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While frequent viewers of hospital-based TV shows might think they have an idea of what the medical field really looks like, the truth is very often stranger than fiction. After all, not only is the human body bizarre in many ways, but many folks make truly questionable decisions and end up requiring an ER visit and a perplexed doctor.

Someone asked “Anyone who works in hospitals: What's the most insane thing you've seen?” and people shared their stories. So get comfortable as you read through, be warned, some of these are gruesome, upvote the most interesting and be sure to comment your own thoughts and experiences below.

#1

Hospital worker in scrubs sitting in a wheelchair, looking out the window. Define insane. Critical care doctor here. Insane? A late 20s year old woman of about 35kg/120cm size (thats 77lbs/4ft) with multiple congenital abnormalities resulting in an inability to eat, talk, read, or understand who had been that way since birth. She required total care for EVERY bodily function, and had for her entire life. She was in and out of the hospital monthly due to what was essentially unfixable body failure. Each time we had to jam tubes in her, put her on various forms of life support, and repeatedly subject her to painful procedures while knowing all along that we could not, and would not ever FIX her in any kind of meaningful way. She was neurologically "gone", yet her mother insisted she responded to her and expressed her feelings, insisting that we "do everything". Ultimately, we had to put this poor soul through the pointlessness of prolonged CPR before she finally died.

THAT was insane. And cruel.

hotjalapenolover , Curated Lifestyle / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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Livingwithcfs
Community Member
6 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There are times that a person should be allowed to go. It was plain cruel to her to keep her alive, organ failures are apparently painful. It was also cruel to the mother, although she probably didn't realize that but she stopped living when that child was born, she just existed much like her daughter.

Huddo's sister
Community Member
6 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I agree. It's a hard thing to do, but you need to weigh up the impact of keeping people going in those situations. Both of them would have known nothing but hospitals for 20 years.

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Huddo's sister
Community Member
6 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Carl Roberts needs to learn the difference between death being forced on people who have no reason for it and the kindness of letting someone who knows nothing but pain go, but I'm sure he doesn't really care.

Deborah
Community Member
5 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We are so much more humane to our animals than out humans. The mother was so selfish.

Huddo's sister
Community Member
6 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I agree, both insane and cruel. Parents really need more counselling on quality of life for their disabled children. Losing a child is one of the hardest things for a parent, but sometimes letting go is the best thing for them. For my older brother, this point was when he was intubated and not able to be taken off it without losing oxygen levels, even though he was conscious, because loss of muscle control meant his lungs couldn't pump properly. Really, he could have gone up to two years earlier and we would have understood, because it took so much effort for his organs and muscles to function, he was exhausted a lot. If you look at any photos of him during that time, he was always half asleep and not looking that happy. When my younger brother was found to have the same condition my family decided he would not get to the point of needing intubation long term, because it is too traumatic an experience and means no quality of life.

Huddo's sister
Community Member
6 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We thought that would be when he was 4, and ended up in ICU, on and off the respirator. Everyone came in to say goodbye over the course of about a week. Then we learned about a relatively unknown (at the time) machine, bi-pap. We still didn't think it would mean a good quality of life for him, as the doctors thought he would be on it 23 hours a day. He was determined to try though, and he ended up only needing it at night or when he was unwell, for most of the rest of his life. He was a kid who was determined to have the best life he could even though he knew it would be short (after a period of depression when he was 18 months old and our older brother died. He stopped eating and refused to do much for months.) and he did it, with our help. Even at the end, he was constantly smiling and laughing, so much that he would stop breathing sometimes and his pulse oximeter would alarm and we'd have to use the bag and mask!

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Becca not Becky
Community Member
5 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This really highlights the need for a large explanation of palliative care, DNR/DNI, and comfort care, but that's way too deep and lengthy to explain in a BP comment.

