What I would be expecting is someone who gives a shit about how the patients feel at least enough to phrase it in a non terrifying way. She knew what she was doing. While what she said was true, the odds that the girl would die from it were staggeringly low. She was just basically an asshole and left that part out.

One of my first mentors as a nurse was this old battle axe who had been around in the ER for decades. Tough as nails, hard as a rock. She was pushing morphine in some young girl’s IV. This girl was maybe 18 years old and having a good amount of pain, nothing crazy but needing medication. She was really anxious about it. She foolishly asked the question, “What’s the worst that could happen?” The nurse answered, “You could die.” No expression or sympathy or care. And she just kept on slowly pushing the morphine without another word as the patient visibly tried to suppress her terror.

It took me years to finally get a bidet. Now I’m a bidet enthusiast! The only bad thing about having a bidet is using a toilet without one.

This is my experience also. Dentists are basically out to sell you stuff.

I feel you on that. As a Buddhist I’m also curious. 😀

I take the Buddhist view that what we call the self is a misconception or misunderstanding. While you do exist, there isn’t a soul or some permanent entity that takes residence and jumps around before or after death.

Thus, you can ask questions like these and get a million different answers because the question is not valid. It’s what the Buddha would call proliferation, or basically hot air. There isn’t an answer, why ask the question?

Don’t mistake this for a cynical view, though. A good Buddhist is very happy because even though the idea of a self is false, freeing yourself from all of these self-based concepts and desires leads to great peace. The obsession with self and self-based craving is what leads to any kind of unhappiness.