Content Warning: Discussions of Arachnophobia and Being Triggered
Whether or not we want to admit it, we’re all afraid of something. While it’s perfectly reasonable for us to be triggered by something and to even have a reaction, there’s a time and a place for having such a reaction.
If something about our workplace triggers us, that might be a sign that either the job is not right for us or that we need therapy to address it, pointed out the “Am I the A**hole?” (AITAH) subReddit.
While getting an MRI, Redditor No_Hyena8479 surprised one of the nurses by having a spider tattoo that terrified her, due to the nurse’s arachnophobia.
But when the nurse wasn’t able to treat her because of the tattoo and even caused her additional discomfort, the Original Poster (OP) wondered if she should file a complaint to help other future patients.
She asked the sub:
“WIBTA (Would I be the a**hole) if I complained about my healthcare professional for running out of my room screaming over my tattoo?”
The OP shocked a nurse, who had arachnophobia, with her spider tattoo.
“A few days ago, I had an MRI-guided biopsy.”
“While I was inside the MRI machine, one of my health care professionals came into the room and then ran screaming out of the room because she has arachnophobia.”
“I have an unrealistic tattoo of a tarantula on my arm. To be clear, it’s VERY unrealistic, albeit large.”
“This caused a delay in my procedure. There was an unrelated second delay that kept me in the machine for almost 90 minutes.”
“I was face down, with both my arms over my head. After the procedure, both of my arms were painfully asleep.”
“After the biopsy, I had to turn over to have them dress my incision site.”
The nurse was so fearful, she wasn’t able to medically assist the OP.
“One nurse held pressure on my incision and the arachnophobic nurse didn’t help me turn over even though she was told to twice.”
“I was able to turn myself, but once I was about halfway turned, the nurse holding pressure on my incision could no longer reach it and she had to tell the other nurse three times to ‘grab it’ so I could finish rolling over.”
“I was extremely uncomfortable holding the position waiting for the nurse to compose herself enough to grab my bleeding incision.”
“The entire time the one nurse was dressing my incision, the other one just stood in the corner. I’m not sure if she was supposed to be doing anything else.”
“I was frustrated the day of the procedure but I didn’t address it, thanked them for their help, and went on my way.”
The OP wondered if she should say anything about the visit.
“Today I got an email from the hospital asking how the visit went.”
“I have had jobs in the past that were highly dependent on my customer surveys.”
“I am generally very happy with my care at this facility.”
“I don’t have any phobias so I don’t know how hard of a struggle this is, and I don’t know how much grace should be offered here.”
“WIBTA if I am honest about what happened and leave an accurate review?”
Fellow Redditors weighed in:
- NTA: Not the A**hole
- YTA: You’re the A**hole
- ESH: Everybody Sucks Here
- NAH: No A**holes Here
Some urged the OP to report the nurse for the safety of future patients.
“They need the feedback. If the original nurse couldn’t do her job, she should’ve gotten somebody else in there as soon as possible.” – Edithasburglar
“This is one of those feedback surveys where being completely honest is in the best interest of the medical facility. Because they need to know exactly how bad this nurse’s fear of spiders is, to the point she can’t do her job over a tattoo.”
“This could have turned out so much worse for OP because this nurse couldn’t do her job and didn’t get someone to come cover her.” – RebeccaMcCullen
“I was having a sonogram of a lump in my breast a few years ago and the specialist let the med student have a try. As she was looking at the marked area, a big ol spider (about the size of a quarter) was very visibly walking across the machine.”
“Did she scream? Yes, she did. But then she took a breath and apologized and also said that if the spider starts moving towards her instead of away, she’s going to need to step out. No harm, no foul.”
“The nurse’s reaction was absolutely ridiculous and 100% affected patient care. She should’ve gotten someone else to fill her spot.” – Conscious_Cut7102
“The feedback is important for everyone’s safety and care. If she couldn’t do her job because of her phobia, someone else should’ve stepped in right away. It’s about making sure patients get the care they need without unnecessary delays.” – raebunnii07
“It’s one of the first things you’re taught, you never put yourself in a situation where your inability to do the job, for whatever reason puts the patient in danger. What if that patient crashed?”
“I can kind of understand that usually it’s not a phobia that would affect her job but the fact that the moment she realized it was going to in this situation she didn’t go straight to the nurse in charge and ask to be swapped shows a very serious error in judgment.”
“(And if she did and was sent back in then there’s bigger problems which still needs reporting!)” – Individual_Bat_378
“NTA.”
“There is zero reason that they are understaffed enough that she couldn’t have switched with another assistant, which would have avoided all the conflict after the first instance.”
“I recognize the place will come down on the employee, but honestly, she needs to get some therapy or something anyway and maybe they can help her find the resources for that. She has no business in this career if her hangups are going to cause that much turmoil.” – oxPsychoticHottie
Others agreed and reassured the OP that reporting the incident was the right thing to do.
“I used to do all kinds of surveys for a job I worked. It was crazy to me how many people would have genuinely bad experiences, but wouldn’t want to say anything.”
“They would be big mad on the phone and almost hang up till I hit them with the ‘ole ‘experiences just like yours is exactly the kind of thing this company is trying to fix. If nobody gave us bad reviews then they don’t know to change. We need people just like you, sounding the alarm that things aren’t perfect.'” – Ricky_Rollin
“I hate to think what’d happen if she got transferred to the ER or ICU and had a meltdown. I’ve seen spiders depicted on clothes and in jewelry, so there’s a good chance she’ll run into it again.”
“Also, phobias can be treated, especially if they’re very specific ones like this. It’s harder with broader categories like agoraphobia. So I’ve read, anyway.”
“There’s a good chance the other nurses, aides, and allied health professionals have already complained about her. Management tends to take outside feedback more seriously, though.” – 2PlasticLobsters
“They need to know what happened. What if you’d been bleeding out and she took off screaming out of the room because of a cartoon spider on your arm?” – BeachinLife1
“I do direct patient care daily, I’ve had patients say rude racist things to me, I’ve had patients ask to touch my boobs, and I do not work in an ER…”
“I would never abandon any of those patients like that. At the very least, she should have been professional and calmly excused herself to find a second staff member to help.” – cccaban79
“NTA. Please leave an accurate review.”
“Instead of a coworker getting told that they’re not handling things correctly, a patient pointing out exactly what happened is far more likely to get listened to…”
“Patient satisfaction surveys make a difference these days.”
“Now sometimes this goes the wrong way, and people file complaints over things that make ZERO sense.”
“But this impacted your care in a significant manner and could have actually caused you more serious problems, given how long you had to lay there in that position.” – KrofftSurvivor
“I am a healthcare worker and thus am usually biased to give other HCWs the benefit of the doubt.”
“This is unhinged and deserves complaint. She was unable to do her job. If she can’t get over herself and find a replacement or calm down, she needs to find a new career.” – FluffyMcFlufferFace
Not only was the subReddit shocked by how the nurse and her coworkers handled the situation, but they could only imagine what might have happened if the OP were in even worse medical condition and then needed medical assistance from this nurse who was triggered by her tattoo.
It was clear that the OP needed to file a report, not even necessarily to get the nurse in trouble but to get the nurse the help that she needed so that she could properly care for patients in the future and so she wouldn’t be triggered like this in the future when an incident like this could really make a difference, for the worse.