The Starsong Princess
Community Member
5 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My friend’s mother is 98 and has been bedridden for a decade. She has Alzheimer’s and hasn’t spoken or recognized anyone for almost as long. But every time she is sick, my friend insists everything be done for her including antibiotics and surgery. The doctors keep suggesting that they make her comfortable and let her go but my friend won’t hear if it. I feel so sorry for both of them.

ॐBoyGanesh
Community Member
4 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I once saw a rather bizarre student film (animation) about (the biblical) god breathing the “breath of life” into Adam. The setting was an ethereal place where all these breaths waited to find their bodies, where once joined they become a soul. Again, as per the Christian bible. The breaths would communicate & chat with each other both in the heavenly place & newly formed bodies. Some of these breaths would return to otherworldly plane having had a false start, symbolizing miscarriage or abortion. Other would have a rocky start giving it a try at joining breath-body & ultimately failing to return to the holding place. This, symbolizing SIDS & other infant mortality or broken bodies that couldn’t contain the soul or maintain life. It was rather an odd piece of work for a secular, state university, but it wax so profound I remember better than my own film projects from 30 years ago & it’s the closest I’ve come to participating in Christianity. A nest take on life/death & coping.

ZombieMommy
Community Member
3 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is why abortion should always be available. There is zero qualify of life from birth, only pain and suffering because of the Mother's emotions.

Kim Gatlin
Community Member
1 day ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You're not even allowed to torture enemy combatants in war. And this was an innocent person who couldn't even begin to understand. What makes people this illogical?

Justbecause
Community Member
4 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In 2020 a local mother got arrested for trying to end her 6yo daughters life. Daughter was high needs in every way, needed help with everything and existed in a darkened quiet room. Mother and Dr were reported, arrested and went through court. The parents had exhausted all available help. It was a subject that divided the community, it is a very polarising topic.

R.C.
Community Member
4 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm a firm believer that just because we CAN do something doesn't mean we SHOULD do something. I know it's a huge grey area though.

Lena Flising
Community Member
5 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Perhaps some board ought to be able to grant a DNR if the near relative who is in charge of medical decisions can't handle letting someone go. (When the person themself is unable to make decisions on their own behalf, that is.)

Becca not Becky
Community Member
4 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In the USA, we have ethics committees at hospitals for that kind of thing but it's still hard to get a DNR that way.

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Alex hayes
Community Member
5 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You want a parent to just know they have to give up their child? How do you know? When do you stop fighting for your child? It's a parents job to keep their child alive and to fight for them. How can you expect a parent to know how and when?

Angela C
Community Member
5 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Being a parent means doing what's best for your child even if it's difficult for you

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Carl Roberts
Community Member
6 days ago

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This sounds like an ad for government sanctioned euthanasia. You know who else thought the deformed and mentally deficient should be eliminated? A certain Austrian guy (with a little mustache), named Adolph.

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    #2

    “Like Something In A Movie”: 36 Hospital Workers Share Their Wildest Stories A big thing for me was during Covid when the morgues were being overfilled, we had two staff members essentially on full time duty rotating corpses in and out of the fridges we were using because there wasn’t enough space to keep everyone stored.

    You’d stack two corpses on top of each other (provided they were small enough), and every thirty minutes you’d swap a gourney out of the fridge.

    It’s one of those things that still pisses me off about Covid deniers. That was during full lockdowns. The idea that people still think the situation was being exaggerated is absurd to me.

    JoesShittyOs , Kenny Eliason / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    Libstak
    Community Member
    6 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Now that we have come through it, the deniers are getting even more rabid with their claims the lock downs and precautions were all some Government conspiracy and the shots are either useless or going to kill everyone who took them. Because of this, if the next pandemic strikes any time in the next 2 decades, there will be disinformation and riots compounded to the point nothing will work to limit any spread and it will be the disaster covid would have been had no one acted multiplied by 1000. God help us. Then the attacks on government and care givers will be because they did not do enough or the conspiracy theorists will claim it is about population control.

