Wakanda's Wrld
This channel is primarily informative within the weird and wonderful world of healthcare. I discuss how to improve the wide world of healthcare along with up to date information. I love to have different guest from different walks of life within healthcare. For podcast guest inquires reach me at shanklindj@yahoo.com
Wakanda's Wrld
Nurse Amputates Patient's Foot for Taxidermy Display
Welcome to a journey through healthcare's strangest and most troubling corners. Today we're diving into several shocking stories that reveal the sometimes bizarre reality faced by both patients and healthcare workers in our current system.
The episode opens with the disturbing case of a Wisconsin hospice nurse who amputated a patient's foot without authorization, planning to display it in her family's taxidermy shop with a sign reading "wear your boots, kids." Despite the serious ethical violation, she received only a misdemeanor charge and completely avoided jail time, though her nursing career is over. This shocking breach of trust raises profound questions about professional boundaries and accountability in healthcare settings.
We then explore the harrowing experience of Peter Schiffman, a dedicated nursing supervisor who suffered skull fractures and multiple strokes after being attacked by a psychiatric patient, leaving him in a coma for weeks. Upon awakening, he faced not only permanent cognitive damage but also repeated denials for medical treatment through workers' compensation - a devastating example of how healthcare systems can fail the very people who serve them. Schiffman's case highlights critical failures in patient evaluation processes and workplace safety measures.
The conversation shifts to practical advice for new nurses learning to navigate 12-hour shifts, especially nighttime rotations. From managing caffeine intake responsibly to finding healthy snacks that provide sustained energy and establishing effective sleep routines, these strategies help address the physical and mental challenges that drive many qualified professionals from the field prematurely.
We conclude by examining the primary reasons healthcare workers leave the profession: inadequate staffing, insufficient compensation, toxic work environments, and sometimes unrealistic expectations from patients and families. Creating sustainable improvements requires all stakeholders - from hospital administration to families and patients - to develop greater understanding and patience with each other.
Share your experiences with healthcare challenges in the comments below, and don't forget to like and follow for more thought-provoking discussions on the weird yet wonderful world of healthcare.
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And for whatever reason, this woman decided that she wanted to take a patient's foot off unauthorized, might I add, was told by her nursing administrator, might I add and she decided to take the foot off to want it to display at her family shop for taxidermy with a sign that says wear your boots, kids, welcome in, welcome in, come. Tell a friend about your Wakanda RN. I got a lot on my mind, but let's not waste your time and let's get into it. What's up, man? How are y'all doing today? I hope everybody is having a great day. I hope you're having a fantastic start to your week. And yeah, man, let's, let's get into it.
Speaker 1:We know, here at Wakanda's World, we talk about this weird, yet wonderful world of health care, and big emphasis on weird, because with these topics we have going on today, that's exactly what's what's going on. So, first subject, man, is there's a nurse who cut off a foot for taxidermy. Yes, you heard that correctly, there is a nurse who decided to cut off a foot for taxidermy. You know we're not making this up, but guess what, man? So apparently there's a hospice nurse who amputated a patient's foot without permission and taxidermy is going to escape a jail sentence. So really, really disturbing. So just a forewarning. But here we go.
Speaker 1:A Wisconsin nurse who amputated a patient's frostbitten foot without authorization and planned to use it as a ghoulish display in her family's taxidermy shop was giving a sweetheart plea deal in which she will serve no prison time and pay just $443 in court costs. Mary Kay Brown, 40, pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of neglect, abusing a 62-year-old patient at Spring valley senior living and health care campus in 2022 for the rogue surgical procedure. The patient did pass away a few days later, though there was no definite link that was made between his death and the amputation according to a criminal complaint. So initially she was charged with intentionally causing great bodily harm in mayhem and physically abusing an elder person, but the felonies, which could have reached a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison, were dismissed after pleading guilty to lesser charges. So and the sad thing is mary here she referred to them as mummy feet.
Speaker 1:I don't know, I don't know. I'd be wondering what go through people's minds. I really, really, really do. She told nursing home colleagues that she preserved, she planned to preserve the foot and display it at a taxidermy shop owned by her family as a graphic warning about the dangers of frostbite. I mean there's other ways you could have done that. But OK, she planned to display a sign with the foot that said wear your boots, kids, according to the charges, wear your boots, kids, okay.
