Compassionate Act Admirable

Dear Ann Landers: Here’s another one for your unusual-occurrences file. I didn’t believe it when I read it in the paper, so I checked, and it’s true.

A nurse at a hospital in Memphis was disciplined because she tried to resuscitate a monkey. The monkey was brought in by its distraught owner, who pleaded for help. The nurse decided she had to do whatever possible to save the pet. She put a straw in the monkey’s mouth and worked feverishly to restore breathing. Unfortunately, the effort failed.

“I simply couldn’t turn her away and not try to help the animal,” said the nurse. The administrator, however, was not very sympathetic. “Any reasonable person would have used better judgment,” he said.

What do you think about this, Ann Landers? - Ambivalent in Florida

Dear Florida: The monkey should have been taken to a veterinarian, but people are emotional rather than reasonable when their pets are in crises. I admire the nurse’s compassion, however, and hope she wasn’t reprimanded too harshly.

While we’re in the hospital, let’s hear from a nurse who has written a provocative letter:

Dear Ann Landers: I’d like to comment on the letter from “Southern Florida,” who said she couldn’t tell the nurses from the cleaning crew at her local hospital.

What goes on in most hospitals reflects reality. The caps we once wore have been abandoned because they proved cumbersome around hanging IV bottles and tubing. Many of us find it practical to wear hospital-provided scrub suits. We wear white running shoes rather than the traditional nursing footwear of the past because that is what we do all day - run for 12 hours, often with no breaks.

The fact that a patient cannot make out the status of a caregiver by looking at the name tag is intentional. Recently, nurses in Northern California filed a lawsuit against their hospital because the institution would not allow them to identify themselves as registered nurses on their name tags. It seems the hospital did not want patients to notice if the person taking care of them was a registered nurse or a nursing assistant. Interesting? - A Professional in California

Dear Professional: You have made a fairly strong case against the hospital administration in Northern California. Does anyone out there want to comment?

Dear Ann Landers: I have been enjoying your columns on how couples met because they speak to my generation. My husband and I met at college. At first, we were just good friends. Then, we developed a deepening respect and finally love.

We selected the church and invited the guests. But when we applied for the license, we discovered that our state required permission from a parent or guardian for minors under 21. We were only 20. My mother was happy to sign for me, but Earl’s mother was dead and his father was listed among the missing from the war. Fortunately, one of my girlfriends was the daughter of a judge. He had the solution. He drew up adoption papers so that my mother became Earl’s legal mother, and she gave permission for him to marry me. So - I married my mother’s son.

The honeymoon never ended. It went on for 38 years, and then Earl suffered a fatal stroke. I still miss him. - Jackie in Mexico, Mo.

Dear Jackie: Your girlfriend’s father, the judge, sounds like a very innovative man. His ingenuity really saved the day. Thank you for a most unusual story.