What was the MOST ridiculous thing a patient came to the ER for?

And did you have to treat them?

I am just curious. Your stories always seem to either crack me up or shake my head in amazement.

Thanks for sharing ?

We had to cut the bra off of a patient once who exclaimed, "no, that's my only bra".

I am offended.

You clearly have no idea what it is like to be poor. Have you ever had to ration food so your children would be able to eat? I doubt it.

:confused:

A young girl, probably in her early 20s was admitted to the ER cuz she had a frozen hotdog stuck in her a** hole!!!! I was mortified to say the least lol

I am offended.

You clearly have no idea what it is like to be poor. Have you ever had to ration food so your children would be able to eat? I doubt it.

:confused:

I think maybe her point was, that the bra needed to be cut off because of a medical emergency. If you could die, your bra should be the least of your worries. If the person was that poor, I'd buy them a new bra myself, or see if the hospital would replace it. That is, if the person survived.

Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, ED.
I am offended.

You clearly have no idea what it is like to be poor. Have you ever had to ration food so your children would be able to eat? I doubt it.

:confused:

I know what it's like to be poor, and I'm not offended.

A young girl, probably in her early 20s was admitted to the ER cuz she had a frozen hotdog stuck in her a** hole!!!! I was mortified to say the least lol

Is this for real? A frozen hotdog in the lady parts is an urban legend that's been circulating in various forms for decades, and every generation of high schoolers thinks they made it up.

:idea:

Specializes in ortho, hospice volunteer, psych,.
i am offended.

you clearly have no idea what it is like to be poor. have you ever had to ration food so your children would be able to eat? i doubt it.

:confused:

i think maybe her point was, that the bra needed to be cut off because of a medical emergency. if you could die, your bra should be the least of your worries. if the person was that poor, i'd buy them a new bra myself, or see if the hospital would replace it. that is, if the person survived.

bras (new ones) are available through the salvation army, associated charaties, many woman's charities,

just to name a few places. sources like the the welfare board, food pantries have lists of who in a given area handles such clothing issues. if this mystery patient's only bra had had to be cut off in many hospitals, they would have had resources for her to visit.

as a previous poster pointed out, having to request a new bra was a nonissue, compared to having a potentially life-threatening problem go untreated.

people get upset over oddball things frequently, but what they rant, rave and complain about usually isn't what they're really bent out of shape over.

kathy

shar pei mom:paw::paw:

Specializes in ER.
I think one of the most rediculous was for a pregnancy test. Min cost of $500.00 for the ER visit when they could have bought one at Walmart for like $7! Or even have one done free at the health dept ... I'm sure that bill didn't get paid anyway.

because medicaid won't cover them unless they have documentation of +pregnancy from a dr/hospital--a jacked up catch 22 huh...

Specializes in Emergency.

"My water got turned off."

Specializes in Pediatric Pulmonology and Allergy.
not since 1998 when EMTALA was put into law. My solution for the healthcare crisis..... abolish EMTALA

No, not a solution. EMTALA is meant to enable access to the ER for people who are in true need. If there was better gatekeeping at triage to keep the non-sick (let alone non-emergent) out of the ER this would be much less of an issue.

Specializes in Emergency.
No, not a solution. EMTALA is meant to enable access to the ER for people who are in true need. If there was better gatekeeping at triage to keep the non-sick (let alone non-emergent) out of the ER this would be much less of an issue.

An RN cannot "gatekeep" at triage because under EMTALA all pts presenting get a medical exam by an MD. Without EMTALA EDs could operate properly, as in caring for the sickest first and immediately in order to protect the MDs licenses and prevent being sued. We don't need EMTALA for this. EMTALA guarantees all private pay and indigent pts abuse the system daily. Anyone who doesn't see this needs to volunteer where I work for a week. Without EMTALA, the ED would be used appropriately and the dept could appropriately care for ALL presenting pts because no one would abuse the system. People may even pick up the phone and (gasp) call a PCP! They may not come to the ER for runny noses (gasp)! They may not come, even if they puked once (egad)! Also, making no attempt to pay your health care bills should be a felony.

Specializes in ER.
An RN cannot "gatekeep" at triage because under EMTALA all pts presenting get a medical exam by an MD. Without EMTALA EDs could operate properly, as in caring for the sickest first and immediately in order to protect the MDs licenses and prevent being sued. We don't need EMTALA for this. EMTALA guarantees all private pay and indigent pts abuse the system daily. Anyone who doesn't see this needs to volunteer where I work for a week. Without EMTALA, the ED would be used appropriately and the dept could appropriately care for ALL presenting pts because no one would abuse the system. People may even pick up the phone and (gasp) call a PCP! They may not come to the ER for runny noses (gasp)! They may not come, even if they puked once (egad)! Also, making no attempt to pay your health care bills should be a felony.

They also should have a policeman out at all times to catch the "patients" who are driving to the ER under the influence of drugs. I have no tolerance for people driving up to the ER after (they've already been to the one down the road probably) then to test them and find they're positive for all kinds of benzos, opiates, etc...Nothing I can do about it, but just like an alcoholic may bar hop, they ER hop..

( I know this may be a little off topic, but it goes with abuse of the system I think)

Also, making no attempt to pay your health care bills should be a felony.

I know of a married couple who are not allowed to own property for 10 years because of unpaid medical bills, and I suspect this is why.

As for women coming to the ER for a pregnancy test, I've said this before but I wonder if some of them do this because they think they can get an abortion at the ER.

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