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 ?

It's the middle of the night, and your entire family might have a cold (mom, dad, and two kids).

QUICK! CALL 9-1-1 ! FOUR AMBULANCES respond to their home. Two leave and two take the family into the ER. Dad has a legit flu or bad cold, everyone else is fine. *siiiiiiiiiiiiigh*

LOL-what idiots.

Specializes in ortho, hospice volunteer, psych,.

Part 1:

Our neighbor owns a drugstore. A mother, three little kids who are much too sick to be in school but not too indisposed to run errands, present their medical assistance card for a Rx for one of the kids. She finds out there is a $2.00 copay. After mumbling unprintables under her breath, they leave without the Rx.

Part 2:

She goes to her class which the hardhearted state says she must enroll in if she can't find a job. Guess who is teaching her class?!

The kds sit in the back of the room and play. Their mom's mean heartless old prof reports the situation to the nurse, who takes it from there.

Part 3:

They head to the ER and cough and sniffle for them. They leave with cough syrup samples, a Rx, and a food voucher for a local charity. On the way out, Mom remarks that if you know what to do, you'll never pay a thing.:banghead:

The Mom bragged about it loudly in the next class. My husband came home and asked me, "Isn't there something we can do?"

Triaged as "DOES NOT WANT TO GO TO JAIL"

We got a kick out of that.

Apparently, arrestee's make up bogus excuses all the time to try to get out of jail-time.

Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.
Triaged as "DOES NOT WANT TO GO TO JAIL"

We got a kick out of that.

Apparently, arrestee's make up bogus excuses all the time to try to get out of jail-time.

Yep. The "vacation from incarceration" as I call it.

Specializes in Emergency/Trauma/Critical Care Nursing.
Yep. The "vacation from incarceration" as I call it.

Or "Incarceritis" lol

Specializes in Emergency.
Or "Incarceritis" lol

Or Graybar fever.

"Horrible rash" x2 days to left upper extremity. "9/10" pain. No rash noted on inspection, just a slightly pink spot from where the patient had been rubbing it. Doc even came out of the room to ask me what I saw in triage, because he couldn't see anything.

Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.
"Horrible rash" x2 days to left upper extremity. "9/10" pain. No rash noted on inspection, just a slightly pink spot from where the patient had been rubbing it. Doc even came out of the room to ask me what I saw in triage, because he couldn't see anything.

I love it when people say "don't see this horrible rash." Or, they put their arms next to each other and say "look at how swollen my right arm is! It is like 3 times the size of the left one." Umm, no.

Tonight I had a pt who twist his ankle, walks two blocks then call the ambulance. When he gets to me he says he can't stand and pivot due to 10/10 pain and can't scoot to the bed... So we slide him. MD comes in right away, does the whole assessment (no swelling/redness/evidence of any trauma). MD leaves and says I'll give you pain meds. As soon as he left pt asks to WALK to the bathroom. He gets up and walks without event a limp to the bathroom... I was so irritated. He got 650mg of Tylenol instead of the Norco originally ordered.

Specializes in ortho, hospice volunteer, psych,.

About two weeks ago, my husband smacked his elbow while he was moving a metal baker's rack. A neighbor was helping him. We live in a Victorian-era house and only have archways or narrow doors. He came and showed it to me, which was dumb because his helper's day job was being an orthopedist!

Friend examined it and said to ice it and switch to heat in 48 hours. Exactly what I would have said! The next day, the mailman noticed how swollen his elbow was and asked whether he had gone to the ER. Later that evening, while walking the dog, a neighbor

asked what the ER had said, because it was, "broken and would heal funny if it were ignored."

When he was in the bank, the teller noticed what was by then a scab with the edema, and said very solicitously, "You know you could

lose the use of that whole arm if you don't get the swelling down." She offered to take him to the guess where?

I'm not being unsympathetic, but it was a very small cut and his elbow is not that puffy. Really? The Emergency Room? Why can't people get it through their thick skulls that that part of the hospital is for legitimately ill or more severe injured people? :speechless:

I'm not an unsympathetic, miserable, hard hearted person. Just a practical one. We had already had a specialist examine it right after

he bumped it (in our kitchen!) and instructions to let him know if it really ballooned up. Vent over.

Specializes in ER.

We had a fellow come in by ambulance, he was a homeless ETOHer who'd been calling the ambulance for some lame reason lately, and also wanting an ambulance ride to a town over 100 miles away where some relative lived. I entered his demand into the triage note and let the provider know, and he said "Oh is he back again!?" and there was probably a curse word uttered.

Specializes in ER.

Most ridiculous? Maybe the girl who came in because she hear her boyfriend was cheating on her, and she needed an STD screen, like, NOW. All she got was a referral to the county HD.

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