Travel Channel 

On the show, Most Haunted, a skeptic, Burl, stated that ghosts are usually seen in bedrooms, by people who are drowsy. Well here is what happend to me.

As an RN I was working night shift in an ICU. Often there were stories about ghosts/hauntings in certain parts of the hospital. Being curious about such things, I never thought that I would see or hear the unexplained.
It was a usual night at work. Four nurses on duty, 7 patients on the floor. I had just completed my checks on my patients and finished charting. The lights are dim in the halls. The womens locker/bathroom was at the end of the hall. A small place with 2 small bathrooms (about 3 1/2 ft. x 4 ft.) and a central locker area (about 12 ft. x 6 ft.). When walking towards the bathroom/locker room I was hoping that no one was in there because I had to, you know, go.
As I passed the nurses desk I noticed that someone opened the door and went in, the light from the locker room was bright in the dim hall. The person had on a light lab coat and dark pants and had dark hair. I could not determine who it was. Our scrubs were wine colored, but we could wear different colored lab jackets, and the only one with a light colored (not white) lab jacket was the charge nurse and she had dark hair. So I figured it was her. I could not wait for her to depart so I went in. And no one was there!
When you open the door you can see the entire room, if the bathroom doors are open, which they were. There is only one door in or out and I never looked away from the door as I approached it. I was startled and then it struck me. When ever the door was opened it squeaked, and I did not hear the door squeak when the other entered the door before me and I was only about 15 feet away.
The figure wasn't shadowy or see-through, there wasn't a change in temperature or any other sensation. Until I opened the door and went in it was just a normal night.

See? No drowsy person, no deep darkness or shadowy reflections, no bedroom.

I am a nurse and have been for over 20 years. For about 7 of those I worked the night shift. I know from experience, especially around 3am , you DO get drowsy. I have sat and charted after doing my rounds and nearly fallen asleep lots of times.

I have also had the "need" and hoped no one was in the bathroom when I had to go. I also know that if someone IS in there, I will wait a minute, look away, make myself look busy (to cover up that I'm waiting) or occupy myself for that last few minutes before I'm so desperate I have to go in no matter what. You're saying you didn't hesitate or take your eyes off that doorway at all? You headed straight in even though you thought your charge nurse was in there? There was absolutely not a second when your charge nurse could have walked out without you seeing her?

You finished your post with "Until I opened the door and went in it was just a normal night". However, throughout your whole post you are mentioning how the door was open when you passed the nurses station, you could see inside from the hallway and that it hadn't squeeked when the "person" you saw went in. This give me a little bit to be skeptical about. Either the door was open or it wasn't.

I'm not saying you didn't see a ghost or that it was really your charge nurse. I don't know. I wasn't there. But, as a skeptic, just from how this story is told, I'm not convinced.

Hey Luvsjeter you never know. maybee its a ghost emptying her tank. or maybee they forgot theyre purse in the locker room

You never know, babs, it could have been a haunting. We've had similar incidents happen at the prison I work at.

On one occasion, two officers were counting inmates in a range (hallway) and during the count they saw an hispanic inmate walk down the range and enter the restroom. The two officers stopped their count and immediately walked to the restroom to tell the inmate it was count time and he needed to go back to his room. They entered the restroom and searched every toilet and shower stall . . . and guess what . . . there was no one there. They didn't know what to think, so they continued their count and every inmate was accounted for.

What happened to the inmate who went in the restroom? Who was he? No one really knows. The two officers checked the inmate photo files to cross-reference his identity, but none of the photos matched the person they saw go into the restroom.

To my knowledge, no one had ever died on that particular housing unit, but then again, it hadn't always been a prison. It started life in 1935 as an insane asylum ran by the U.S. Public Health Service, then was converted into a detox hospital for the military and Merchant Marine . . . so it could have been anyone.

Just keep your eyes and ears open for any other phenomenon and maybe get a small notebook and take notes when something weird happens. A little old-fashioned investigation work might turn up something, you never know.

Luvsjeter, you need to reread. The door was at the end of the hall, closed. As i walked past the nurses station the door opened and the person went inside, the door closed. No, i didn't stop or hesitate. I had a very urgent need to put it politely and could not stop. I didn't think about the squeak until after I opened the door myself. Also, i wasn't drowsy, hard to be when you are haveing stomache cramps and walking down a hall >.<

Bossman, thank you for the story. Nice to know that others have had simular experiences. What got me is that if i hadn't been so aware and focused that i might have not thought anything about seeing someone go in to that room. And it makes me wonder how many events we miss because it's just a normal activity. If i had looked away, or gone on into another room i would not have thought anything more about it.

Nice to have a place to share.

Anytime, babs. I too think those kind of things may go on more often than we think.

It is a big possability that those things go on. We rush through our lives, never taking time to slow down and pay attention to all that is happening in the world arounds, that who are we to say they don't walk among us. It is only when we slow down, and really look that we ever notice the bizzar.

