Doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel frequently encounter people at their most vulnerable, which can lead to some genuinely strange, astonishing, and even frightening situations. After reading the stories we’ve gathered for you today, you’ll have even more admiration for these medical professionals, whose bravery and patience are truly admirable.
- We used to have a resident patient who would repeatedly say, ‘hi.’ It drove us insane. After he di3d, a lady moved into the room.
I was working a double shift from evening to night when she pushed her call bell. I walked in, and she was pale and shaking. I had chills when I heard her plead, “Make him stop.”
“Make who stop what?”
“The old man standing beside the bed, he won’t stop yelling hello.” © Ephy Chan / Reddit. - I once observed an operation with a person who awoke asking, “Give it to me straight, doc, will I ever play the piano again?” Everyone was laughing, and then he said, “Oh, wait… I don’t know how to play the piano.” © Unknown author/Reddit
- A diabetic patient presented with a blood sugar of 39.
“What happened?”
“I wanted to eat a slice of birthday cake, so I took my whole bottle of insulin.” © NurseNikkiLee/Reddit - I’m a nurse, and one of the strangest things I’ve witnessed during a birth is a patient opting to tell her lover that it wasn’t his baby. That silenced the entire room, and the guy left without saying anything. © The_Sargent_Sarcasm, Reddit.
- My patient was anesthetized and exclaimed, “Roy Halladay is a vampire reincarnated as Duke Ellington.”
I’d never tried so hard not to laugh. I still have fits of hysterical laughter about it. © Jeff_the_Nurse/Reddit - A woman went to A&E because she had dark marks all over her body, particularly her hands. It came out that her artificial tan had become uneven. © ilikecocktails | Reddit
- I had a patient arrive at the emergency department at 3 a.m. with popcorn trapped in their teeth. They were promptly discharged from the triage booth. © orchards_rest/Reddit
- When I was an ophthalmic nurse, a patient called in complaining of eye discomfort following cataract surgery. I asked the typical inquiries, including, “Are you having trouble seeing things clearly?” His completely sincere response: “Only when I close my eyes.” © Faelavie / Reddit.
- Prior to attending medical school, I worked as a scribe at a cardiology clinic. We had one individual with a history of heart failure and considerable swelling in his legs. He believed that drinking distilled water would help remove the fluid from his legs because it was “pure.”
He was admitted to the hospital and had almost 40 pounds of fluid removed. He repeated the process three months later. © McTaylor241 / Reddit - A woman reported “severe pain in her feet.” Her shoes turned out to be too tiny. © ***d***t92 | Reddit
- I work in an operating room and witnessed a patient try to put his dislocated shoulder back in place by having his friend lift his arm while he slammed into a door frame. We ended up repairing his shattered scapula with plates and screws. His reason? Vin Diesel did it for a movie. © Plumage07 | Reddit
- My husband, a doctor, returned home a few months ago and told me he argued with a diabetic patient. He advised the patient to cease consuming two large bottles of Mountain Dew every day because it was one of the key contributing factors to his diabetes worsening.
The patient said, “No, that’s not it. I’ve drunk this stuff my whole adult life and only got diabetes a few years ago.” The person fled, saying that his soda habit was fine. © torchwood1842/Reddit
We don’t have to work in medicine to have life-changing experiences. This article contains a selection of stories that will be remembered by people who have lived through them.