Speaker 1:So basically, an administrator had told the police, explicitly told Ms Mary, not to perform the amputation, despite acknowledging a doctor may have done so later, given its extreme condition, and, of course, the family member. The sister was extremely upset when she learned of the unauthorized procedure. When I found out, I pretty much lost it and quote saying her brother had a heart of gold and was a phenomenal artist. So if you're wondering, ok, is she ever going to practice again? If you're ever wondering like, oh my gosh, she's not facing a jail sentence, she's just walking the streets free, here we go.
Speaker 1:Although Brown escaped a jail sentence, she may face disciplinary proceedings from the Wisconsin Board of Nursing and is no longer allowed to work as a caregiver in any capacity, any capacity. So no matter what. So she cannot practice as a nurse. So we'll see what her bond, her Board of Nursing, eventually says. But crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy. So you, I don't, I don't. It amazes me the individuals that end up going to nursing school, going, passing all the tests, you deal with the hardships of going through a program and you take your NCLEX. You pay your fees and dues. You do all this stuff just to get your license and then, just like that, you're in a hurry to give it away. Now she's 40.
Speaker 1:I can't say that she's been doing this for many years. There's people who choose to become a nurse later in life. They have an initial career path and then they choose another career path. So it's hard for me to say that she was doing this for years or whether she was a new nurse, I don't know, but what I can say? We took an oath to do no harm and, for whatever reason, this woman decided that she wanted to take a patient's foot off unauthorized, might I add, was told by her nursing administrator, might I add and she decided to take the foot off to display at her family's shop for taxidermy with a sign that says wear your boots, kids. That sounds. That is absolutely absurd. That is absolutely absurd.
Speaker 1:I wish I was making this up, but if you want to read the New York Post, just put it in and you'll find it. Just put it in. Just put it in and you will find it and yes, y'all, this is a real thing. Now, if you're listening to this, I don't know if you ever had thoughts about taxidermy. Taxidermy is fine, just don't do it with your patients. Ok, I thought that pretty much goes without saying, but I find out there's a lot of things that I thought went without saying, but apparently it needs to go with saying, apparently, so don't do it, don't don't do it. So that's the first crazy thing, the first crazy subject we have today.
Speaker 1:So another subject we're talking about that a nurse was put into a coma by a patient on Staten Island. Yes, so, unfortunately, this did happen and we're going to talk about it. Man, we're going to talk about. I know a lot of people. I know some people who have seen this. They have discussed this already, but we're going to go ahead and discuss it here. So it was a routine day at the South Beach Psychiatric Center turned disasters for Peter Schiffman, a dedicated nursing supervisor.
Speaker 1:On September 17, 2024, a resident sudden outburst resulted in life-altering injuries for Schiffman, who was devoted his career to caring for individuals with mental health issues. Very difficult. Schiffman, 58, sustained two skull fractures and experienced three strokes that left him in a coma for weeks. Upon waking, he found himself grappling with severe memory loss, chronic pain, permanent cognitive damage and unable to recall the nightmarish incident. He doesn't recall what happened. So the patient um, what is this? The on this, jeffrey, 37, was apprehended shortly after the attack and is facing multiple charges, including secondary, second degree assault. Police reports indicate that jeffrey uh struck siffman shiftman, causing him to fall and sustain critical head injuries. Shiftman believes that jeffrey should have not been placed in a civilian psychiatric facility, expressing concern over the adequacy of care provided by the Office of Mental Health. They have lost focus on helping individuals get back into society, he said so.
Speaker 1:The incident has taken a heavy toll on Schiffman family, both emotionally and financially. His daughter launched a GoFundMe campaign to help with the mounting medical expenses and basically saying this can happen to any co-worker. If this can happen to someone like my dad, a devoted advocate and union steward, then it can happen to anyone. The campaign has raised over $15,000 with a goal of $35,000. So, despite this ordeal, he's faced hurdles in receiving necessary medical treatment through workers' compensations. His requests for vital procedures have been met with repeatable denials. He keeps saying he's in pain. He feels abandoned by a system designed to support workers like him, expressing the urgent need for reform. So, and then it goes on to talk about a few other things. You can read this more in detail elsewhere too. So, man, there's a lot, there's a lot. So I think people are starting to have a heightened awareness on the potential for violence to health care workers, and this is a very unfortunate case. So, according to this article, he was very devoted, he was highly spoken of and this man was attacked on any regular day.