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    #3

    Hospital worker in scrubs resting on the floor, embodying wild hospital stories atmosphere. What nurses are expected to accomplish in a 12 hour shift. It’s complete BS how the nursing staff is pilled on, what use to take twice the nurses to accomplish. Welcome to America, where nobody cares as long as insurance companies are making money!

    No-Independence-6842 , Getty Images / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    Aspiring Canuck
    Community Member
    6 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    It’s not only in the US. We’re facing similar challenges in Canada, largely due to a labour shortage in healthcare.

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    #4

    Leech on skin, related to hospital workers' wild stories, resembling a scene from a movie. Therapeutic leech decided to make a run for freedom and somehow escaped the ICU room and made it across the hall before the nurse realized. Left a trail of blood all the way from the bedside out into and across the hallway.

    Most disturbing though was probably a woman in the trauma ICU after sustaining a traumatic brain injury when a tree fell onto her car while she was driving. The tree killed her teenage son who was the passenger in her car. The TBI had severely impaired her short term memory which meant she kept waking up on the icu, panicking, asking how her son was doing and demanding to see him. So several times a day this woman would learn anew that her son was dead. We had to ask the hospital ethics department if we should keep telling her he was dead (she was very insistent on seeing him if she was told he was alive) and force her to re-live that pain over and over OR lie to her repeatedly. It was horrendous.

    Sp4ceh0rse , GlebK / wikimedia (not the actual photo) Report

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    Earonn -
    Community Member
    6 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    And it started so nice with that funny leech escapologist...

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    #5

    Hospital workers in surgery, wearing scrubs and masks, under bright lights. 20 year old put his sport bike into guard rails at high speed. Arrived alive and ultimately survived with left arm, left leg, and right leg completely severed from his body. Just formalized all three amputations in surgery for hemostasis and skin coverage.

    Runner up was a girl in her 30s with a locking blade knife through stabbed through the left temple all the way to the hilt with the blade crossing through her sinuses to the other side of her face. She was completely fine and we removed the knife with no significant problems resulting.

    onacloverifalive , Olga Guryanova / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    Huddo's sister
    Community Member
    6 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Most people I know who rode motorbikes in their 20s-30s/40s quit because they lost so many mates to accidents like that. Even if you take care when you ride, you can't predict what other vehicles will do and you have far less protection than them.

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    #6

    Hospital worker holding a patient's hand, showcasing a dramatic, movie-like moment of care. I’m a hospice volunteer and I visit a patient in a facility that is mostly old people on Medicare. The other day the census was 85. There were 10 employees total, only 5 of them were nurses. It is like a vision of hell.

    Maleficent_Scale_296 , Curated Lifestyle / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    Simon Chen
    Community Member
    5 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    That is why i hope to just drop dead in my garden in the ripe age of, lets say, 95 with no other issues. I really do not want to die in a hospice or a hospital where everybody is just hoping i die a little bit quicker. But i do not think that anybody wants that.

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    #7

    Hospital ceiling under construction with exposed wiring, evoking wild stories setting. My wife is a nurse and used to work in an ER close to a major city. They had a lot of mental patients come through all the time. Usually these patients have someone who sits at their door and keeps an eye on them. The person fell asleep so the patient tried to escape....by climbing into the ceiling tiles. He made it further than you would think and the security guard waited until the guy was right above him, punched his hand through a tile, grabbed the guy's ankle and pulled him down through the ceiling. I always thought that sounded like something in a movie.

    HereForTheComments57 , Karolina Grabowska / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    #8

    White car parked on a road with leafless trees in the background. 3 year old twins came into the peds ER both dead on arrival from a vehicle roll over accident.

    Their parents were care flighted to another hospital in critical condition. It was the twin’s birthday and the parents were taking them out to their birthday party. I still tear up thinking about that case… I never learned what happened to the parents.

