Why do military medics completely ignore everything patients tell them?

I’ll start with a little back story. My veins are crap. There are always problems with them when I need to have blood drawn and I’m always stabbed at least twice. I don’t know what the problem is, but most of the time either the vein collapses or completely moved when the needle gets near it. Because of this, most of the time I can get them to just start off with the tiny butterfly needle (it’s the one with the long thin tube on it that is usually used for little kids).

So I go to have blood drawn this morning and, as usual, I warn the guy before he even starts. He tells me it’ll be no problem and he’s sure the regular needle will be fine. He proceeds to search for a vein, making me pump my fist on this foam apple while he cuts off circulation and taps my arm. He does each arm twice before finally choosing one.

When he goes to draw the blood, the vein disappears before he even gets the needle in. So he goes to the other arm, finds the vein he wants, sticks the needle in, pops on the vial and nothing happens. No blood filling the tube or anything. He’s missed the vein. Instead of taking the needle (the BIG needle) out and trying again, he decides to keep poking around in there for it. He finally gives up when another medic comes into the room and sees he screwing it up.

So the other guy decides he’s going to try it. He grabs my other arm, ties the rubber thing, finds a vein and sticks me again (with another BIG needle). This time, he also misses the vein, chooses to search for it, finally finds it and fills up the tubes. I’m usually not a baby about needles, but this hurt.

And to top it off, I now have bruises on the inside of both my elbows.