Small wonder people are reluctant to get involved

[draconis]

This weekend, Rhi and I were on our way to get a bite to eat at a European-style cafe we're fond of. It was a beautiful (if chilly) spring morning.

Then we come to a spot where traffic has stopped in both directions, and we see a small crowd of people attempting to manhandle one very large gentleman across the street. It shouldn't have made any difference that the individual was black and that the group was almost entirely white, but this is still the South, and such things are unfortunately still relevant.

Rhi was driving, and I asked her to pull over. I wasn't sure what was going on, but clearly something was amiss.

This is when we noticed that they were dragging the gentleman towards the Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital. Until this point, I honestly wasn't sure we didn't have some sort of assault going on.

Okay, at this point we had pretty good odds that the individual was an escaped patient who didn't want to go back in -- but this was a LARGE gentleman, and if he'd turned violent most of the people around him would have been flattened. Most of them couldn't have dealt with a single blow from this guy.

I hopped out of the car and went over, getting there just about the time they put him face-down in the grass by the sidewalk, and 6 of them are literally sitting on top of him to hold him down. I walked up behind an older gentleman standing there, and asked softly if everything was all right, and was anyone in need of assistance?

Before he can even reply, this short redheaded woman with a major attitude comes over and orders me to move along. I gave her the typical hands-open conciliatory gesture and let her know that I had just stopped to see if everything was all right, and to offer my assistance if it was needed. She repeated her order that I'll have to move along, right now, that this is a confidential patient matter and I couldn't be there.

I've never cared for officious pricks. I found myself unable to resist (although admittedly, I didn't try as hard as I might've) pointing out to her that this was a public sidewalk, and that any confidentiality issues were moot in light of the fact that this was happening in public. Her response to this was to inform me that the Vanderbilt Police had already been called, and when they got there they would make me move along.

Those of you who know me, know that I do not respond well to threats... but I was good, I stayed calm, and again repeated that I had only stopped to see if assistance was needed. I was in the process of saying that I would go since my help was clearly neither needed nor welcomed, when the gentleman I'd originally approached spoke for the first time, thanked me for my efforts, and wished me a good day.

People complain that no one wants to get involved any more, that everyone always looks the other way when they see something happening. When the people you're trying to help give responses like this, is it any wonder that no one wants to get involved?

Comments

[miintikwa.livejournal.com]

Good grief.

You are an awesome person for having tried to help. And shame on them for treating you so poorly.

[jcbdragon.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

As I've said elsewhere, I don't consider this to be particularly awesome on my part, it was just the right thing to do.

[miintikwa.livejournal.com]

Yes, but so many people would've driven by.

[raine-wynd.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, in that sort of situation, the legal liability for the hospital is huge. On that hand, I totally get her response, but the way she could have said it needed work.

{{hugs}} Have I mentioned lately you are much with the awesome?

[jcbdragon.livejournal.com]

Oh, I can fully understand her needing to minimize the damage -- HIPAA and PHI issues are a major portion of my daily job. But quite frankly, a crowd of people bodily dragging someone across 5 lanes of traffic, when the person being dragged is clearly resisting them, means her illusions of confidentiality hold less water than a bucket made of fancy lace. So long as I never obtained the person's name and what he was being treated for, nothing is violated that hasn't already been reduced to tatters anyway.

Looking back at it, she was majorly stressing over the incident, and needed some way to re-establish control. She perceived me as a threat to her control of the situation, and felt pressured to get me out of there ASAP, and the only way she knew to do that was to treat me as a subordinate who was required to follow her orders. When I didn't immediately slide into the required role, she felt her control slipping still further and invoked the threat of outside force to "bring me to heel."

I get the impression that she was (at least technically) "in charge" of whatever group/program was dealing with that patient that day, and a problem with him had come up, and they'd lost control of him (in front of lots of witnesses), all on her watch. This placed her in a stressful, high-pressure situation... and she wasn't up to it.

Or maybe she was just a bitch. ::G::

{{hugs}} Have I mentioned lately you are much with the awesome?

{{{hugs}}} thank you... but I'm not sure I see what was all that awesome about this. I just saw a situation where I could help, and offered to do so. To me, that's just being neighborly. ::S::

[devohoneybee.livejournal.com]

As raine wind says, the hospital has to minimize the damage to confidentiality, but that in NO way rules out treating your offer with courtesy. Also, if you have a potentially agitated patient? The LAST thing you want is voices and attitudes around that person conveying impatience, annoyance, disrespect, and so on -- it just feeds the problem. You'd think "trained professionals" would know that. *grrrr*

[jcbdragon.livejournal.com]

Also, if you have a potentially agitated patient? The LAST thing you want is voices and attitudes around that person conveying impatience, annoyance, disrespect, and so on -- it just feeds the problem.

Yes, it does -- which is why I was careful to keep my voice low, smooth, and calm... even when I was feeling like slipping into that very cold, very precise, very polite speech pattern that says, "Congratulations, you've managed to walk into the center a mine field -- watch your step on the way out!"

[irishkate.livejournal.com]

People like you and the gentlemen who thanked you for attempting to assist are what make society worth while.