Speaker 1:Now, a key point that I wanted to point out was that's why it's very important the evaluation process in terms of people that fit your particular facility. This gentleman, mr Schiffman, you know Basically said that this patient does not need to be here. He needed to be at another facility, and unfortunately, we bear the consequences of all this. This patient does not need to be here. He needed to be at another facility and unfortunately, you bear the consequences of all this. Listen, that evaluation process is so valuable. I mean, you're talking about literally moments between life and death. You're talking about moments that you know can decide outcomes very quickly and things that could get you sued. Now, the family didn't sue. You know the family, the victim did not sue because they took the patient anyway.
Speaker 1:Why did I take the patient who didn't meet criteria? It happens all the time. It happens all the time, I promise you. It happens, no matter nursing home, assisted living, um, you know hospitals in terms of being admitted to med surge when they should be maybe in ICU, or you know, you see people admit patients and need to be transferred to a high level of care. They'll take them anyway instead of sending them on divert. Like happens all the time, all day, all day, every day here in the United States. It happens and you see this is, this is here in the United States. It happens and you see this is, this is the result. We're talking about skull fractures to multiple seizures, things like that, and fortunately, this gentleman was able to wake up. Fortunately, this gentleman was able to wake up, so I'm happy for that. But just pointing that out y'all this is a big flaw within our healthcare system, big big flaw. The evaluation process is so valuable. You need to properly evaluate your patients. If you are a manager, please do not take patients for the sake of just taking patients. You need to see if they are a good fit, no matter where you are, no matter where you are. No matter what department you're in, you need to evaluate to see if they are a good fit for your facility. So that's that Another point about this story which is really, really tragic, and if you're listening, I like I like to hear your story too.
Speaker 1:Workman's comp that was denied. Workman's comp that was denied. So you would think this gentleman will qualify for workman's comp based upon what happened. But what happens? We all, if you have had talked to somebody or you've been through it personally, sometimes you got to jump through all kind of hoops just to get workman's comp. It is very difficult to get workman's comp for a lot of individuals. And then, not only that, I mean there's certain procedures that he needs and he's not able to get those because of, you know, his claims were denied. That's terrible. That is very, very sad, very, very tragic, and that makes me I'm going to touch on another subject too, because this is all very important about another subject I want to bring up later on in this episode. So, but it sounds like his daughter was able to raise a GoFundMe and they, you know, they're getting closer towards their goal.
Speaker 1:So I'm happy in that regard, but the system should not have failed him. I mean in that feeling of abandonment. You know, when you're going through hard times, you don't want to feel abandoned. He feels abandoned by the system and that is terrible. He should not feel that way, but unfortunately this is. This is where we're at in nursing healthcare. This is where we're at, at least in America. So you know what I'm saying. Let me know in the comments what you think, what you think below man, because that is absurd. That is very, very absurd. Okay, so we're going to shift gears, we're going to shift gears. So we're going to shift gears, we're going to shift gears.
Speaker 1:So I saw a new grad recently on social media and he talked about so this is, if you're a new grad, if you're new to nursing, this is for you, and if it's not, then just let's just join along, ok. So this new grad asked a question about 12 hour shifts. He asked how do you deal with 12 hour shifts? Am I supposed to feel the way that I felt he says? Because I feel like he says he goes on. He's talking about you know, he passed pills, but did he really pass pills? Things happened last night, but did they happen? So you know, it sounds like he worked night shift and that was his first three set of 12s. He did three 12 hour shifts in a row and then at the end of the video he talks about how he's going to sleep for the next 36 hours.
