Vegan at a hospital: not respected
Vegan at a hospital: not respected
At a hospital again. I woke up to stinky meat next to me. They told me they don't have vegan food. They're very ostensibly rude about this. Had to listen to a long tirade from the room"mate" about how carnism is natural.
I'm in a lot of pain which makes me really irritable. I really didn't need to be made to gag with the meat.
Last time I was in a hospital they would throw meat into my food as well making sure it touched everything so I wasn't able to eat the veggies without the corpse taste.
I don't get why people are so malicious about it. I'm trying not to cry not to give them satisfaction. I am vegan for moral reasons. This is extremely uncomfortable.
I am sorry to hear that your dietary choices are not being respected by the hospital staff.
What country are you in? I would have assumed hospitals in most developed countries should be able to cater to different dietary needs. What would they do if someone had a sever allergic reaction to certain ingredients? Tell them to just starve?
I don't have anything helpful to say. Hope you get better soon.
I am in a western country. The issue isn't capability. The issue is the people being malicious.
It does matter. In the uk being vegan is a protected trait and they have a legal obligation to not force you to change your morals. unlike what others have said vegetarian isn't a protected trait and gets less protection.
Please state which country so vegan activists can help.
I work in a hospital, and have campaigned to get vegan food included on the menus with some progress. Every year they run a staff feedback online form, and I try to press them on their "clean green image" that they keep running with. I keep asking for the menus to have plant-based food as a tickable option, rather than as a request. Hasn't happened yet.
At least they now have pre-made vegan sandwiches and wraps available. Problem is the patients here are all rich boomers who turn their noses up at the mere mention of vegetables. So a lot of the vegan sandwiches/wraps end up in the skip.
I've asked them to keep the out-of-date ones aside for me, but hospitals don't like that kind of thing unfortunately.
Point is, I'm seeing quiet mild progress in the vegan food at hospitals department.
A very positive update:
I was given food and it was vegan. :)
I wasn't given a venflon in spite of my allergy and was correctly given oral medicine.
I was also told by the doctor I am of course allowed to walk, so I can go to the toilet. According to him I was allowed the entire time.
I am scared they'll return in the evening, but for now it's good.
I sincerely deeply thank everyone who was supportive in the very tough time I went through yesterday.
I'll probably make a formal complaint once I am out of the hospital. I am scared they'd retailiate if I said anything while I'm still here.
That’s fair you got this!
What, they don't have oatmeal? PB&J? Broccoli? A banana? Not that you don't deserve actual food, but they're saying they "don't have" vegan food? They're full of shit.
Yea, it doesn't make sense. I thankfully got a banana yesterday which I didn't eat so I got to eat something today. They could've brought me any fruit or vegetable. They didn't bring anything. I hope I get out quick...
Tell your doctors you can't eat the food that's being given to you because you don't eat meat. The doctors should instruct them to accommodate you. Failing that order a vegetarian food for delivery to your room. There is no need to force you to eat meat if you are vegetarian. Not everybody eats meat. Don't tell them it's "moral", tell them it's "religious". If they absolutely refuse to serve you at least vegetarian food then throw what they bring on the floor and let the rude staff clean it up. You need to be committed to not eating anything they serve you by that point though and have established a way to get your own food.
I'm sorry but your take doesn't feel rooted in reality. I don't know if you've ever been to a hospital but you seldom ever see doctors. I am just trying to limit how much they hurt me (some are clearly sadistic). I just won't eat if they refuse to give me real food. Thankfully I have a banana.
Nah. Hospitals cater to vegetarians all the time. If you want your dietary needs accommodated then you need to be respectfully assertive and not act like you're being victimized. Maybe don't throw the food on the floor (that's a last resort), but hospitals should - and will - accommodate vegetarian diets, you just have to find the right way and person to make the request.
Preface: Australian, may not be helpful for other countries
Do you have anybody who can sneak food in for you? I had a friend in ICU who was refused vegan food. I visited them and found out they hadn't eaten, so I head to the nearest store and get them food and smuggle it in (as well as their meds they were refused access to).
It was also the case that in their file they were not marked as vegan despite telling all the doctors and nurses. I had to suss out the treating doctor as they were the only one who could add that to the file, but even then they thought it meant "veggo" (Vegeterian) and that ultimately didn't fix the issue. So it could be the case that you haven't told the right person? I understand it's stupid that you have to go through all this effort, but don't give out hope as it might be a management issue stopping you from getting food.
You need to talk to the charge nurse, and if that person doesn’t handle it, then escalate to whoever they report to, etc. Do this firmly and without throwing little tantrums.
Little tantrums? Can you speak to people without being a condescending dickwad?
