“I am not on ‘a power trip’; I am trying to keep your ass alive.”

"We're doing it with devices and medications to give you, the friends and family, time to come to terms with what's going on, that the patient is going to pass. 

Unfortunately, this is not the same as them being alive and on the path to recovery, and there are many times when the most merciful thing for us to do is not ask the patient to ‘keep on fighting’ or ‘do you everything in order to give them a chance’, but instead to tell them that you love them and that you've been grateful for the time you've had."

"If lab draws are to be drawn at 4am, I will wake you up to draw them. If the physician ordered q2 vitals and blood glucose checks, I am waking you up to get them.If you are on a low-sodium diet, no, I cannot just order you a cheeseburger.

I understand that you are having a bad time, but on a critical care floor, you need to be monitored more closely. Don't take it out on the staff. The amount of abuse I have endured is ridiculous. I am not on ‘a power trip’; I am trying to keep your ass alive."

"I'm not going to judge whatever you tell me, and if I could have gotten the info from previous notes of people you already told this to, I would much prefer to do that than speak to you. But people you speak to don't write down everything you tell them, and sometimes there's conflicting information, and I need to check with you. 

Doctors also make mistakes and miss things, like a regular human, so I am just checking. Treating me with condescension or suspicion doesn't achieve anything… With love, your pharmacist."