    _Who_Knows , Oliver Augustijn / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    #9

    Red chainsaw on snow-covered logs, evoking dramatic, movie-like hospital stories. Guy went into his neighbors garage and used a saw to cut his own leg off. He was with us for a couple weeks. I asked him “why would you do that?” soon after admission. He simply stated, you can cut your hair or nails why can’t I cut my leg off? Welp can’t argue with that logic. It wasn’t until (a few weeks later) he was working with therapy and trying to manage transfers and daily living tasks, that he came to the realization, “yeah maybe I shouldn’t have done that”.

    Kajmnhc4 , Rk kuva / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    #10

    “Like Something In A Movie”: 36 Hospital Workers Share Their Wildest Stories The bills from my workplace charge people $4.5-5k for a CT scan that takes 10 minutes and costs the hospital like $100 max in costs, the radiologists bill separately and only like a couple hundred. The CT scanners paid for themselves many many years ago as they scan several dozens daily and rarely ever break. .

    SavePeanut , Getty Images / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

    #11

    Hospital workers in surgery, focused on a complex procedure with medical instruments. I was 11-7pm Critical Care Supervisor in a 400 bed Community Hospital in Texas. Around 1981 or so. We had a rush admission from the Oncology floor. A middle aged lady with Ovarian cancer and metastases started to vaginal hemorrhage. The ER physician on call for codes ordered her transferred while I tried to get a hold of her Surgeon. He wouldn’t return calls or attend the patient. I got orders from the ER Doc for heavy pain medication and called the Chief of Surgery who was there in 30 mins. The RN’s and Aides were carrying basins of blood out of the room. Thankfully she passed relatively peacefully. The Surgeon was throw off the staff when more neglect and poor treatment was revealed.

    YorkshieBoyUS , Getty Images / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    #12

    Dimly lit hospital hallway creating a cinematic atmosphere. One of funniest was patient on Halcion sleeper (now off the market) thought he was a bear and roamed the halls naked, growling and pooping his bowel prep. He was “captured” in a female patient’s closet. He suffered no injuries and didn’t remember a thing. One of many stories from the night shift.

    pjflyr13 , Nevin Ruttanaboonta / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

    #13

    Hospital worker in a gown sits on a bed, IV stand nearby, light streaming through a window. Some are there for months, and not one person came to visit.

    ProtectionContent977 , Curated Lifestyle / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    April Pickett
    Community Member
    6 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    That is sad. I live alone and sometimes wonder who will find my body if I die in my house. I had to go to the hospital for heart pain and both of my daughters were with me the whole time. I did get a medical alarm (highly recommend especially if you have a medical problem).

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    #14

    Cucumber and measuring tape on a blue background, captured in a hospital worker's wild story moment. Tie between >1000 bee stingers in a person, a whole cucumber in the abdominal cavity of a CT scan, a patient who ripped his eyeball from the socket, and 3 liters of pus drained from a lung cavity. Not the same patient, but still..

    Illustrious_Hotel527 , charlesdeluvio / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    Nina
    Community Member
    4 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    So the cucumber turned out to be a murder, the eyeball was a psych patient and the bee-sting person was there for supportive care, they s raped the stingers off with index cards (tweezers would cause more venom to be injected). According to OP's comments. No word on the 3 liter pus-patient.

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    #15

    Close-up of a closed eye, capturing detail and texture, related to hospital workers' wildest stories. Lady came to the emergency department after super gluing her eyes shut.  Apparently mistook the glue for lubricaticing eyedrops.

    Affectionate-Focus98 , Edward Cordoba Bastidas / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    #16

    Fanta grape drink bottle with a focus on the label and cap. I’ve got a plethora to choose from but either labial necrotizing fasciitis on a 600+ pound woman, or tracheostomy maggots

    We also had a recurrent patient who’d get 1L glass bottles of Fanta stuck in his a*s. And since I know someone will ask, they were always grape.