You literally said you were irritable. Now you're abusing people here too? I don't see anything that warrants being called a dickwad based on the info you provided.
And honestly, first impressions based on your responses isn't great... In fact, you sound like the kind of person who is abusive normally.
I'd suggest maybe try treating the staff there with respect, and perhaps they'll do the same
"It's natural" is such a weak argument, plenty of bad things are found abundantly in nature. Disease, cannibalism, ionizing radiation. All extremely natural
If you're complaining about something being "unnatural" from a hospital bed I have some bad news for you.
I don't even care about the argument much. I find it ridiculous that growing up people get told to eat more veggies and fruit, because it's healthy for you, but then you get scrutinized for doing so. And how come a hospital has no such healthy food? Is meat ham and cow yoghurt really good for someone recovering? I have a hard time believing they're particularly nutritious. Idk if it's just me but I always saw ham as poverty meat as afaik it's made of the worst parts of the corpse.
in my head, it would only make sense for it to "help you recover" if the type of damage you had was physical as youd typically have enough protein to aid in recovery.
When I saw the title, I thought this was going to be about medicine, which is a bit more complicated discussion.
But yeah, this is clear cut and fucked up.
what hospital is that? that doesn't sound normal
solidarity and good luck 💕
I find some of the responses here disturbing. I was told of making conspiracy theorists by a person making up fantasy about me being abusive! Based on absolutely nothing. I am incredibly patient and polite towards anyone, going out of my way to thank the staff who help me. I believe people like such are literally dangerous as you promote attack on me while I'm so vulnerable for no reason other than your fantasy.
Update regarding the staff:
They threatened me with using needles in spite of my allergy. I wasn't given any food after the surgery the entire day, so I was really lucky to had saved a banana, which they didn't know of and is not sufficient meal for an entire day, especially after a heavy surgery.
Those people don't seem to be nurses in the entire sense either. They don't do the needles. They sent another person to do so. I spoke with said person and he agreed I shouldn't be given a venflon and told me to administer medicine orally, and that he will tell them to do so.
I was refused help to stand up since I haven't stood up on my own since the surgery, but needed to go to the bathroom. I was told I'm not allowed to stand up. No help for bathroom was provided, even to do the do in the bed, which I think is humiliating and deeply unkind towards the other patient in the room. So the indirect result is I'm literally expected to poo directly in the bed onto it.
While I understand why people suggest a lawyer, I don't have the financial means and I'm suffering physically in the now. I consider discharging myself because I believe this is deep medical neglect, and I feel like my life is being endangered. I am scared I won't be able to hold it in and the bacteria would infect my wounds. Not to mention the lack of nutrition affecting healing.
Can you order uber eats? That sounds like such a fucked situation, I wish I had more ideas on what to do. Can you maybe contact a lawyer?
I can't even get up from the bed at all. I'm straight out of surgery. I only had the banana I snatched yesterday. I actually doubt they'll get me any food. I am supposed to be here for days, but if I feel better I will ask to be let go home, because I don't believe starving someone helps recovery.
you might be able to do a free consultation with a lawyer, and see if you can sue. Probably the last thing you want to deal with between recovery and hunger, but if you can credibly threaten legal action it might get them to be decent? If not, maybe you can make some good money suing them?
Can you have a friend bring you food?
Also generally being noncompliant/a pain in the ass until they bring you actual food is another option, but I'd be paranoid that if they're already such scumbags, they'd do something like using restraints+a feeding tube or something. I have no idea whether that's a reasonable fear or not, but again a lawyer might be able to help
My wife is vegetarian and I often opt to cook rather than take out because eating out anywhere can be difficult due to the lack of vegetarian accommodations, I imagine that goes doubly so for vegan.
I just wanted to say that your struggle is real and valid and I hope things improve.
That hospital is so unethical serving meat to the patients. They’re not serving the best interests of the patients.
My local hospital network just has a vegan dietary option. It's not hard to do.
Bloodmouths know that they're wrong and lash out at you for making them feel bad. That's it.
I wish they didn't have power over me at my most vulnerable. Some people here are very malicious. I hope they don't hurt me more than they already had. I don't get why people in healthcare are so frequently either angels or sadists.
Working in healthcare is dehumanizing and traumatic, workers cope with this in often unhealthy ways. It's like this:
The overworked hospital staff sees your veganism as a direct insult because they are bloodmouths, so they lash out. As far as they're concerned you're rubbing your moral superiority in their faces by asking them to put in extra work to accommodate you. So, they get petty revenge to "put you in your place".
Being a bloodmouth requires constant personal upkeep in the face of veganism. This helps them protect their fragile egos and sooth their guilt.