You Just Can't Fix Stupid!

I don't remember who said it first, but this little gem of truth has stuck with me for thirty years:

Stupidity is a lot like nuclear energy---it can be used for good or for evil, but either way, you don't want to get any on you.

This is never more true than when taking care of patients who have done incredibly idiotic things to themselves that require medical attention. I've had a few who make me feel as though my I.Q. drops 25 points every time I walk into their room.........as if their stupidity somehow rubs off on me and causes me to go through the rest of my day pulling boneheaded stunts, like writing half a page of nursing notes in the wrong patient's chart and going home with the narc keys.

If I nurse for another forty years, I'll never forget the young tough-guy wannabe who was admitted to our Med/Surg floor some years ago for repair of his left testicle, which had evidently been in the way when he decided to make like John Dillinger and shove his TEC-9 in the waistband of his Wranglers. Apparently no one had ever informed him that this practice is a little riskier than they make it look on TV, and he was incredulous at the idea of having shot off one of his "boys":

"I can't bleepin' believe I bleepin' shot my bleepin' BALL off," he murmured as the effects of the anesthesia wore off. We should've known that the next four days would be a challenge as he recovered from his surgery and began to deal with what he'd done..........but we didn't have time to ponder this, as he kept us running back and forth the entire time he was in the hospital.

He wanted pain medicine. He wanted his girlfriend. He wanted Pepsi. He wanted McDonalds. He wanted more Pepsi. He wanted a candy bar. Mostly, he wanted sympathy: "Ohhh, this hurts so bleepin' bad, ow, ow, yanno how it feels to get shot in the nuts, oh, no you don't, you're a girl, owwwwwwwww!!" He whined. He cried. He put on his call light every five minutes. He did everything but take responsibility for his own predicament. "If that cop hadn't driven by at that second, none of this would've happened, yanno," he said repeatedly.

Naturally, Ms. Big Mouth here can only put up with so much sheer stupidity, so I asked him if he'd ever thought that maybe he shouldn't have been messing with the gun in the first place. I grew up around firearms and know how to use them.....and never in a million years would I be foolish enough to shove a loaded pistol into my waistband.

"NO," he answered with some vehemence. "Guys like me, we always gotta protect ourselves, yanno?" Well, I didn't know, but this reply gave me an idea, which was pretty much confirmed when one of the other nurses found traces of marijuana in the bathroom after one of his frequent 'visitors' had been in to see him. Additionally, a search of his belongings by the security staff turned up several baggies filled with weed, a pipe, and a couple of old pill bottles with crystal meth inside.

Does it get any dumber than dealing drugs from your hospital room? Yes, if you happen to be a lanky, dishwater-blond twentysomething from Felony Flats, Oregon. One lovely autumn day several months after his discharge, the word came up to the floor that he was back in the ER, again a victim of a self-inflicted GSW..........only this time, he'd not only shot off his remaining testicle, but a good portion of his manhood as well!

This is one of those things that you can't believe unless you see it for yourself. And as terrible as it sounds, all I could think of was how fortunate it was for society that this character had rendered himself permanently incapable of producing offspring........you just can't fix that kind of stupid. Yanno?

Specializes in ortho, hospice volunteer, psych,.
i can haz confoozlement?

ahh... someone else reads lol cats!

kathy

sharpeimom:paw::paw:

Specializes in cardiac (CCU/Heart Transplant, cath lab).
huh?

sharpeimom:paw::paw:

:yeahthat:

He qualifies for a Darwin Award, to those who removed themselves from the gene pool by an incredible act of stupidity that either kills them or renders them incapable of reproduction.

http://darwinawards.com/

I have the book, it is my hospital book, freaking amazing isn't it, you have to wonder.

Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.
ahh... someone else reads lol cats!

kathy

sharpeimom:paw::paw:

i don't know why, but that stuff just cracks me up!!!

Specializes in ortho, hospice volunteer, psych,.
i don't know why, but that stuff just cracks me up!!!

ahh... someone else reads lol cats!

kathy

sharpeimom:paw::paw:

my quotations are backwards, but i guess that's ok. . .

the orange and white kitty on the bearskin rug in today's looks just like

our frankie!

just enter lolcats.com and sign up and every day they'll send a series of captioned adorable cat pictures. the cats speak in lolcat speak.

kathy

sharpeimom:paw::paw:

As I say..."You can't escape the idiots!"

Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

That's for sure........they walk among us. And, they VOTE!:eek:

Specializes in Med Surg.

The scary part is that some of them become doctors!

Specializes in Neuro-Surgery, Med-Surg, Home Health.

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  • This happened in the early 1980's when I was still a newbie nurse. A young "You Just Can't Fix Stupid" guy living in San Francisco had a problem with head lice. So this guy asked a friend how to get rid of the lice. His friend adviced him to "soak his hair with gasoline, wait for five minutes, then shampoo."

So this "YJCFS" guy poured gasoline on his hair. He was going to wait 5 minutes before he was going to shampoo his hair, but sometime during the waiting period he got bored and decided to light a...cigarette!

WHOOOOOOOOOSHHHH!!!! "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!"

Twenty nine years and over a thousand patients later I still remember this "YJCFS" guy.

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Specializes in geriatrics, medsurg, group homes.

I just love this threads............ They lighten up my day, I only wish that we could read them at work to lighten up the day, but, we can't plus we don't have time. I work oncology and we need some laughs when things get bad. It never ceases to amaze me just how stupid some people are and that they are out on the streets........ Keep em coming

Specializes in pediatrics.

My little brother said years ago, the stupid will eliminate themselves. Here's to their success. :chuckle:tinkbll:grant that wish Tink!

if you are going to "store" a revolver in such a fashion, the first chamber should be empty......

that should prefaced in saying that the first chamber also needs to be in the right position as well- such things need to be spelled out for such people