Speaker 1:So I will say that when I first did night shift, I remember the very first time I did night shift I was asked to stay over. I worked 311 shift and they were desperate for help and they asked could I stay over? And I said yes, but the stipulation was going to have the day off because I was just like I'm not coming in the next day. And I will tell you what, man, that delirium kicks in. I mean you can only do so much caffeine. You can only do so much caffeine. Delirium was real. And then that sleep after you get off working night shift. I mean it is something. I mean you will just be knocked out when you first do night shift. And that's how I remember. Now I remember when I first went to work meds and I did night shift 12s.
Speaker 1:You know, eventually you get as used to it as you possibly can because your body, you know, prefers to sleep at night compared to during the day. You get used to napping and you know you compensate the best way you can, but it's not for everybody. It's not for everybody. It's not for everybody. My advice for those who are working 12-hour shifts, especially night shift your body's going to want to snack. You know to eat, to maintain, you know the energy and staying up late. Find you some healthy snacks. Find you some healthy snacks, because one thing people can do while they work a night shift, they can pick up weight because they're just, they're used to eating and eating, eating and eating. You need to find you, like, some healthy nuts, some healthy fruits as well, you know. Find you some, some supplements, some vitamin supplements as well.
Speaker 1:Keep your, keep your, try to keep up as best you can with your own personal health, because it can get out of hand very, very quickly, very, very quickly, especially if you don't do like your own self scheduling and your your schedules in hand of a manager. I mean you could work literally, you could work six, twelves in a seven day period and not get a lick of overtime Like, especially as a new grad, like they will take advantage of you and have you work in some crazy shifts. So that's my advice, I mean on certain in terms of the caffeine. I mean be very, very careful. Be very, very careful on caffeine intake, because I work with nurses that have palpitations and develop some cardiac problems because I started drinking energy drinks and things like that. So, whatever you drink, please drink in moderation.
Speaker 1:But I would say, go towards finding food that can provide you energy, more so than energy drinks or caffeinated beverages, if possible. If you need to try to, you know, you know, work your way. Don't try to. Don't start off strong, like, don't get like a Celsius that has 200 milligrams of caffeine and then you're going to three hours later you're gonna drink another Celsius, you know, 400 milligrams of caffeine. You need stuff that has low caffeine, low caffeine intake, and just you know if you have to work your way up, that's one thing. Caffeine intake, and just you know. If you have to work your way up, that's one thing. But try to keep it as low as possible because you can pick up some really nasty habits.
Speaker 1:Work a night shift for sure. Um, if you have problems sleeping, a good soundboard. Um, you know water sounds. Um, beach sounds. You know wind sounds. Some people like the sound of wind chime. You know wind chimes. You know, get you a good soundboard, the sound of wind chime. You know wind chimes, you know. Get you a good soundboard, a good sound system that can have those sounds and help promote sleep, because sometimes, some days, it's hard, sometimes you will get off and it's hard for you to go to sleep. Um, but you just got to find what works best for you. Some people, when they have that day off, they stay, literally stay up all, then they sleep at night. Some people take a short nap and then they can sleep at night. So you just got to find what works best for you. So those are a few things I would give If you work night shift. Just give some advice below. I'd love to share it with that young man as well.
Speaker 1:Okay, so we're getting towards the silly side of this weird yet wonderful world of health care Wonderful world. So recently I saw a video on social media right, right, big old, big old social media, and you know it was nurses that were nursing. Content creators that, you know, did like a little TikTok video and at the beginning of the video there's a, there's a nurse that comes out of what looks like a morgue. Now, upon this recording, that video has 10 million views, 10 million. So the mission was accomplished.
Speaker 1:How far will people go to make content? I think by now, if you have paid attention to any form of content creation or seeing people make content, you've seen people basically stretch the limits of the imagination when it comes to what type of content they're willing to make. People will, they will offend cultures, they'll break boundaries, they'll, they'll cross the line, they'll, you know, or some of them will hit the gray area. Or people do all kind of things just for reviews, just for views. And so you know, um me personally, you know different cultures you don't play with, you don't miss with the deceased in any way. You don't play around with the deceased in any way.
Speaker 1:Now some people will say now the counter argument I've seen people will say it is a set, like it wasn't a real morgue, it was a set. And you know, my thing is, for me personally, I wouldn't go that far. I wouldn't go that far. I wouldn't go that far. Now, if somebody said they were acting and you know they were playing the part of a dead body. That's different. I mean, we've seen, we've seen movies where people you know they play the body, but this isn't what happened. We had somebody doing like a singing, dance type thing, and are coming out of the morgue Whatever your stance is or whatever your stance is, but for me I thought it was crazy. I thought it was. I mean, it's like this. This is crazy, this is bizarre.
