Spencer Hospital nurse charged with overdosing patients

An Iowa hospital nurse has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges that she deliberately overdosed patients with medications.

Rachel Faith Martinez, 36, of Peterson, is charged with six criminal violations related to her work at Clay County’s Spencer Hospital in late 2022.

The charges include two felony counts of obtaining a prescription drug by deceit and four counts of wanton neglect of a dependent adult by a caretaker, a serious misdemeanor. Continue reading Spencer Hospital nurse charged with overdosing patients

Adventures in surgery prep

A year ago, I found myself facing surgery for a cancerous nodule on my left lung. Here is a fractured recounting of what I remember the procedure was like.

After check-in, I started to wander aimlessly down the hallway towards the emergency room until Nancy and a nurse caught up with me and escorted me to a bank of elevators. The door to one slid open and I spread my arms across the doorway and stuck my head in peering left and right into the cavernous space.

“Is there room for all of us in here?” I said in my best Boris Karloff voice to the elderly couple waiting inside for my wife and me to join them. They may have been having second thoughts about riding the cage when they saw my wide eyes and shit-eating grin on my face. I turned around and gestured towards my wife and the nurse. “Come on in,” I yelled, “I think there’s room for the entire team!” Continue reading Adventures in surgery prep