Yesterday afternoon my stepfather, Enrico Benemerito, passed away. It was quite sudden, and quite devastating. I believe that it was from a ruptured aneurysm, although I have yet to get a straight story.

The reason that I am posting this personal bit of news is because 1) I am quite upset over it and just want to leave some momento to him, and 2) because the nurse I spoke with in ICU was really an idiot.

Okay, maybe an idiot is a little harsh, but I was trying to get information from her about his condition, which had taken a turn for the worse, and she really had a problem expressing herself. I told her that I was an RN, so please speak freely.

Anyway, I don’t want to turn this post into an attack on the nurse, but I do think that speaking to families in a coherent and informative way should be part of training for ICU work. And that goes for physicians as well.

As I am quite upset, this is going to be a short post.

The gap in posting was due once again to travel. I was in Florida and had limited Internet access, so I had to forgo blogging. Some family crises as well. I’ll be back tomorrow.