Paul's Passing Thoughts

Enough is enough. Nurses should know we need to tread very softly on politics, if at all. Why? Because everyone knows that the healthcare work environment is already toxic enough. If we can learn to respect each other and be civil at work, maybe we can add politics, but until then, I don’t recommend it.

Nurse Erica is a “nurse advocate” and successful internet influencer with impressive nursing credentials x10. I have listened to her for several months and felt like she is a voice for nurses. Before I came out of retirement to be a nurse, I owned a construction company. A fellow business owner once shared a perspective on employees with me: “Employees are like rubber bands; you stretch them till they break, and then you go out and get more rubber bands.” This is a perfect description of how the healthcare industrial complex treats nurses. Hence, I have always appreciated the work accomplished by Nurse Erica.

With that being said, her take on Alex Pretti, the ICU nurse shot by ICE officers in Minneapolis, is utterly irresponsible and turns nurse logic on its head. You can’t have it both ways. The narratives, unfortunately, coming from nurses that are Nurse Erica-like go something like this: Pretti was just strolling down the street minding his own business and saw a fellow pedestrian getting maced in the eyes by an ICE agent (for no apparent reason), and as a nurse, instinctively ran to her to administer aid. I mean, that’s just what nurses do, right? And then, the agents shot him 10 times and killed him, again, “for no apparent reason.”  

Hmmmmm.  

First, with nurses, safety first, always. Right? As nurses, we all have BLS certification. What is the first rule for administering aid according to BLS certification? Answer: “ensure the scene is safe.”  Do we really need to discuss this further? Obviously, the scene was not safe. Obviously, he broke the most basic rule of best practice.

But it gets better.

He ran into a fray with multiple law enforcement agents while armed with a pistol. Unsafe much? Furthermore, this could have led to others being harmed as well. So much for “Do no harm.” Now, Nurse Erica thinks this is perfectly ok because he possessed a Concealed Carry permit (which he was not in possession of according to state requirements). Well, I have a BLS permit, but that doesn’t mean I am going to render CPR in an unsafe environment. If I do…it’s on me.

And that’s not all.

The pistol he was carrying was a 9mm Sig Sauer P320 handgun, specifically identified as a P320 AXG Combat model, with two clips. The gun has a history of accidental misfires, and this is well known. The military has suspended its use, and it is banned from many shooting ranges. Presently, there are over 100 active lawsuits concerning the model. As a nurse, I know guns are very dangerous, and therefore, I am well versed on every one of my handguns. I have one handgun that I would never conceal-carry by virtue of its design. Specifically, the slide rack is very stiff, and if a round is in the chamber, the gun is in single action mode. For me, that’s not an acceptable risk.

According to Nurse Erica, her primary data for her assessment are videos that she watched from several different angles and speeds. Who the civilians are in the videos are unknown, what they were doing there is unknown, and the specific interactions are unknown. And the videos are of low quality. Suffice to say, regardless of her credentials, I wouldn’t want her lack of critical thinking anywhere near my labs.

However, there is one objective observation that can be ascertained. While he was on all fours, the agents were pulling on his legs and arms to get him all the way on the ground (prone). In one video, he was clearly pulling his leg away from the agent to keep his knee on the ground. In other words, in medical terms, Pretti was trying to maintain an All Fours Supported position (aka quadrupedal position), while the agents were trying to get him in the Prone anatomical position. While Nurse Erica states that he had been subdued, clearly, she should know better. Fact is, if the videos establish anything, they establish that he was resisting arrest. Even though both are misdemeanors, he would have faced board action. Sorry, but any nurse with any kind of nurse judgment does not engage in any activity that could encumber their nursing license. Least of all, resisting arrest, and a possible conviction for interfering with a police action.

Concerning Nurse Erica, what in the world could cause a nurse with her credentials to defend another nurse that displayed anti-nurse logic on that level? I can only surmise that her nurse judgment is distorted by politics. You might notice that I am arguing the point from the least common denominator of common sense, but lets be honest, he wasn’t there by happenstance. There is much information to suggest that he was there to impede law enforcement, including a statement from his father.

As a nurse, Pretti didn’t go to the scene armed with a medical tote to render aid, he arrived armed with a gun, and no identification of any kind.

You can make much of the fact that he was a nurse for your political causes, but he wasn’t there because he was a nurse; he was there for other reasons, and without nurse thinking.

Paul M. Dohse, RN