There are so many ways one can end up in the hospital. Especially in the summer now that we're swimming, biking, and are just much more active.

So when a Quora user asked everyone on the platform "What's the most ridiculous thing you've ever witnessed in the waiting area at the ER?", many people had a story to share.

#1

A man walked into the ER with a non-emergent complaint and after being evaluated by the triage nurse was reassured and asked to take a seat in the busy waiting room. After a brief wait he walked over to the pay phone on the wall (pre cellphone era) and dialed 911. The ambulance soon arrived scooped him up and drove around the corner of the building to the ambulance entrance. Here he was unloaded placed in a hallway ( all beds being already occupied) where a separate nurse evaluated his presentation and complaint. Agreeing with the triage nurse he was ushered back into the waiting room and asked to take a seat and wait his turn. Now he had an additional $300.- ambulance bill.

Image credits: Ralph Croskey

#2

Cuss words are used in my following account! ER not waiting area, she couldn't wait.

So one Sunday morning I was doing an audit & happened to be in a satellite hospitals ER . A motorcyclist was brought in. Wide awake but mangled. A lady ran a stop sign in front of him & he collided with her minivan broad side at 45mph. Leathers were cut off & the blood started flowing, dudes just chatting, worried about his bike. The Dr is yelling for supplies not on hand in the ER ( surgery yes, but not ER) ( rural hospital). Well I had master keys to the facility, so I take his order & grab everything from the warehouse( basement) as I'm handing over the supplies … Oh this absolute B**ch comes screaming into the trauma bay.

Because she f**king chipped a fake nail & her nail lady was on vacation! This c*nt was standing over a guy that looked like a fly after getting hit by a magazine. Demanding the Dr fix her fu**ing broken Fake nail! Her husband is rich, her husband is on the hospital board…. Let's just say I was extremely rude when I escorted her out the door ( oh she tried to sue because she got bike dudes blood on her shoes…) I knew her father in law (dude that actually earned the family money & respect) she now must get health care 132 miles up the road now. Karma bitch!

Motorcycle dude, ended up with a lot of nasty scars, bones healed. He was/is a champion. Pretty bummed his Harley was a total loss, but he wasn't offended over what I said to that nail bitch. By the time he was released insurance bought him a very handsome new chromed out Harley. Fake nail damage is not an ER visit. Moron

Image credits: Kelli Saiz

#3

At a major city’s public hospital, 1974. A construction worker from nearby came in the ER waiting room to use the pay phone. The worker was wearing bib overalls. He dropped a coin on the floor. When he bent over to pick it up, a small .25 cal automatic pistol fell out of the bib pocket. When the junker pistol hit the concrete floor, it discharged… And the bullet hit the worker, so in effect he shot himself, and the bad news wasn’t over. After the ER patched him up, the police arrested him on a gun charge and took him to jail.

Image credits: Lewis Moseley

#4

Ok. Urban myths aside.

I was genuinely sat in A&E with my daughter after she broke her arm skiing.

Ambulance crew wheeled a gentleman through in a wheelchair with a blanket over him. But you could clearly see the vacuum cleaner attachment hanging out of the bottom.

Image credits: Robert Bone

#5

Before smoking was stopped inside hospitals I saw three women smoking while leaning against a trolley of oxygen cylinders until security saw them and made them extinguish the cigarettes and they could not see what the problem was.

Image credits: Roger Smith

#6

Someone brought a hot plate and was cooking a meal thinking they are discreet until I politely informed them that if they don’t unplug it and stow away everything they gonna be thrown out.

Image credits: Tarek Gavin

#7

A man who was stabbed by a large knife, stuck into the pelvic bone and insisting he fell on it.

Image credits: Sam Tower

#8

I was still a cop then and guarding a robbery suspect who the dogs had had a feast on. An ambulance brought in a couple on a stretcher…

He on top of her. Apparently he had been winding it properly doggy style and she just clamped up on his item… a pretty severe case of vaginismus from what I understood from my mate who was in the ambulance crew who picked them up, they'd been stuck for a couple of hours before phoning for help.

Image credits: Rognvaldr Asbjorn

#9

In purely the ER waiting room area, the area where triage and pre-admittance is done but after admission/reception area.

