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Marie Molloy was already in rough shape, afraid she would die when arthritis in her throat and complications from surgery combined to dangerously constrict her airways.

Then, peering through a special breathing mask in the emergency department of her local hospital, she saw the tattoo. It depicted a skull, was prominently displayed on the arm of a nurse treating her and looked “terrifying,” says Molloy.

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Two weeks of nightmares ensued, but hospital administrators in British Columbia refused to take action when she complained, saying the facility “does not discriminate against staff with tattoos.”

Molloy says it should — at least if the art has connotations of death and is visible to patients in dire straits.

The last thing I needed to have shoved in my face was a skull

“Quite frankly, when I was (not) knowing whether I was going to live or die, the last thing I needed to have shoved in my face was a skull,” she said. “That was offensive.”

But in an era when the edginess of body art is fading as fast as its popularity grows, the incident poses questions about when the rights of vulnerable patients should trump those of self-expressing health-care workers.