What is your WORST ER story?

Lyfer, LPN · May 1, 2011

I'm an ED nurse for 2 years and got all (or maybe not yet all) the shocking, bloody, back-aching, heart piercing, mind-blowing events in ED. But one of the most terrible cases I'll never forget was that of a teenager victim of sexual abuse..I was just an entry level ED nurse at that time. The girl came upset, crying loudly, blood all over her body, and was accompanied by her relatives. Upon sneaking into the scene, I saw the girl's bloody perineal area, while the doctor examines. The doctor said it's a severe lady partsl laceration extending up to inner part, so he did suturing and ordered that the girl be transferred immediately to a more specialized hospital since other diagnostic procedures were not available at our hospital. All of the staffs suspected she's a victim of sexual assault, but the family said the girl just got into an accident when she fell from the motorcycle her big brother was driving. So everyone was shocked because what kind of motorcycle accident would do such damage?

The girl was agitated, screaming, crying, and wasn't cooperating until her big brother came into the scene..everyone noticed how he looked at her sister, and after that look, this girl suddenly kept quiet, and seems afraid..so, I think you get the idea..yes, all of the other staffs had the same thing in mind, that the brother is the suspect and the patient's family is hiding it from everyone, maybe, to protect their son..but it was obviously wrong..the doctors, the supervisor, didn't do anything to investigate further and simply wrote on the findings that it was just a case of vehicular accident,,the girl was transferred via ambulance, and all of us who were left were stunned..

After few days, the girl came back to our hospital for wound dressing..and everyone was just quiet..the silence was like killing me, and something inside felt like bursting and wanting to inquire about the girl's status after that trauma..but, unfortunately, I didn't had the chance..=(

bsveillon · May 2, 2011

I once saw a 14-year old boy die from a drive-by shooting. All his fellow gang members carried him in, one holding the back of his head together. No, he didn't make it. That was probably the hardest.

imanedrn · May 2, 2011

Pediatric code. 3 months old. Born premie, birth defects, trach'd. Hardest death I've ever witnessed, although he was probably DOA.

I've gotten used to watching adults die. It's harder to watch their families suffer. But the death of an infant, although he's not suffering anymore... that was hard. I couldn't help bag the body. I hadn't cried from work issues in a looong time. After that, though, I had to go outside for a smoke, tear up, and call a good friend.

OP: Sadly, it does get easier. You become used to seeing people die or suffer. Don't ever lose touch with your humanity though.

Good luck.

Footballnut · May 14, 2011

Wow, big step from no medical experience to life in the ED. I've been there way too long to pinpoint any one situation. I realize that people are more themselves, more anxious and more in crisis than almost anywhere else. It's a whole different reality than most people experience at work and you get to be there helping people through their problems, some very extreme.

The situations that have always bothered me the most are the ones that I can personally relate to most easily. Like when I had my baby at the babysitter and a SIDS baby came in from his babysitter's home and died.

DeadHeadRN, BSN, RN · May 14, 2011

My very first day in the ED we had an 8 year old Down's Syndrome pt come in via ambulance. The family had been at church when the little girl started seizing. She had no history of seizures. So when she came in she was talking and laughing, no signs of any problems. As soon as we got her onto the stretcher she had a seizure, so I ran to the med room to get Ativan. I was in the med room for all of about 30 seconds and when I walked out to bring the Ativan to the pt, she had coded. The girls mother was a pediatric nurse at another hospital too, so she knew exactly what was happening the whole time. We coded that little girl for over an hour. Toward the end the mother just started talking really quietly while she was holding the little girl;s hand. She just kept saying over and over "My baby! You can't die, I don't know how to live without you." It was the most horrible experience of my life to watch a mother lose a child right in front of her eyes. That was the worst code I've ever been a part of.

A few weeks ago we had a 3 month old baby come in coding. It appeared to be a SIDS case, and the baby did not survive The family was heartbreaking.

These types of things are going to happen and they suck. Watching people die is heartbreaking. But I promise, it does get better. I suggest going to your nurse manager or whoever you feel is appropriate and ask about support groups they have at your facility to help people deal with these types of things.

Hang in there. You'll find that the good definitely out-weighs the bad. Good luck!

NurseMaybeBaby · May 15, 2011

Thank you everyone. It's been a few weeks and I have seen a few more deaths. It's not really getting "easier", but I'm learning how to handle it. I absolutely LOVE my job and I have no doubt that I've made the right choice. The good definitely outweighs the bad.

Thanks again for all of the posts and words of encouragement!

Jennifer, RN · May 21, 2011

The worst thing I have seen is a woman came in by medics, 38 weeks pregnant, hypertensive 140s/90s, headache, n/v, proceeded to rapidly become more hypertensive and coded within 5 minutes of being in the ER. We were unable to get her back, emergency c-section performed (INSANE!!) and baby coded. NICU got baby back, rushed to the NICU. Pt's husband sat with pt for hours in the trauma room after her death. Tragic!

And about 1 month prior to that, same thing, except pt was 28 weeks pregnant, brought in after witnessed collapse, coded in field, brought in still coding, emergent C-section but baby did not make it.

Dragonnurse1, ASN, RN · May 22, 2011

I a SIDS baby that started to mottle before the MD would quit, a 16yo pregnant female shot in a drive-by and we took the babies in the ER; the list goes on. Of the adults non affected me like the death of my very first AIDS patient but that is a story for another time and place. We worked nights and after we clocked out all of our night shift nurses and desk clerk meet on the parking deck. We would debrief - talk about the night and express our feelings - and then go home and comeback the next night. This informal debriefing helped keep us all grounded and helped us to keep going.

Death never gets easier to deal with, it just gets less stressful. But ever deaths sometimes comes with weirdly funny things. We had a family pull into the ambulance bay and ask us to "take a look at Grandma". Grandma was dead in the backseat of the car but we moved her into a trauma bay, called the nurse suprv. and waited for him to get there. A family member came back to see what was going on and the Doc told him "not well". Before the supervisor could get down to the ER the woman's daughter came back and informed us, "if she is dead just tell us because we still have 2 more hours to drive to get home". We were stunned. They left and left Grandma with us just as if they left some old clothes. That one I remember as if it was yesterday and it happened in 1999.

Find someone on your shift that has worked the ER and knows that you are in school that will talk with you for a few minutes after work. Just 5 minutes to talk about what you experienced and that may help. Just remember if you work in a hospital you will be faced with the death of a patient (in the ER you tend to see more of it) and you will experience the beginng of life as well. One of your biggest allies can be your faith. Keep your faith in your heart and you will be able to handle whatever comes your way.