Man Wrangled into Hospital Against Will

Innocent Passerby is Escorted into Hospital, Dressed in Gown, Placed in a Room

"A feeble but capable pedestrian was mistaken as sickly and escorted into the hospital against his will. He was admitted, assigned to a bed, and dressed in a hospital gown, and his clothes were shipped off site for cleaning."

This is the story told by my mother, Dottie, who was in nursing school in the 1950s in southern Ohio at the time of this incident.

Dottie begins the story by providing some background information. "While in nursing school, we worked at the hospital as part of our training. As trainees, we simply did as we were told, and left the decisions up to the doctors and managers in the hospital. An elderly man who looked feeble and slightly bent over, was out walking for a little exercise. We later learned that his name was Fred. Fred happened to be passing by our hospital and apparently took a few steps toward the emergency room double doors. A well-meaning emergency room attendant dashed out to assist the elderly man, who was unable to speak above an unclear mumble. "

"The hospital's emergency room attendant quickly escorted Fred into the hospital. You need to understand," explains Dottie, "that this was a large, inner-city, major metropolitan hospital, tending to the largest number of emergencies of any hospital within a 300 mile radius. We were short-staffed that particular day, and none of us had even one second to spare as we dashed from emergency to emergency, attempting to save the most critical patients first. Overflow emergency-room patients waited in gurneys that lined the hall."

"While Fred was being fitted into a hospital gown, he mumbled something, but the personnel dressing him had no time to sit down and listen to what he was trying to say. His clothing was placed into a labeled bag, then onto a cart which was hurried onto the laundry truck and taken to another building for laundering."