A women has a leg amputation, she regularly refers to her missing leg, should i correct her or humour her?

I'm a student nurse with a portfolio to complete from placement on a surgical Ward. My patient has had a leg amputation.

Often amputees can still feel a sensation called a phantom leg, where the brain still perceives the leg to be there, personally i believe it would be unethical to humour her, it is a fairly common condition best to be honest

if she refers to it as 'missing' then no. I believe that after an amputation you can get phantom pains as if the limb is still there while the nerves begin to die, so her she may feel as if it is still there. One of my close friends had an arm amputated and she could still feel her fingers. she would go to scratch her head or something with it an then realise it wasn't there. I guess you should keep quiet, I wouldn't want to be corrected when I'm dealing with it all.
good luck x

Your patient is still aware of the missing limb, she will from time to time experience severe pain in the missing limb (phantom pain).

I am sure she is aware that physically the limb has gone, her mind/psyche however is not.

Sending her very best wishes
A.D.

I think you should find out first if she is aware that she has had it amputated. She may be in denial.

Just humour her they say that after you have a limb amputated you can still feel it itching etc
I know after i had my hysterectomy i swear i had period pains for months after it was really strange
My doctor said it often happens so its the same with amputation

PEOPLE HAV GIVE YOU 2222 MUCH INFO
JUST TELL HER ITS PASSED TENSE BUT YOU MIGHT GET DONE FOR BEING RUDE, BEE POLITE N GET HI AND JUST LET HER CARRY ON!

is she saying it in a joke way or does she sound seriously like she hasnt come to terms with losing it yet. ask the other nurses if she is the same with them.

I am not a nurse but I would humour her. Maybe she does not like the word amputated. Good luck

If has accepted the leg is gone and still has pain this is a phantom pain but, as a student nurse u have to think of the effects of humouring her and correcting her. u have to decide which is more ethical.
I'm also a student nurse and had a case a bit similar in which the pt was confused, sometimes he was ok abt the amputation, other sometimes she became distressed.
good luck with the course!

hi - my mum had her leg amputated and was constantly referring to her missing leg, her sense of humour was such that we could laugh when she went to scratch the missing leg,she did suffer from phantom pains but was given medication to block the pain signals to the brain - so now after all that waffle - I would talk to your patient see how she feels about the op.(some people grieve for the loss of their limb) and take your lead from her. Hope everything goes well - take care.

"humour her" is not the right attitude.

Of course she refers to her missing leg, she still has all the nerves up to the point of amputation and so will actually "feel" pain in the limb thats missing, she can probably even tell you where the pain is depending on which nerve ending is responding.

You should humor her as she most likely is using her own sort of humor to deal with the outcome of the surgery. I have worked in a hospital for 15+ years and have seen that humoring in this instance can benefit the patient. One patient I needed to perform a venipuncture on said, "can you hand me my leg please--I feel naked without it". I giggled and stated I was going to do a venipuncture from the arm, we reserve heelpoke for infants, but I would certainly hand over the leg if that made him feel less naked. We both laughed and the venipuncture was performed, after the patient attached his faux limb to the stump!
I think by listening to the patient, it made him more comfortable and by humoring him, I think it made him feel less awkward about the missing limb. (I would much rather see that then a person who spirals into a depression from the trauma the lost limb caused).

my mother had both amp at the same time she always thought up to her death that she had her SHOES ON .you wont convince her ,she may be in denial ,and handle it as best you can ,go along rather than frustrate her good luck .