A Wicked Profession

Just a couple of weeks ago there was a news story on a teen who died in custody (at a boot camp sort of place for troubled kids). I can always research the exact article to be more specific, but what I want to mention is the fact that a nurse was charge in the matter along with the police officers.
I am angry! First off I doubt (I have been invloved with police incidences before) she had any say in the matter that was happening. There were several police offers trying to subdue the young man and you could see, in the video, the nurse standing off to the side. There was no way the officers were going to change what they were doing because I nurse might step in and say, "you're hurting him". But because she was present at the time she is being charged. I sometimes feel we nurses are damned if we do, damned if we don't. What do the powers that be think she should have done? That would have changed the outcome? It was a police matter, not a nursing matter.
This can be a wickedly difficult profession to be in when people do not understand what exactly our role is. IT IS NOT law enforcement!

Nursing: A Wicked Profession is the title of my upcoming book on the more human realities of the nursing profession. Due out in February 2007 I hope it opens the eyes and minds of many who thought they KNEW the profession. I also hope many who have never had any interest in nurses find time to learn something new. It will shock them.