    Gazoohustla69 , Nestergrapher nedie / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

    #17

    Hospital workers examining x-rays on a lightbox, discussing medical insights in a hospital setting. My co-resident intern year had an elderly man brought in by EMS for rapidly progressive bilateral leg weakness. The patient was the kind of person who hadn’t seen a doctor in decades. CT scan showed total occlusion of his abdominal aorta. The entire lower half of his body was dying. It was presumed he had an advanced malignancy that contributed to the hypercoagulable state, but by then the cause didn’t matter - too much of his body hadn’t been perfused properly for too long. The patient was calm throughout, seemed at peace with his impending death. He never even made it up to the floor, died in the ER. Fortunately they had called his son who made it to the hospital to be with dad when he passed.

    I didn’t even know total occlusion of the abdominal aorta was possible. The fact the guy had been walking until very recently and only called 911 because he couldn’t walk anymore really blew my mind. The human body is crazy.

    abbyroade , Getty Images / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    #18

    Doctor examining pregnant belly with stethoscope, illustrating hospital workers' experiences. Didn’t see this but was told this by a reliable source. A lady came into the ER convinced she was pregnant. Her belly was super swollen and she said she “felt” the baby trying to move into her vagina. She had an ultrasound and there was no baby. But there was a massive lump that turned out to be a FIVE POUND sh$t that was pressing into her vaginal canal. They actually weighed it after it was removed.

    YouThinkYouKnowStuff , Getty Images / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    Earonn -
    Community Member
    6 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    But that must mean she had bowel obstruction for quite some time. That's something you notice after a few days - and end up vomiting s**t because it can't go anywhere else. So, how could she think she was pregnant and have no other symptoms? Not trying to be snarky, just wondering where I'm making a mistake here?

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    #19

    Man relaxing on a tree branch, resembling a scene from a movie. Went there with a loved one on psych hold, so they had “subtle” security on us all the time.

      Until, that is, they guy came in who they had to pull out of a tree because he thought he was a monkey and was throwing his own s**t at the police. Suddenly security had bigger problems.

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    #20

    Two people exploring a dim hospital corridor, evoking cinematic atmosphere. Do mental hospitals count? I was a patient in a mental wing of a hospital ( long story ). I was there for 9 days and I was literally the only sane person there.

    Anyway 3 things I saw while I was there. The first was my roommate. He was around my age and relatively cognitive but lacked common sense and seemed to have the capacity of a 6 year old. In our room was a huge floor to ceiling cubby with 3 slots. He'd climb to the top cubby, and belly flop himself on to his bed, a solid 9 feet or so. Very similar to the kid from big momma house.

    The second was a Caucasian woman who was there because she jumped through a glass window. Her head was shaved bald and she had stitch and staples all over her scalp. She was hissing and trying to bite at the techs. She was also yelling out "Miller!"

    Lastly was a 700 pound woman who covered herself in some sort of shiny liquid what I assume to be soap because we were not allowed much. It was the middle of the night and I heard the techs on the ward call some sort of code. I peaked out my door and saw said woman, naked as the day she was born, oiled up, and slithering down the hall like a worm.

    Giverherhell , Daniel Tafjord / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    Upstaged75
    Community Member
    4 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    In my brief stay at one of those places I watched an elderly man attempt to put his sock on his knee over and over and over again. Apparently he thought it was his foot. It was extremely sad to witness.

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    #21

    Hand holding a gardening trowel, digging in soil, illustrating a hospital worker's unexpected story moment. I have a couple that stick out. First one I did not witness but was told about. Guy tried to [end] himself by walking into a samurai sword. Wheeled into the OR with the sword still in and still alive. He survived.

    Woman came in with an entire glass candle in her a*s. She specifically asked for it back after having to have it surgically removed.

    Another gal with a bottle of fingernail polish in her a*s. Her and her bf wanted to try a**l and apparently a nail polish bottle was all they could think of/find to "loosen things up".

    You know those little gardening shovels with the foam handles? One of those handles in a man's a*s. He claimed his wife did it to him to "test if he was gay".