Would have had to have been a little old grandma having a three way armed standoff with taser armed hospital police, her knife wielding bogan family and her handbag swinging self.

She didn’t want to go into a nursing home but also didn’t want to go back with the bogan family. Her family didn’t want her to go anywhere lest they loose her government payments. And the hospital was like, calm down and we will talk this out.

In the end she was admitted for a broken wrist, eventually moved into a respite house. Family was not happy.

Image credits: Ross Pettit

#10

The most ridiculous thing that I saw in the ER waiting are was a guy who had slipped his wedding ring onto his manhood and it was apparent that he was in great discomfort from having an erection that he couldn't lose because the wedding band was still at the bottom of his manhood locking all the blood in his p*nis.

Image credits: Larry Eliachar

#11

It would be hard to rank them, but here's an example from over 30 years ago.

A man walked up to the desk and announced,” I have a extra hole in my a** I sat on a auger.” And to prove it, he dropped his overalls for everybody to see.

Image credits: Wilk Dedwylder

#12

When I broke my arm, I was on my own, and called a friend, who is great in a crisis, but otherwise, shall we say eccentric. She turned up in the E.R. dressed like Morticia Adams. People noticed.

Image credits: Jean Martin

#13

Actually, three of my girlfriends and I were the sideshow in an ER waiting room.

We were with about 200 people doing a medieval re-enactment when a friend of ours accidentally ate something with cinnamon in it - and he is deathly allergic to it. One of us was a nurse, and even with her quick action with an epi pen, he still needed to go to the ER. So, one guy in Viking clothes and armor, and four women in varying outfits from India (mine) to early Celtic, to Imperial Roman, to 14th century French, all troop into the closest hospital ER - and it was in a really, realllly rural area of Georgia.

Being the only hospital within at least fifty miles of anything, they were predictably busy on a Saturday afternoon. We were there for hours and bored out of our minds. We’re all gifted with warped Monty Python humor, and so we started riffing on it. I started talking about how “our husband” was doing, and that I hoped he would be alright, because I wasn’t prepared to jump on his funeral pyre. (Mine was also the “blingiest” outfit, so I was First Wife by default. We referred to each other as First Wife, Second Wife, etc.) The other people in the waiting room were gawking at us like we’d all grown third eyes and horns.) It was just too good to pass up - we had SO MUCH FUN with it. By the time our friend got sent back out, we had all jumped up and started fawning on him - our beloved husband! Alive! What joy! I didn’t have to burn myself up! He didn’t skip a beat, got two of us under each arm, and we all left, rejoicing - and probably giving the locals a bizarre story to tell.

Image credits: Ellen Wolf

#14

It was Halloween,

Some of the staff got permission to wear silly costumes, as long as certain regulations held up. (Understandable since no one wants a doctor dressed up as a killer clown to treat them)

I was checking on patients waiting in the ER, trying to make sure they have their insurance cards, water and some medicine if they needed it.

There was many people wearing costumes as well, some were funny, others were sexy, all around it was a crazy Halloween for sure.

Then I noticed a man sitting alone by himself. He probably came in with a friend and is waiting for news updates. So I went to visit him. He looked like your average butcher accident costume. White apron woth fake blood sprayed all over, molty hair and the obligatory big plastic butchers knife in the head.

I asked who he's with or what he's waiting on, and he replied “I'm waiting for this to be removed.” He said pointing to the prop sitting on top of his head. Some of my associates giggle. And I smile. “Yeah we will get that removed.” I say as I check his skull. I noticed that his costume does seem better dressed, he even applied fake blood to where the butchers knife curves along his skull so it sat on his head. Then it slowly dawned on me, it was not plastic, it was pure metal, that was real blood that was on the side of his head and the knife was indeed lodged in the top of his skull.

I reported this to the head nurse who came to use a metal detector wand and sure enough it was real, he was pushed up for next in line and was treated. The blade cut into his skull but not fully, still a millimeter and it would have been in the cranium.

Image credits: Matthew Rodriguez

#15

After being treated I was waiting in A&E as we call it and a man rushed in with a paper bag and said to the woman “I have Mr +++++ Fingers here”

The woman searched the cubicles and returned saying “We don’t have Mr+++++ here.

Mr+++++ had gone to one hospital and the fingers to another!

