Everybody has situations at work that feel slightly ridiculous at the time.
For those of us in office jobs, these frustrations are usually pretty run of the mill. An unnecessary email here, a request to do a menial job there. For Doctors however, these ridiculous situations are much more out of the ordinary.
These are some of the most ridiculous/hilarious presentations to Emergency, courtesy of Reddit and some crowd-sourcing.
The person who came in for sunburn.
“There was a person who was admitted to hospital because of burns. Turns out it was just a mild sunburn. They took an ambulance to the hospital and everything.”
The person who came in because his throat was torn open.
“I once had a 20 year old and his girlfriend come in at 2 am freaking out because ‘something had tore his throat open’. He seemed fine. No blood. Breathing fine. I had him open his mouth, saw nothing. So didn’t want him to lose confidence in me, clearly something had happened, so I’m looking, and looking… there is nothing wrong with this kid’s throat. Finally I say look, it seems ok…what do you feel or see? ‘I don’t feel it but LOOK ITS RIGHT THERE’. WHERE??? Looking, looking. It was his uvula. Somehow this kid had gotten to the age of 20 without ever noticing his uvula. Girlfriend was also horrified… I told them it was normal.”
The girl who had some crusty contact lenses.
“I worked at the ER during my internship and met a girl who had increasingly painful and red eyes since a couple of days back. The last 24h had been horrible. I asked about all the normal stuff, and she claimed to have no idea why she had this eye problem – she had never had anything wrong with her eyes. I proceed to drop some dye in her eyes to check them in a microscope, and when I do I realise she’s wearing contacts.
She didn’t like her natural eye colour, so she had bought a set of blue coloured lenses 8 months earlier. Never removed them, not even during night time. Didn’t even think to mention this to me, claimed to have no “foreign materials” in her eyes.
Needless to say, I gave her quite the harsh lecture and a referral to an ophthalmologist.”
LISTEN: A palliative care nurse shares the top regrets of the dying, on The Well. Post continues after audio.
Top Comments
I had a gentleman come in at 3 a.m. in the morning complaining of a headache that he had had for 3 months so I asked him what his accident or emergency was as the sign said outside of the hospital. Sitting opposite him was a man literally holding a piece of his forehead together after being in a car accident and a pole had gone through his windshield and skewered his head.
What sorts of doctors mock patients like this? How unprofessional. A doctor who mocks a kid for making a mistake about what he finds scary about his throat needs admonishing and counselling. Most of those examples warranted a consultation with a doctor. Mamma, have you forgotten that a lot of doctors don't bulk bill and patients have to resort to A&E?
dumb fucks like these deserve nothing but scorn!!!!
Disagree. That is funny. How can you not notice your uvula?!?!? Or your periods? Are these people living in a black hole without mirrors or Cosmo magazine?
Do you not realise that the emergency department us for emergencies???? While doctors are seeing these twats people with REAL problems are sitting and waiting...
Drs that are sick of uneducated idiots jamming up waiting rooms and taking space and resources from those that need it. Don't know if it says more about the general intelligence of our population or the state of parenting and education. This makes me give up hope for humanity!