    A writing pen lodged into a 20 something year olds urethra. He tried telling the doctor that he had swallowed it and it got stuck leaving his body. The doctor assured him that he was very well educated on the human body and that is not exactly how the body works, nor how it got there. Lmao

    A woman having a toe amputation. She was diabetic and let a sore get out of hand. When they first unwrapped her foot, you could see the tendons on half of the top of her foot. I then witnessed the doctor grab her pinky toe with what we call a penetrative towel clamp, and he just tugged it off. Not even forcefully. It was so rotted that it just slid off her foot like butter.

    And last but not least, this poor elder gentleman who had flesh eating bacteria... around his entire a**s. And had been fighting it for a good year, there was so much scar tissue + what was rotting away.

    Also fun fact, when men have laparoscopic surgery, the gas that fills the abdomen travels to the testicles. They blow up bigger than a softball. We have to squeeze as much air out as possible before pulling them out of anesthesia.

    _C00TER , Nel Ranoko / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    #22

    Realistic skull against a dark background, resembling a scene from a movie. Not the most insane, but certain very shocking.


    A young man (less than 25) tried to off himself with a shotgun blast under his chin after his GF died of cancer.

    He did not succeed. But what he lost was, his jaw, his nose, his eyes and part of his frontal lobe.

    I'm a physical therapist and was sent in to evaluate his discharge disposition.

    All his notes said was GSW to head. It did not specify the damages.

    He had no face, it was just raw meat and exposed bone. They couldn't really dress it because it would get in the way of his breathing. He had something like 14 reconstruction surgeries planned.

    He lost his PoA and his mom pushed for all of his rehab and care.

    Bearacolypse , Anne Nygård / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    Patsy Robins
    Community Member
    6 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I’ve nursed a few of these in my career. Don’t put a gun under your chin people, it usually doesn’t kill you but it never ends well.

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    #23

    Senior man sleeping peacefully under a floral duvet, evoking cinematic hospital stories. Had an admission on the medical floor. A man had been found at his home, lying on the floor. Apparently he had suffered from a CVA (a stroke) and had been on the floor for quite some time.

    The gentleman lived alone in a small house without neighbors nearby. He was eventually found (I am unsure by who and how); and brought to the ED.

    Upon his ED visit, he was found to have developed decubiti (bedsores) to one of his hips and upper arm; from where he had lain on the floor.

    There were maggots in the bedsores.

    rva23221 , Curated Lifestyle / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    Graf666Orlok
    Community Member
    6 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Maggots are a good thing. Civil war doctors and Victorians often weren't concerned with maggots in a wound as they only eat necrotic flesh and stave off infection. Maggot therapy is in use today as is leech therapy. They are natures clean up crew and as gross as they are, likely saved your patient from gangrene.

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    #24

    Hospital worker in scrubs and mask, standing under surgical lights, embodying wildest stories like something in a movie. From a previous answer to a similar question:

    Many years ago, when I was in my residence, a man entered ER with a hand in his forehead, walking by himself, asking for a doctor.

    You can imagine my surprise when I said "yes?", to him removing his hand and showing his injury - a perforating hole from a bullet.

    He was quickly moved to surgery after that. Later, I found the bullet didn't reach the brain, it was well buried into the skull bone.

    QuickNPainful , Christian Harb / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    Robert Trebor
    Community Member
    6 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    My brother worked as an admitting clerk in the ER of a hospital in New York. One night this big guy came complaining of a splitting headache. My brother gave him a number tag said to sit and he'd be called. The guy nodded and turned away, and my brother saw a hatchet embedded in the center back of the guy's head. Things happened fast after that. He had no impairment. The hatchet went in right between the lobes of his brain. His lady put it there, but he refused to press charges.

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    #25

    Motorcycle parked near an abandoned train, evoking a cinematic adventure scene. Don’t work in a hospital, but i was an EMT. Saw a girl and her boyfriend wreck a motorcycle on the highway, no helmets. Her arm was completely twisted on her back. We had to break it again to move it back in position. I felt so bad for her. She got plenty of d***s in the helicopter ride though so she wasn’t in pain for long thankfully.

