Outrageous and Traumatic Medical Stories as Told By the People Who Lived Them
Going to the hospital can be a memorable moment for anyone, but it’s rare that a doctor has a patient that they’ll never forget.
These medical tales from the emergency room, doctor’s office and surgeon’s table are enough to make anyone try their best to never end up in the hospital as long as they can help it.
Whether a doctor overstepped their bounds or a patient didn’t follow their caretaker’s instructions, these medical stories were often caused by someone’s incompetence or unwillingness to follow simple instructions. But many medical stories have another common beginning: sheer dumb luck.
He Refused Help
I reported to a car accident on the highway when I was working as a medic. The guy involved in it was fairly messed up. He adamantly refused treatment and transport.
Instead, he signed himself off and started walking down the slight decline off the road where his car had come to rest after the accident.
Yeah, bad idea. He made it about 10 feet from the back of the ambulance until he lost consciousness and tumbled the rest of his way down the decline.
What started off as a smack on his head and a few cuts turned into a broken left arm, serious concussion, and a nasty gash on his head.
Do You Have an Appointment?
I was seeing a urologist in a hospital once. During my visit, there were a couple of power cuts. The lights dipped out but the generators kicked in, thankfully. As the urologist was finishing the examination, mid-sentence, the lights went out again.
This time, however, the generator did not kick in right away. The urologist got up and walked out to check on things. 15 minutes later, the lights came back on. I was still sitting on the bed with my old chap out and pants around my ankles.
A nurse walked past the open door and does one of those comedy double-takes. “Do…do you have an appointment?” she asked. Turns out, the urologist had actually finished the examination and returned to the ward a while ago. Awkward.
Not Allowed to Eat
I had a patient who was NPO (not allowed to eat) because he had a bowel obstruction. He didn’t like that we weren’t feeding him, so, unbeknownst to the nurses, he called up Papa John’s and ordered some garlic knots.
He ate the entire box, then his ignorance came to punish him—he vomited them up, aspirated his vomit, went into respiratory arrest, and coded.
We did CPR and got him back. He had some underlying lung issues so we never could get him weaned off the ventilator.
He spent a month in the ICU and was eventually discharged to a long-term care facility with a tracheotomy on the vent.
An Awkward Moment
I had an ingrown hair on my chin that I tried to squeeze out. In the process of doing so, the pus around the hair must have backfired and erupted. My chin began to swell as if I had an abundant amount of gum or a jawbreaker stuck in my lower lip. I went to the doctor the next day.
It was my first time with that particular doctor, which made the whole thing even more awkward. I told her the story of how my chin came to be with the added blurb of, “But at least I got that sucker out!”
After examining my chin, she called in what I assumed to be a resident to see the golf ball lump that had formed on my chin.
I reacted by exclaiming, “Gee, this doesn’t make me feel showcased or awkward by any means.” Apologies and laughter ensued.DantheMan700