Speaker 1:God, you know, I talked about it but at the same time, there's people taking up, for you're more than welcome to if you want to take up, for it was, you know, young female, um, don't know how old, but young enough. I just wouldn't think. I have somebody who has seen countless bodies within my health care career and somebody's talked to multiple patients, patients, family members, um, and have literally watched a funeral home take the patient away and you know where they're going. I can't do that. I can't do that. I can never do that, because I know what that, what that represents, and sometimes things hit different. If you have ever watched like for me, I've watched veterans that were covered up with the American flag and the funeral home picks them up and the flag is put over them. For me it's very, very touching. It's very, very touching. And you know they're going into the morgue that way. I can't, I just can't. You know, I don't think.
Speaker 1:I think people who are insensitive towards it, saying it's a set or it's a joke, or I don't think you've really experienced situations like that. I don't think you really have experienced death and the appreciation of death and what it is and what it represents. I don't think you've actually experienced that. But to each their own, I suppose. But for me, there's certain things when it comes to content, we're just going too far, okay, so let me know in the comments what you think, right. And then? So there was something else I had posted about recently is what are some of the reasons why people leave health care? Now, this may be its own separate podcast, it may be its own separate thing. We're going to talk about it very, very briefly.
Speaker 1:And those people listening to this who are in health care, thinking about health care, or maybe currently in healthcare, or maybe they're a family member somewhere, right, you fall somewhere on the spectrum. So the first reason, the most common reason that I could gather, the first reason, the number one reason why people want to leave healthcare is staffing. Is staffing Doesn't matter if you're long-term care doesn't matter. If you're med-surg, doesn't matter if you're ER. Critical care doesn't matter. If you're long-term care, it doesn't matter if you're med-surg, it doesn't matter if you're ER. Critical care doesn't matter where you are.
Speaker 1:Staffing seems to be a problem. It's because we don't have safe nursing nurse-to-patient ratios. We just don't have it. If we had that throughout all the United States, there'd be a lot less problems. Family, your family member, will be taken care of better if there's proper staff. So, my new grad, you wouldn't be as stressed out if you had proper staff. My senior nurses you wouldn't be as burnt out if you had proper staff, if you had proper staffing. So it's a problem throughout. This isn't a new thing. It's not you know nothing new under the sun, but this is a consistent thing that has been a problem. So that is the number one reason why people want to leave.
Speaker 1:Another common reason I see people say is money, and I will briefly talk about this Now. I think some people misunderstood. I think people really got into nurses business during COVID and if you know, you know so people really had a. They got the peer into what some few nurses were making during the pandemic. You know, handing out that COVID relief money, paying people all kinds of stuff, all kinds of pay, just to come work during the pandemic, and some people thought, you know, that's the norm and we're nowhere near the norm. And when it come to find out, we had doctors that were angry that a nurse was making more than a doctor.
Speaker 1:Now, I'm not here to argue schooling. I'm not here to argue responsibilities. All I'm saying is you got to be more mad at that facility than the individual because you're comparing something. You're comparing a doctor who's staff, and maybe they're a resident, maybe they're new, I don't know how long they've been there, but that's not, that's not an everyday thing where nurses are making more than doctors. Let's just clear that out there. We'll just clear the air right there.
Speaker 1:But that was a thing for a little bit during COVID. But people were thinking like, oh, nurses make a lot of money. I'm like, no, they do not. Nurses do not make good enough money. Not like they should, not like they should. So let's get that out the way, and then the top end nurses may be making decent money. But that is that. That is that no, nurses aren't paid enough. So money was a common factor.
Speaker 1:All right, let's talk about another reason why and I know this one right here is going to be very controversial is people said family members. Now, why is that? Why is there somebody? Probably not in hell could listen to listening to this. They're thinking what I got to do with it. Well, you know, sometimes let's just talk about it. Let's be honest here.