I have never had a "real" personal experience that I could put my finger on and say.. yes, that was not normal. But I have had a lot of them related to me by other people I find very creditable.

That is an interesting experience. Since you basically entered the room in such a short time, only to discover what you did... I would tend to take a lot of stock in what you say. Also medical people I found were always very good witnesses as they have to watch for details all the time in their duties.. They remember them.

A very interesting story. Did you feel any cold spots as you entered. We always hear about people claiming cold spots during such incidents..

Nope, no cold spots. Seemed to be just a normal event, someone opens a door and enters, then the door closed.

Hey babs.

I re-read and still didn't see where the door closed again before you went in. If you meant to say it, then I guess I misunderstood the whole post.

As a skeptic, though, and that's who this post was addressed to, the skeptics, I think there are enough variables that I am still skepical.

I enjoyed your story Babs. One has to wonder why more ghosts aren't seen in hospitals considering the rate of medical error in this Country and the policy of non-disclosure. One doesn't have to go back very far before the body count exceeds one million. Seems to me a common thread in many ghost stories is an untimely death complicated by factors which served to conceal the truth regarding the circumstances which surrounded the death. Now we all know silence can conceal the truth as well as any lie so what does someone accomplish by keeping their mouth shut when they find themselves burdened with knowledge of a medical error that resulted in death? I'm not asking why they keep quiet. I'm questioning the result.

Some sources suggest medical error is the fifth leading cause of death in this country(Ethical Issues Involved in Disclosing Medical Errors, JAMA, Vol 286; No 9, Sep 5, 2001, page 1078). There have been a number of studies which have attempted to estimate the annual death toll in this country. The studies produce estimates which reveal an astounding number of Americans die each year as a result of medical error. One study estimates 180,000.(Error in Medicine,JAMA, Vol 272, No 23, Dec 21, 1994, Page 1851). (This estimate can also be found at: http://www7.nationalacademies.org/bms/Leape_Abstract.html). The report this estimate was based upon is titled, Incidence of Adverse Events and Negligence in Hospitalized Patients, Results of the Harvard Medical Practice Study I.(N Engl J Med 1991; Vol 324, No 6, pages 370-376). The report was published in 1991 and for a time was considered by some to be a reliable estimate of the annual death toll. Others however questioned the estimates and suggested the numbers are even higher.

In 1997 an article in The Lancet, titled, An alternative strategy for studying adverse events in medical care, suggested a review of medical records may not provide an accurate estimate of medical errors and suggested The Harvard Medical Study was not designed for the purpose of estimating medical errors in this country. In part the article states, There is a growing published work of empirical investigations of the epidemiology of adverse events in the hospital setting. The most far-reaching research project studying adverse events to date has been the Harvard study of 30,121 New York hospital patients records. The investigators defined adverse events according to a legal-policy model since their goal in measuring the event rate in hospitals was to determine the feasibility of a no-fault system of compensation for medical malpractice. They required that two physicians agreed that an incident was an adverse event and that the event caused serious harm. The investigators noted that because we wanted to assess only injuries that might have been covered by the tort system or broader compensation schemes we did not label errors, however egregious, as adverse events unless they resulted in disability. Using their stringent criteria, they found that 3.7% of records described such errors. Unfortunately, in legal-policy debates in the USA, the Harvard study's results have been generalised to circumstances far beyond the study design. The proportion of patients in the Harvard study who experienced adverse events are multiplied over the entire population of patients in the USA and then displayed as an inclusive account of how many patients have errors in their care. This underestimates the error rate in three important ways. First, it only considers patients whose errors resulted in a specified level of harm. Second, it only includes errors that are documented in patient records. Third, it underestimates the number of patients with potential legal claims because, since it only takes one credible expert witness in the USA to prove the case for a patient, the two-physician standard of the Harvard study does not mirror what actually occurs in the courts.(The Lancet, Vol 349, No 9048, Feb 1, 1997, pages 309-313).

The Harvard Medical Practice Study was not the last study to use medical record review as a means of estimating the rate of medical error.
A study in Utah and Colorado of 15,000 randomly selected 1992 hospital discharges also used record review to identify medical errors.(Costs of Medical Injuries in Utah and Colorado, Inquiry, Vol 36, Fall 1999 pages 255-264).

A report issued in 2000 by the Institute of Medicine titled, To Err is Human, estimated that anywhere between 44,000 to 98,000 Americans die each year because of medical errors. This report cited the Utah Colorado Medical Practice Study and suggested it implied 44,000 Americans die each year due to medical error. It then references the New York study as suggesting the number may be as high as 98,000.