    Longjumping-Bet5293 , Arteum / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    Renay T
    Community Member
    5 days ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Plenty of WHAT!? D!cks!? Don't censor important words or we'll come up with worse.

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    #26

    A close-up of a worn tennis ball on a textured surface, resembling a scene from a wild hospital story. I dont work in a hospital, but I have the utmost respect for an ER nurse on duty when I had to take a classmate to the ER in college.

    It’s 11pm on a Thursday and it’s quiet. The phone rings and the nurse answers. I only heard her side of the conversation:

    N: Hospital ER

    N: I’m sorry, what about tennis balls?

    N: a tennis ball machine? What about the machine?

    N: well how close to it were you when the ball came out?

    N: and it hit you in the face?

    N: yes, you should have a doctor look at that. Do you need an ambulance?

    N: well are any of your friends sober? You should not be driving after drinking and with a potential head injury

    N: no, putting your beer in the cup holder isn’t going to be enough. You either need to tell me where you are so I can send an ambulance or you need a sober person to drive

    N: I’m sure you are very good at driving left handed, but that doesn’t mean it’s ok to drive with a beer in your right hand

    N: ok sir. If you still need help please call 911

    At this point the caller hangs up, the nurse calmly puts down the phone, checks that there aren’t too many people around, and cracks up laughing. Apparently the guy thought the tennis ball launcher was broken so he went up and looked down to launching mechanism, and a ball was launched directly into his eye. Definitely not a sober situation. By the time my classmate was admitted and moved upstairs, there was a pool going on when/if the guy would show up. I still wonder about that guy sometimes.

    IntrovertedGiraffe , Paxton Todd / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    Lene
    Community Member
    3 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    ...and now we need the guy who looked into the machine go "OMG! that's me! Haha! Well, what happened was (stuff) and at the ER they did (whatever) but I lost my eye and it's a wild story that I will tell my kids when they are older. Haha!" (Or something like that)

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    #27

    Hospital workers in intense surgery, illuminated by dramatic lighting, evoking a scene from a movie. My old roommate was an ER trauma nurse and had a patient who was in a motorcycle accident (was not going to survive) that basically ripped his skin/ribcage completely off. One of the nurses took a video of the heart beating in his chest still & I will never unsee that.

    mhunter1323 , JC Gellidon / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    Debby Keir
    Community Member
    5 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The fact that the room mate showed you that video means they breached their code of conduct..

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    #28

    Hospital worker examining an X-ray, wearing a white coat and stethoscope, representing wild medical stories. I was a Radiology Assistant and handled a lot of images. Our office was remote and we pulled and read for several dozen hospitals.

    A fellow nicknamed "Jesus". He took an 80' swan dive off of a bridge onto railroad tracks. He was, amazingly, still conscious when they brought him in and he was talking to everyone, flirting with the nurses, and acting like he just woke up and was waiting on a cup of coffee. He broke dozens of bones but had no other major trauma. Not even a concussion.

    Piercings. Lots and lots of piercings. They show up on x-rays. Real weird when you see the name of someone you know pop up and see that oh, they have a half pound of rings in their labia or penis.

    Child abuse. The worst was when you would see an image and know that this kid had been broken and beaten before because they had healed the old wounds. I spent more than one shift talking down an ER doctor so they could do their job, when a child came in absolutely destroyed by their parents or caregivers.

    FabiusBill , Ahmed / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    Robert Beveridge
    Community Member
    6 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    "oh hey, Albert, long time no see." "I go by Prince Albert now. You'll see why soon!"

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    #29

    Surgeons in an operating room performing surgery, showcasing a dramatic scene like something in a movie. My sister is a nurse and she told me one of the worst things she saw was a woman who came in with an extreme case of a**l warts. Like so massive that my sister couldn’t even talk about it. I didn’t ask for elaboration.

    Tonubba-nabubba , César Badilla Miranda / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    Antablack
    Community Member
    6 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    We had a patient in with necrosed haemorrhoids. When we lifted their legs into stirrups, I saw them - it looked like a black cats head emerging from her a**s.

