What was the WORST thing a patient has been brought to ER for?

Specialties Emergency

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Let's have some stories about those traumas that you talk about for days in you ER's!

Specializes in med-surg.

Just wanted to subscribe to this fascinating thread...

Keep 'em coming!

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Specializes in med-surg.

My name is Lily and I'm an ER stories addict...

I can't stop reading!

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Specializes in med-surg.

I guess I'm not alone struggling to come to terms with my morbid fascination with the kind of cases being described in this thread... :-)

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I wasn't working this night but this is the story I got the next day.Approx. 20 year old male riding ATV while intoxicated (favorite past-time in my state which is why WE refer to them as "after-life transport vehicles).

The young man flips up onto a telephone pole and his scrotum was caught(and ripped) on the steps of the pole (the little metal things sticking out that lineman climb). EMS arrive, scoop and run to the ER trying to control bleeding. The guy ended up going to the OR.

But the best part, is the young man's best friend saw that his buddies "family jewels" were dangling and grabs them off the pole and is in hot pursuit of the squad with his prize in tow.

No one knows what happened to the young man, other than he lived to tell the tale. But everyone in the ER learned the definition of a "true friend" that night and is now an expression for how we treat each other.....

Any, "you know I have your back" is quickly followed by, "yeah, but would you grab my n*ts off a pole?":coollook:

:chuckle

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21 y/o male ejected during rollover MVC. Nasty head injury, facial fractures, lost one eye. Expected to be in a vegetative state for the rest of his life. Happened on Thanksgiving day. Woke up on Christmas day asking for his wife. Released from hospital in late January with minor deficits.

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Keep 'em comin' guys!

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Specializes in L&D, Family Practice, HHA, IM.

Just wanted to say how much I admire and respect y'all for all that y'all do. God(dess) bless. :icon_hug::bowingpur

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Specializes in CVICU, Burns, Trauma, BMT, Infection control.

I was working in Burns,I admitted a pt who was transferred to our Burn Center from another country where they have very poor medical care. At that country they basically put this pt in a open air room to die after just painting him with gentian violet. One of his pals got him to our country(can't go into details) and I prepared a room,EMS called from the airport with details(no trauma center at that time). We admitted him,he was SEPTIC and SMELLED of decay. I didn't hold out much hope for him.

He was a nice man,awake alert and thankful and he was surprisingly stable until I took care of him a week later. When I came in I saw multifocal PVCs on monitor and notified resident to start drip,draw lytes and to make long story short he was very hypokalemic (2.4mEq/dl) and was putting K out his N/G from,diarrhea,burns etc. Also his magnesium was fib and we resuscitated him,got him intubated and on drips to try to correct hypokalemia,hypomagnesemia,etc. I wasn't familiar with Torsades until then but I sure got familar with it that night as he arrested 73 more times before they finally put a transvenous pacer in to override his rate until his K was corrected. Yes 73 more times,we tried to cardiovert him but he would just progress into flat line if we used any other than full charge. This was in the 80's before external pacers were available. He would be awake at the beginning of the torsades but as it progressed would lose consciousness,the doc who was very sweet would apologize to him just prior to shocking him,I saw pt's feet kind of jerk back and forth in anticipation then he'd be back with us.

I pretty much stayed in that pt's room along with several other nurses,residents/fellows until they got him on the pacer at about 0430 in the morning. I hadn't even got to drink anything,much less have a bathroom break.

Once he had stabilized(read stopped arresting) we could finally get a few other things done including change his dressing. I had a hard time sleeping upon going home after that for about....forever.

I didn't really hold out much hope for him he was so very sick. He was neurologically intact though and after a very rough couple of months he did walk out of there. He was very thankful to us for all we did,he didn't hold a grudge at all.

His survival was and is still pretty much a miracle in my mind,I try not to give up hope on anyone,much.

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