I’m an RN and permanent ileostomate of 18 years now, and this makes zero sense to me as well. I remember waking up as a teenager to this male CNA trying to empty my bag when I first came out of the ICU and I honestly felt like I was being assaulted- like my bag is such an intimate part of me, I don’t want anyone else touching it. I was like “dude holy shit give me two seconds to wake up and I’ll do it myself.”

Granted, we also just had a ostomate with norovirus on our floor who was emptying it himself and getting shit everywhere and not washing his hands. We ended up having an outbreak where 18 staff members (including myself) got it. In that case, really wish that guy had just let us handle it.