We rarely discharge patients during our float nights, but a few nights ago I was told by a nurse to do one. The patient had an uncomplicated NSVD with normal postpartum course in the hospital; the only thing different about her is that she is a jail patient and has just come back from a court appointment. For the past 2 nights, I have been seeing this patient, with cuffs on her feet tied to the bed rail. She always smiled at me when I walked into her room, and grateful of the time that she was having with her newborn. I carefully selected my words when talking to her to avoid saying something inappropriate, but sometimes words just slipped out of my mouth:
"Try to walk as much as possible tomorrow." (What walk? With these chains?)
"Ms. K, it looks like you are doing well so we'll send you hom- (wait a second..) we'll discharge you from the hospital tomorrow."
"What kind of contraception are you planning to use?" (oops~ she probably has no need for that now.)
The patient was in the detention room when I examined her for discharge. She was crying the whole time and asked me repeatedly if she could see her baby one more time. I sympathized her, but I don't know her story enough to judge.
"Why did what you have done if you knew your consequences today?"
(早知今日, 何必當初)
*NSVD - Normal Spontaneous Vaginal Delivery
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