Image credits: Bob Coombs

#16

A patient explaining the benefits of smoking – while he smoked inside the ER waiting room.

He was having a psychotic episode and I brought him to the ER to be admitted for inpatient treatment.

This was back in the 80s when you could still smoke in many areas of hospitals. Since he was a psychiatric patient, they had us wait in a private room until he could be evaluated by a staff psychiatrist.

He was chain smoking, and after about the fourth cigarette in the tiny enclosed room I said, “Chuck, how come you smoke so much? Don’t you know it’s bad for you?”

He told me on the contrary, smoking is beneficial for your health. Then he explained his theory about how cigarettes help purify the air. You see, when you light a cigarette and inhale through it, all the impurities in the air are instantly incinerated on point of contact with the flame.

I told him I was skeptical and he said, “Believe me, it’s true. Look, I’ll show you.”

Then he put out the cigarette and tore open the filter.

“See?”

Sure enough, the used filter was this gross brown color with tiny little particles in it. Those were all the contaminants captured in this air purification system, which we commonly refer to as a cigarette!

Who knew?

He was finishing up the last of the pack when the doctor arrived to do the psych eval. I had no trouble getting Chuck admitted to their inpatient unit after he explained his theory about the health benefits of tobacco smoking to the staff psychiatrist.

Image credits: Jay Boll

#17

Not in the waiting room but while I was getting checked out this chick beside me had a pizza delivered due to her blood sugar being low.

#18

On my last visit to an ER, I discovered the waiting room was crammed full of 65 people and a Chihuahua! There were fewer than 20 actual patients, but they had shown up with family members, aromatic take-out meals from 5 or 6 different restaurants, and one “support” Chihuahua that belonged to the granddaughter of a patient. The girl ignored the dog completely, and let it run loose all over the waiting room, where it barked at everybody and bit people on the ankles until a supervisor told the girl to control the dog, or she would have to go sit in the car with it. It took me over 8 hours to get seen, not by a doctor, but by a nurse, and I will die on the street before I ever go back into that awful, filthy place again. Not that it matters, but I was the only patient with insurance on that miserable evening.

Image credits: Cherie Cone

#19

I had fallen the day before this incident, and had broken my arm; it wasn’t a bad break, I didn’t even realize how badly I had injured it until the next morning, when I went to the ER of what was supposed to be the best hospital in our area.

As I was sitting, awaiting my turn, the other people in the waiting room were with children with the sniffles. No likely fevers, the kids were all playing with their toys or looking at books.

Then the REAL injury came in. This was a boy, about 10 years old. He had scrapes on his arms and legs, had obviously broken an arm, and looked as if his ribs were likely broken as well. The front wheel had come off his bicycle as he was coasting down a steep hill in his neighborhood…the town was in the foothills of a mountain chain. Not naming it deliberately, btw. The boy’s mother got a wheel chair from the ER to bring him in, since he could barely stand.

A few minutes later, an elderly lady walked in, and the ER nurse kicked the boy out of the chair because “this lady needs it more than you do!”

At that point, I was called to the admissions desk for my turn; I asked why they were not checking out the boy who was obviously seriously injured. The reason: it wasn’t his turn!

I gave him my space over the objections of the ER nurse, and I spoke to the hospital administrator about their nonexistent triage team.

Image credits: Evelyn Metzger

#20

Once an inpatient wandered through the ER waiting area, pushing his IV stand, and he tripped on the cord. He was recovering from major abdominal surgery and when he tripped, his sutures tore. Out came his entrails!

I have no idea how a person in that condition was up and about, but the poor guy was elderly and may have wandered out of bed.

There is nothing to prepare you for the sight of spilling entrails. Nothing; it was ghastly. Someone passed out; people were vomiting. I’ve seen a lot of stuff and I got lightheaded.

Image credits: David Cannon

#21

Pre-Christmas. Man decorating tree and wife throwing chocolates for him to catch. He turns suddenly. Chocolate goes into ear.

Off to ER, where reception writes down the details and tells them to wait for call.

Just after “Cut in right leg,” comes the clarion call to crowded ER:

“Chocolate coated peanut in left ear!”

