I caught pneumonia when I visited NYC a few years ago and was brought by ambulance to a hospital in Brooklyn. Some of the things I heard in the emergency room were shocking compared to what I'd experienced in emergency rooms before (I'm from the UK). The most surprising thing to me was how many of the patients were verbally abusive to the nurses. Perhaps these people were mentally unstable, I don't know, but I never expected to hear any patients attacking the people that were there to help them.

Nurses generally get treated terribly compared to doctors and others in the profession, despite the fact they are often the ones who are actually taking care of you (doctors diagnose, nurses treat). I guess it's because they're considered lower in the hierarchy simply because doctors went to school longer.

In the case parent described, it's just because nurses actually interact with patients, but doctors don't.