NURSE SHOULD SHOW MORE COMPASSION

On Dec. 12, Guest Soapbox author Mark Cain lamented the use of
medical marijuana as if there is no condition serious enough to
warrant taking this drug. He then refers to a young woman who
approached the podium at a recent Town Council meeting, with a smile
on her face, that by his R.N. "trained observation" did not appear
sick enough for medical marijuana, suggesting that because she was
in medical scrubs she was unsafe at work. I can tell you, though,
what is more scary than a assuming a medical person may be on
medical marijuana and that is a registered nurse with no compassion
or empathy for the sick and dying.

During the height of the AIDS crisis, I worked at Desert Regional
Medical Center on the AIDS unit and personally witnessed the suffering.

I had a 29-year-old man gasp his last breath in front of me, in
mid-sentence. I saw patients covered in sores from head to toe and I
would never have the audacity to question their pain. Even now,
working as a prison R.N., I still would rather side on the patients'
behalf than potentially subject another human being to suffer, and
inmates are often less than truthful.

So as one medical professional to another, I would implore Mr. Cain
to rethink his position and thank God that the majority of
Californians had more compassion.

Paul Martin, R.N. Joshua Tree