Speaker 1:Sometimes you guys can be extremely selfish and I get it. You want your, your meemaw, your papa, your son, your daughter. You want them to have the utmost care and you want them to be attended to. So as you hit the call light, you want, you want staff to be right there and guess what? They're hurting, they're stressed out. So I mean that stresses the family member out. They don't want to see their loved ones in pain. They don't want to see their loved ones sick and they want you to be a miracle worker when that nurse has another somebody else who has respiratory problems and they have to call a rapid. You got another patient who's having a reaction to blood. You got somebody else that's having continuous bladder irrigation. Or you got somebody else who literally just has somebody pass away and you're mad because your meemaw or pawpaw ain't getting a sandwich or he's thirsty and you're wondering where is everybody.
Speaker 1:I mean, I think if you guys would take the time, it would really really help if you guys would have a little bit of compassion and do a little bit of research on what actually goes on. Actually, if you would take the time to actually talk, go call during the day, go call. Call the manager, say I want to speak to the manager. Can you, can you give me an understanding of everything that goes on? Because it seems like care takes forever. It takes forever. Somebody reached a call. I call the CEO, let them know. I've been saying this for a while.
Speaker 1:Family members you need to let the, let these people know and if they're honest, if you talk to the nurse, they'll say it's staffing. Family members, the best thing you could do is tell the manager face to face or talk to the CEO face to face and say can you get these people more help? That's the best thing you can do. Tell them like family. Tell them we need more help, they need more help. If they get more help, they need more help. If they get more help, my love will be taken care of. Simple as that. Simple as that.
Speaker 1:Um, entitled patients. There's some patients not all, of course. There's some patients who it's the same, some of the same problems that a family member think that they are the only one. They can literally hear down the hallway somebody, somebody screaming and yelling. They can literally hear the bells and whistles. They can hear a whole team running down with a crash cart and yet they are the only one. You can give them every reason in the world, they're still not going to listen to you, because you should have been right then and there we got to do better. We have to do better. So we can't, we can't have that. So if you're a patient, please exercise better patience, please. It goes a long way. It really really does. It does. It really does go a long way Big time.
Speaker 1:Another reason, and speaking to managers toxic work environments. You got managers that enable bad employees, don't correct behavior whatsoever. Somebody is late all the time, they let them stay late or they lacked, they lack professionalism and don't address it, don't do anything, don't do any corrective action, or they let the work environment be negative, or they let cliques hang around or mean girls. They let them hang around and it brings the whole entire work environment down, brings the whole team down. So, managers, some of y'all, y'all need to be taking accountability, because the work environment could definitely be better if you wanted it to, if you wanted it to.
Speaker 1:But all these reasons right here, those are just some of the reasons why people leave health care. There's not all. These are just some. So the thing is, if we want health care to be a better place, we want health care to be in a better spot. All these things need to be addressed. Better place, we want healthcare to be in a better spot. All these things need to be addressed, all of them.
Speaker 1:And it takes it takes the nurses that are there. It takes management. It takes your, your CEOs of hospitals. It takes the patients themselves. It takes the family members. It takes everybody involved to make this a better process. It takes everybody to make it a better process. And what will to make it a better process? And what would really help? If people would be more understanding of one another, if people actually communicate, if people actually have a deeper understanding and a little bit of patience and a little bit of grace, it would go a long, long way. It really would.
Speaker 1:But y'all have to let me know what do y'all think?
Speaker 1:What do you think about all these topics? What do you think about everything that we went over in today's episode? I really like to know. I mean, we were, we talked about. You know. You know a woman wanting to cut off a foot for taxidermy. I mean, we're talking about. You know, a nurse that's disappointed with the system in terms of what happened with him in Staten Island with another psychotic patient. I mean, we're talking about advice for 12 hour shifts. We're talking about. You know what I'm saying, like reasons why people leave healthcare. Y'all have to. Let me know in the comments below what you think about this entire episode. Okay, but thank you for tuning in with your Wakanda RN. If you enjoyed the episode, please give me a like, a follow. You know what I'm saying. Let me know in the comments below what you think. You can always donate to the channel. It goes a long way, but I love you guys. I hope you have a blessed day wherever you're listening to, wherever you're at, and I am out.
