Many of you are aware that “The View’s” Joy Behar (who I generally like) and her sidekick Michelle Collins are having trouble speaking due to their feet being firmly planted in their mouths for mocking Kelly Johnson, a valedictorian RN and Miss Colorado. Nurse Johnson chose, as her talent in last Sunday’s Miss America contest, to give a passionate monologue about her caring for a patient with Alzheimer’s while dressed in her purple scrubs with a stethoscope draped over her neck.
Michelle Collins explained: “She came out in a nurse's uniform and basically read her emails out loud and shockingly did not win."
And very unwisely, Joy Behar elected to incredulously add: “Why does she have a doctor’s stethoscope on?”
(As a physician who has routinely and repeatedly relied on the training, experience, wisdom and professionalism of countless nurses – it gives me the heebie-jeebies to even type that.)
Well, the reaction from both nurses and the rest of us (and that means EVERY ONE OF US) who rely on nurses was swift and fierce. I think the statement by the American Nurses Association President, Pamela F. Cipriano, addresses the issue the best:
Each and every day, the nation’s 3.4 million registered nurses provide expert, high-quality and compassionate care, as well as dedicated leadership from the bedside to the boardroom. We are the frontline caregivers, 24 hours, 7 days a week, who are with individuals from birth, throughout their lifespan and at the end of life.… That's why it was disturbing when Joy Behar used her national platform and influence to mock Miss America contestant Kelley Johnson for wearing a “doctor's stethoscope” while performing a dramatic monologue about her experience as a registered nurse during the pageant's talent competition, as if Johnson were wearing a costume.
Nurses don't wear costumes, they save lives.
Nurse Cipriano is much more gracious than I am:
To her credit, Joy Behar did offer a sincere apology:
BEHAR: I was looking at a Miss America tape, and there’s a woman wearing an outfit with a stethoscope, and I’m thinking is she in a costume? It's not like I was trying to be funny. It was just stupid and inattentive. I didn't know what the hell I was talking about.
Probably like you, I’m looking forward to TC sharing his thoughts on nurses.
28 Responses to ““Why Does She Have a Doctor’s Stethoscope On?””
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I can't tell you how many times I had to chase a doctor down the hospital hallways to get my stethescope back.
LOLOL!
No doubt I did lots and LOTS of annoying things that (can I say "pissed off"?) nurses – but that is NOT one of them.
Stethoscopes (at least for me) were one of those things that were kinda grafted on to me.
Nameless, you are one in a million! Love you. I never got my favorite stethescope back from one of the doctors. He disappeared down the elevator and I couldn't leave the floor. It was a graduation gift from my parents.
Now that I have had a chance to think about this and express myself without profanity — my best friend happens to be an RN (BTW RN also stands for Real Nice – at least for her it does). But every nurse from CNA up to NP is doing necessary work, not glamorous, but vital to anyone who has ever been ill or who has ever loved someone who got ill. And as Nameless points out, that is all of us. I wonder if there is anyone who will come out and say she has nothing to apologize for, though, since she is not a police officer, I doubt it. I certainly hope not.
I didn't know if you would be able to get to an open thread to day so I'm sharing this important petition here. Stop Shell from drilling off Nova Scotia's coast.
http://action.sumofus.org/a/shell-21-day-blowout/?akid=13684.913898.FcAeww&rd=1&sub=fwd&t=1
Patty, there will be an Open Thread when I return from the doctor's about noon today. Just routine stuff.
Signed from email and thank you for posting. It is indeed important. Three weeks! My God!
Thank you Patty for the petition concerning Nova Scotia. I've lived off and on in Nova Scotia and I still have people I love and care for that go back to my childhood. Some of the most beautiful and pristine beaches I have seen are in Nova Scotia. Lovely soft white sands, sand dollars, shorebirds, sea otters playful on the rocks and the seals poking their heads up. A treasure that I'm glad I had the experience of in my lifetime to behold. It would make my heart sick to know those places would be covered with oil.
Thanks Patty! Signed
I already signed, too, but appreciate your ensuring we see Patty
Thanks for posting, Patty. Of course I've signed it.
Submitted this story and the previous one on Care2 and will get JL and Lynn to promote. Nameless, I sent you an email today which contained gratitude, and I now add, "in spades." The Care2 URL is
http://www.care2.com/news/member/101612212/3911178
YIPPEEE! I finally figured out how to Edit an already published post.
I'm forever forgetting to add the "Tags" (and to be honest, I'm not really sure how critical they are) – but glad to at least have "editing" now figured out.
Thanks forr your help with moderation and hyperlinks. I have also figured out that by going to 'target' and clicking 'new tab' when creating the hyperlink, nobody loses their place (or their unsaved comments) on the current page.
Thank you for this Nameless. I don't have television so I can't see The View. However, in reading, I see no apology at all. I see an explanation for Behar's stupidity, but no apology. Simply shameful!
As one who deals with nurses in a dementia unit all the time because my mother is in a dementia care centre, I know the dedication and compassion that nurses and care aids MUST have.
My advice to Behar: Load brain first, then fire mouth.
I agree it is not an apology – but it is SO refreshing to hear a true sentence coming from one of these people: "I didn't know what the hell I was talking about." That's almost better than an apology.
WOW! I thought I was kinda "retro" by solely relying on "rabbit ears" for my TV connection. But your "NO TV" beat me in spades!
(Yeah, I do have cable for the 'puter – but NO interest in cable TV … or Hulu or Roku or Netflix – or ANY type of streaming. I'm just not a TV person. To borrow from Jerry Seinfeld: "Not that there's anything wrong with it.")
I got rid of my cable about 10 years ago because I refused to continue to pay for junk TV. I thought reading was better! Now I am online a lot . . . gee . . . I wonder where! I get my news etc that way.
I rely on rabbit ears. At last count they were able to bring in 28 channels, which is 27 more than I need. I only watch PBS and not a whole lot of that. What was that about the same ditch?
Haven't had a TV since the change in transmission–occasionally go get something on-line, but nothing routinely
I think nurses are among others the finest people I have ever met if She wore a stethescope there must have been a really great reason for doing so! I think the View should watch their facts & where they come from !
Carol
You get an "AMEN!" from me!
There was a full apology on the View.
I would add that the first union to endorse Berne was a nurse's union and this disrespect of nurses explains why they would welcome his voice.
Sad that so called news or information broadcast personalities are so ill informed and feel the need to spin anything as infotainment instead of something with a modicum of respect. Thanks Joanne and Nameless.
I could understand it if Joy Behar had mocked the Miss America contest in general, but mocking a contestant who just put on het routine garb and utensils as a registered nurse was ignorant ant stupid.
ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL follow up story from Daily Kos:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/09/19/1422816/-Don-t-Make-Three-Million-Nurses-Angry