What's the meanest thing a patient has said to you?

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Just curious, what's the meanest, rudest, nastiest thing a patient has said to you? Tonight I had someone tell me they wished I would die and go straight to he!! Then they said they hoped it rained everywhere I went. They also told someone they were a son of a b. What's your best line?

Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

My EP psych patient tonight made up a little diddy...it went something like this "earth fire air water please answer my request...earth fire air water take this b**** away tomorrow"

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I had a patient's family tell me, "you're a piece of **** because you're not doing anything to help my father!" I was doing everything I could being a cna to make their elderly father more comfortable with his back pain, he already had a PCA set up along with orals.

It it was an awful night to begin with, it just put me over the edge and I ended up crying in the room in front of this elderly man and his family.

I left the room as fast as I could, went in the break room and broke down. After the doctor working that evening heard what happened (side note he was the most kind hearted Doctor I ever worked with) he came into the break room to make sure I was okay and told me I handled the situation better than he would have.

The RN I was working with basically scolded me for not talking to her before our lead nurse (because she was working on an admit at the time).

It was something that I will never forget and I am very happy I didn't work with the RN very long after. She transferred to a different hospital after she found out her husband was making more as an RN than she was at the same hospital.

I still think about it when I'm working with difficult patients and families with pain issues. There's only so much I can do to help.

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I had a patient--perfectly alert and oriented who was mad at me because I made her walk to the bathroom post op and wouldn't give her the bedpan she wanted. She looked right at me---8 months pregnant---asked if this was my first child and then said " I hope your baby dies!"

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Specializes in OB.

One evening while trying to finish up the admission papers on a laboring 17 year old (she was just in early labor, but not dealing well with it), she wanted to know how much longer it was going to take. I told her I was on the last page and then had to start her IV. She then called me a "f&%@ing b%@$&!" So I calmly picked up all of my papers and told her that when she was ready to finish up to just let me know and I walked out of triage. I heard her mom on the phone saying, "right now the nurse is refusing to take care of her." Yes, I am! I didn't put her in that situation and I didn't deserve to be called names. And I couldn't believe she didn't say anything to her daughter for talking to me like that! I waited about 5 minutes or so before I went back in and the girl apologized so I could finish. The best part of everything, though, was that after she was moved to her room and settled in, by the time she got her IV bolus for her epidural, she was too far along to get it! She ended up delivering with nothing for pain. Karma!

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I was doing agency staffing at a state correctional facility for men. There was a fight at another area and the guard left me alone in a room with approx 30 diabetic offenders, as I was yelling you can't do this get back in here I heard an offender say, "I don't know what she is worried about she is meaner than any of the guards are". I loved that compliment so much I let him go first in line to get bs checked and insulin. In that environment you have to be tough and not super sweet and I was able to figure out who was bs me pretty easy and they didn't like that I was catching on. I guess insults are meant to be hurtful but it depends on how you choose to let it affect you. I am not giving anyone else that power to hurt me.

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I was a new training dialysis nurse in outpatient clinic and I am still slow to put patient on and my patient was very angry and said to me "Is this your new job? I said yes. The patient then told me "You better start finding a new job!"

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Specializes in Emergency, Trauma, Critical Care.

Umm fat ****** by a restrained drunk patient who then threatened to rape me and cut off my head. When his mom picked him up, he apologized to me and I told him" Grown men should not say such nasty things because next time he could be in jail and day that to the wrong person and get killed." Then he tried to back pedal saying he was only saying that to the cops. I then said, I was the only one at the door when you said those things, you really shouldn't drink. He turned red and mom smacked him the entire way out the door. She was furious he talked to a woman like that. I never saw him again so hopefully between his mom and me he would never drink again. He was mid 20s...old enough to know better.

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Specializes in MICU.

Great response. I would have said the same!

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Specializes in MICU.

Pt in 4 point leathers on meth, looked me dead in the eye and said" I know where you live, and I'm coming for you and I'm gonna kill your kids". He was out of his head, but scary none the less.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Mother-Baby and SCN.

Some of these are so funny, love the one about your heart being as cold as the handles on the walker :laugh:

I haven't really had many, but when I worked as a student in long term care with dementia patients I had a few :p One woman was as sweet as pie most of the time, but HATED getting washed/dressed/ready for the day. She would curse you down the whole time. Some classics from her: "Damn you to he**! Burn in he** Burn in he** black who*e" (i'm white). and my favourite "Son of a bi**h, you'll never be rich, son of a who*e you'll alllllwaaaays be poor!" I would just try to reassure her as much as possible and get her ready as quickly as we could. Then I would wrap her in a nice warm blanket and I would be her favourite person again, lol. Other than that haven't really had any mean comments, (and I didn't really even consider this mean due to her dementia).

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A cognitively-impaired patient called me a "mean old lady" and stuck out his tongue at me after I helped him to a BSC (for the 5th time in an hour - and, not my patient).

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Specializes in Trauma ICU.

I had a patient day he didn't want "No Ho Chi Minh sister" looking after him. Yup I'm Asian, just not Vietnamese and no he was WAY too young to be a veteran of that war.

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