Unfiltered Story #228881

At the age of twelve or so, I had to have my hepatitis vaccinations done for middle school enrolment. Because we moved cross-country in the middle of the vaccination series, I didn’t get the second shot on time. So, my new GP wanted to make sure that the initial vaccination was still active and that we didn’t need to start over, by doing a blood draw.

Under the supervision of the head nurse, a new nurse who had just joined the staff was assigned to draw the samples. I was nervous, having never had a blood test done before beyond a finger-prick test, but they reassured me it would be fine. The nurse tried both of my arms, failing to draw blood repeatedly, and jabbed my arm so hard at one point that it bruised pretty much immediately.

Now terrified of these two women, they made me sit on the exam table crying while they decided what to do. They called in a third nurse, who threatened to get the GP to do the blood draw if I wouldn’t calm down. They then left the room while my mom tried to help me relax. I complained, like 12-year-olds do, that I just wanted to go home, and that my arm really hurt. She did her best to make me feel better, but said we needed to get the blood test done and over with, because the vaccinations were so important.

The three nurses then came back, and the head nurse came over and put my arm into the manual blood pressure cuff. When I’d come in to begin with, they’d used an automatic machine, so I thought it was a little strange, but didn’t comment. She told me to lie back and relax, and said “I’m just going to check your blood pressure and see if we can still do the blood draw.” She then started pumping. I thought for a moment that the cuff was getting awfully tight, but before I could say anything, the other two nurses jumped on me and pinned my shoulders and legs to the exam table. The head nurse then stuck a needle in my arm, and drew the blood while I freaked out.

When she was finished, she stuck a wad of cotton ball over the needle marks and made a remark that “that wouldn’t have been so bad if [I] were a little more mature.”

My mom and I were both absolutely gobsmacked. Unfortunately, insurance being what it is, I continued to see the GP at that same practice for years to come. They did, however, hire better trained nurses, so I never had such a dramatic blood draw experience again.