Letter: Use the lidocaine

Published: 01-11-2023 7:00 AM

Stop being barbaric, medical professionals. Is there a shortage of lidocaine? Too many people are relating their excruciating painful outpatient experiences to me, because I am a retired nurse of a 50 year career. I was an office nurse for a surgeon for eight years, one of my many multidisciplinary jobs. We never incised, excised or did a debridement without injecting a proper dose of lidocaine and waiting the one to two minutes to be sure the area was fully anesthetized. Time restraints driven by profits, dependence on machines for care and not enough hands-on care seems to have desensitized the new physicians and nurses to empathy and compassion for their patients.

Stop these cruel practices immediately. Inject a proper dose of lidocaine to multiple areas around the nerves, if needed, and wait for it to it to take effect. When doing a debridement be sure to saturate the dry crusty areas with sterile saline before doing the debridement. I am appalled at the stories I am hearing from people, especially from the elderly. Respect for your elders is quickly disappearing. They are not yet dead, use the lidocaine properly.

Paula Lesmerises

Concord

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