poles, and doctors texting. 2 minutes and 24 seconds later, after grabbing a mask and head cover en route, she pushed her machine through the doors of operating room 13.
“Finally X-ray is here! About damn time!” fired off Dr. Witherspoon with foam pouring out of his facemask. “I called for you eons ago!”
McDonald didn’t even bat an eye. She told GomerBlog that this is all too routine. “This happens at least once a day no matter where we go. If it isn’t the OR complaining, it is the ICU. If it isn’t the ICU, it is the ER. I don’t think people realize this 500-lb. machine doesn’t just appear magically out of the blue.”
“I read an anesthesia article last week that made me laugh,” said McDonald. “It talked about how everybody always calls anesthesia providers, anesthesia. I can relate. My name around here is X-ray, or better yet, Finally X-ray is here!”
did they find the needle?
This is the very reason that a good operating room will have x-ray equipment stored in the OR itself. I believe that this surgeon has had to wait a while for intra-operative X-ray before this incident and was probably fed up with always having to “wait” or have his patient wait and be charges for every minute of anesthetic and O.R. time.
I used to stick up for myself. I have dodged instruments and other things. Every time I demanded an apology and got it. Many times we would become better workers with mutual respect. I was often asked to eat in the physicians dining room. If they can get your goat they will. I didn’t take their sheet. I would have them call me at home to help with cases at night. Stand your ground. As I would say, you’re no smarter than me you just have knowledge in a different area.
Remind them that it says MD or DO after their name and not GOD
I guess the X-ray ninja is off that day, we all know every departments has one.
Typical surgeon…
I had an Orthopedic Surgeon who routinely screamed, cussed, and generally made an idiot out of himself everytime I was in surgery with him. Then, he would come down to the Radiology Department to review the films we had taken, and apologize for being such a pain in the you know what. Guess surgeons are just human like the rest of us, but I did appreciate the fact that he was willing to admit it.
lol yes Jess. I just tell them sorry, my teleportation device isn’t working today
Brandi Layton sound familiar?
This is too funny…but oh so true!!
Marty Lisek Phelps Stephanie Corbin
I had a dr find me giving report in a patients room and demand to know if I had started giving another pt oral contrast for a ct- that he had just put in the order for in the computer right before he found me. He was not happy to find out that I was not mentally linked to the computer and did not carry around a large cup of IV contrast in my pocket :(