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Few weeks ago, I became a father to a wonderful and beautiful daughter. She was born during game 7 of RedSox ALSC, so needless to say, she is already a RedSox fan. How lucky is she that she only had to wait one week for Red Sox's World Series win.
So, my wife and I had spent 2 days in the hospital after the big bang. Needless to say, we were extremely tired, and we were desperate to get home and sleep in our own bed. (Of course, we find out later that we still didn't get to sleep, but that's a whole another story.)
So, we signed some paperwork, rolled out of the main gate of the hospital, where we introduced our baby to the world. I had pulled up my car, and continued to place the car seat snuggly into the.....wait a minute, the straps are all tangled and I can't remember how to put them back on!
I don't know if it was the fact that I had stayed up for 72 hours
straight, or the sheer stress of carrying a 48 hour old baby, but I
couldn't figure it out for the life of me, how the straps went back
together. All the practice, dry-runs, rehearsals, training completely
slipped out of my head at the time I needed the most. Stage fright?
Yes, I choked.
I looked back at my wife. I saw her smiling, looking down at the
angel. I looked back towards the car. "This is my first job as a
father to take care of my family," I thought to myself. I pulled the
straps; they seem to snap into place, but the base seems to shake more
than I remembered. My baby deserves better than this. Boston roads
aren’t smoothest around.
That's when a few nurses were walking towards my car. "There is no
need to worry. I am the at the hospital. I have professionals all over
the place who have done this thousand times."
"Do you know how to do this? Can you help me?" I asked politely.
The nurse gave me a frightened look, like she was just picked to be the
next sacrifice. (She apparently knew what I was about to ask.) I
quickly explained to her that I wasn't sure if the seat was installed
correctly. She quickly glances at the seat, and says, "Yes, I mean, I
don't know. I am really really sorry."
I was confused. Why was she sorry? Did she really not know? I asked
again, "can you take a quick look?" She responds, "no, I can't do it
because of legal reasons. It's against the hospital policy." I was a
little stunned, and I tried once more, "No, no, no. You don't have to
do anything. I just wanted your…" "No."
Aftermath…
So, apparently, she was not allowed to help me, because if she
installed the seat and something were to happen, the hospital can be
blamed. Even if she just checked and said, "yes", the liability can
still be placed on the hospital.
Well, it turns out that I had installed the seat correctly, and
everything was fine. We brought the baby back to the house, and we are
as happy as we can be. The nurse was doing what she had to do, and it
is all a funny story to tell now, but this is one of those instances
that makes me think about where our society is headed.
One person has commented on this article.  1. Guest UserWelcome to America. You can't do anything to help anyone, lest you be sued. |