The Utah Colorado Study, like the New York Study before it, was an effort to determine the feasability of alternative forms of patient compensation for adverse events. In part the study states; As part of an effort to provide information to policymakers in Colorado and Utah, we recently estimated the 1992 incidence of adverse events and preventable adverse events in those states. Using methods very similar to those used in the Harvard Medical Practice Study we found that adverse event rates in Utah and Colorado were similar to those in New York. In contrast to the New York study, we measured the number of preventable adverse events in addition to the smaller group of negligent events. Because interest groups in Utah and Colorado were considering alternative forms of patient compensation for adverse events, we also calculated the costs of adverse events and preventable adverse events. The goals of this analysis were to provide an estimate of the national costs of adverse events, to find out which adverse events were most expensive, and to determine which parts of our health care system were most affected by the costs of adverse events. Such information can assist policymakers and researchers in determining where to focus future research and prevention efforts.(Costs of Medical Injuries in Utah and Colorado, Inquiry, Vol 36, Fall 1999, pages 255-264).

Some have suggested record review is not a reliable means of measuring error rates. In regards to the Utah Colorado study one study suggested record review is highly sensitive to the degree of consensus and confidence among the reviewers and the fact that the records came from two states (Utah and Colorado) that may not be generalizable to other geographic locations.(The Reliability of Medical Record Review for Estimating Adverse Event Rates, Annals of Internal Medicine, Vol 136, No 11, Jun 4, 2002, pages 812-816).

What is meant by the statement that Utah and Colorado may not be generalizable to other geographic locations? Every year in early September, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) publishes a Medical Education issue. There's always two sets of Appendix tables; one for undergraduate medical education and one for graduate medical education. Information contained within these issues includes the number of residents and fellows training in each state. New York trains about 1 out of every 7 residents or fellows. Utah and Colorado train far fewer. Is there a connection between teaching hospitals and an increased frequency of medical error? I believe there may be. New York is the only state in the nation that limits resident work hours. New York State limits the working hours of physicians enrolled in residency training programs to no more than 80 hours per week, averaged over a four-week period. Residents are also limited to working no more than 24 consecutive hours in a given day. I can't think of another industry that could require anyone to work this many hours. How could anyone not recognize how hazardous this can be? An incident involving the death of an 18 year old girl in a New York hospital in 1984 prompted these limits to resident work hours.

The New York Study and Utah Colorado Study were attempts to determine the feasability of alternative forms of compensation for victims of medical errors in their respective states. The review of randomly selected medical records from any one of the three states can not be used to determine the frequency of medical errors on a national level. New York is on one end of the spectrum with an extremely large number of teaching hospitals, while Utah and Colorado are closer to the other end of that spectrum. Extrapolating the data nationwide can only result in a skewed result. In addition, the studies involved only hospitalized patients. Hospitals are only a part of the Health Care Delivery System in this country. Consequently, the studies can only claim to measure the number of medical errors that have occurred during hospitalization in each of the respective states. Not the frequency of medical error nationwide.

Ordinarily, when someone wants to know how many people die each year from any one cause they turn to the World Health Organization. The W.H.O. publishes the World Health Statistics Annual listing causes of death and how many victims died in each of the listed categories. If you turn to that book to find the number of people who died from medical error in any Country you'll find medical error is not recognized as a cause of death by the World Health Organization. Motor Vehicle Accidents are considered a reportable cause of death however. So is homicide. I guess the W.H.O. is not concerned so much with the accuracy of their statistics.

Babs, I'm wondering if this post is too large. I'll ask you a few questions and close this. Do you believe consciousness continues after death? If so, do you think non-disclosure has a negative effect on an individual after they've passed as a result of medical error? I know you believe you've seen a ghost in the hallway of your hospital. Do you think ghosts are evidence of life after death? The one thing that always puzzled me about ghosts is the clothes they wear. I mean, I can buy into the idea that we are all made up of an energy that can not be destroyed. So shouldn't a ghost appear as just that energy? Instead people always want to tell you what they saw the ghost wearing. Why aren't they naked?

Babs

For some reason the link in my earlier post doesn't work. If you type the URL into your browser add a _ between Leape and Abstract. Just in case the symbol doesn't post in this message it's the thing you underline with.

Oh, the images of young, attractive and NAKED female ghosts that are running through my mind right now >:>.

Sorry, my mind took a detour into the gutter right then . . . I really SHOULD have more control over my thoughts (shame on me, lol).

47f141, that really is a good question about the ghosts with clothes. (Just thought about those naked ghosts chicks again. Guess I should log off, huh?)

The image that babs saw wasn't a patient. It was wearing scrubs. I doubt it was a wronged patient.

I never suggested her ghost was a patient.

I figured out why the link doesn't work. I put it inside parenthesis. The tail end got caught up in the URL. Ugh.

Well, 47f141, I suppose I got the idea about it being a patient, or you suggesting it might have been, because of your first paragraph in your reply that talks about medical error, etc.
I admit, I only read the first paragraph and just skimmed the rest, but it seems to me the whole thing was about patients dying untimely deaths due to some fault of the hospital staff.

So, please pardon me for getting the wrong impression.