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    #30

    I have taken care of more than one person over the age of 90 years old who tried to end their own life due to inability to cope with pain anymore. Extremely sad, but also understandable.

    Lowest Hgb I ever saw was 3.5 (normal was above 12 at least). Person was walking / talking.

    And absolutely floors me every time I see it, but fungating breast wounds. One that smelled so necrotic, that you could smell it down the hall and several rooms away. I was able to put most of my index finger in the breast wound and the patient could not feel anything.

    Birdy30 Report

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    Earonn -
    Community Member
    6 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    We can thank a religion that tells us that we're all going to a wonderful heaven when we die, but is very eager not to fall into the hands of its 'loving god' for this damn fixation of keeping a body alive instead of living a good life and end it without pain.

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    #31

    Surgeon in operating room, wearing surgical mask and magnifying glasses, focused on procedure. A patient came in because his toe “looked funny”. As a diabetic, my alarm bells were going off so I had him take his show and sock off. He looked down at his 4 toes and exclaimed, “Where did it go?!?”
    Moral of the story: patient takes their own clothes off.

    New_Section_9374 , JC Gellidon / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

    #33

    Blood draw from behind the knee in a long term IV d**g user. There just weren’t any other accessible veins left.

    Shelikestheboobs Report

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    Feathered Dinosaur
    Community Member
    5 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Had a similar situation with one once. He told me if anyone could still find a good vein it'd be him. So I handed him the needle and let him draw his own blood. Worked really well, too, even though he was high as a kite

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    #34

    Hospital room with an empty bed, dim lighting, and medical equipment, evoking a cinematic atmosphere. One of my friends works in the state hospital where I live. There's a guy in there that suffocated his great grandmother to death for throwing out his cigarettes. They used to keep them in a private hospital but he was too hard to handle so they threw him out.

    No_Reputation8440 , Frederic Köberl / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    #35

    Hospital worker in a gown sitting on a bed in a dimly lit room, evoking a cinematic aura. A patient who was a 1:1 but acting ok suddenly ran out of his room and punched the back of a new NP’s head, knocking her to the ground. She was young and in training and her whole career was ruined due to the health complications from it.

    Another is an IV d**g user taking off with an IV port…When we noticed he was missing, security saw footage of him walking off the campus 20 mins prior.

    Plaingirl123 , Getty Images / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    Debby Keir
    Community Member
    5 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    My daughter is an ER doc (small but perfectly formed) A very large male patient under another doc came down the corridor and attacked her. She managed to do a judo move and threw him down. It was caught on the CCTV, so security came - and then they shared her moves with the whole department, much to everyone's delight.

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    #36

    Do you have beer? I have stories.
    GF 1 caught a guy with GF 2. In the ensuing argument he handed GF 1 a sawed off .22 rifle and said, “If you feel that way, shoot me”. So she did.
    One shot pierced his stomach, severed his superior mesenteric a, cut through the aorta and was lodged in his spinal canal (Without severing the cord!)
    We had MAST trousers back then and one of our ER nurses was moonlighting as an EMT. He got his partner putting on and blowing up the MAST. Mike put in 2 large bore lines and pushed in 4L of LR before the fast trip to our ER. The patient went to the OR in about 10 minutes of hitting our doors.
    He took 35 units of blood that night. The surgery went so long that by the time they had repaired the aorta, removed most of his de vascularized stomach and all of his small intestine, his lower legs had clamped off. So he had a BKA on one side and an AKA on the other.
    After a month in the hospital, having survived all of that plus ARDS, he signed out AMA with intraabdominal drains still in place. To go spend the holidays with GF 1 up north.
    Thankfully, he never returned.

    New_Section_9374 Report

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    Angela B
    Community Member
    6 days ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    This would be a nightmare to read as a layperson. O P needs to remember that not all Pandas have a medical backgroung.

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