Image credits: Dick Pond

#22

This 55 year old average looking white man came into emergency who was shot- in the stomach- blood everywhere and the guy was absolutely freaking out thinking he was going to die. He waited about 6 hours moaning and desperate.. he begged the nurses for help and get irrational/scared they told him they didn't tolerate abuse and then he finally just left because the hospital was 'too busy' to help him- he was better off going 30kms away to a diff hospital.

Hope he is still alive out there somewhere.

Image credits: Thats-Insane

#23

I’m sorry to say that once while applying for a Physicians Assistant at (un-named hospital in Los Angeles) very Good and hard program to get in too! I witnessed patient care at its most EVIL & lowest spot on Earth!

A frail homeless woman had been waiting to be seen in this ER for a ridiculous amount of time, something in the neighborhood of 20 hours. No reassessment! No kind words! No looking to see if she was ok! FINALLY….she hadn’t moved for a while and Another patient told the staff and they did nothing! So….some security officer Dialed 911! Are you reading this? Because as a Paramedic also. I too have been called to an emergency room on a 911 call (separate yet equally ridiculous reason!).

Anyway back to our story. When the Fire Department arrived they pronounced the lady DEAD! Yes she was dead and had been dead for a long time in the emergency room while waiting for care!!! This really causes sensation the hospital ended up closing losing its charter and I chose not to go there for my training. In fact it was a pivotal point in my career because I became a fireman and a paramedic! Lesson learned? People should not die if they go to the emergency room from waiting!

Image credits: Mark Kram

#24

To put it plainly: a 48 year old male, wearing nothing but tennis shoes and sunglasses, standing on a platform next to a statue of The Virgin Mary, “meat spinning” his p*nis.

However, he did stop when asked. But that was only to hump Mary. And then promptly began spinning again.

#25

Someone with at least one gunshot wound patiently waiting to be serviced. Thats the story. I got called in before him and I was tempted to give up my spot because like, why? Must have been something I was missing, the man was bleeding out.

#26

That had to be me. I was suddenly panting and so out breath while going up the stairs. I became increasingly weak, and my heart was rapidly pounding. We took my oxygen level with an oximeter. 83%. So my husband hooked me up to his oxygen tank, and my oxygen levels went up to 91%. I rested. He called his doctor-son to describe my symptoms. “It’s a pulmomary embolism!! ER NOW!!”

We should’ve called 911 right then. I needed professional medical transport with EMT care. Tick, tick, tick…I literally had minutes, if not seconds, to live. We piled into our car and husband drove us to the ER 20 miles away. Stopping for traffic lights.

We get to the ER and it’s packed. My husband had grabbed a wheelchair to wheel me in from the car, as I could no longer stand up.

We went up to the admitting desk. My husband told them urgently that I was having a PE. The admitting clerk just looked at me passively and told me, basically, to take a number. No kidding.

Half an hour went by, and I’m slumping over in the chair, literally turning blue. When it became my “turn” to be taken back for examination, the whole ER team back there exploded with action, consternation and incredulity. They couldn’t believe I was left to sit out there without even being given oxygen. They also couldn’t believe I was still alive, as Xrays and scan showed I had thrown multiple PEs. They called in a special surgical-strike team (literally called up outta their beds that night) and whisked me off to surgery, leaving my husband to stand there slack-jawed. Fortunately for me, this clot-busting team functioned as precisely and quickly as any NASCAR pit crew. !!!

If you have a medical emergency as I did, or even suspect that you do, call 911 and go to ER by ambulance!! I would’ve been in surgery and care an hour sooner if we had done that. Geez, talk about stoopid. But it was ridiculous that I was left out in the ER waiting room slumped over in a wheel chair, actually turning blue. Duh.

Image credits: Barbara Anderson

#27

When my daughter was 7 she and her sisters got it into there heads that bushes were green fluffy clouds and they should jump in them. Well 2 of the girls were fine the 3rd got a branch stuck in her leg…in the er we were in line behind a man who looked like he was having a heart attack…were all in the waiting area as they made him take a number too…

and she's bleeding quite badly a nurse comes up and says she's getting blood on the floor can't you do something about that?…she walks past the guy clutching his chest and calls the next number…he dies flopped on the floor about 10 mins later …we waited over a hour after that and no one came for him I complained and was told to go wait for my number to be called and not bother the desk…when we finally went back I again complained about the man on the floor but to the head nurse this time and they finally sent somebody out to the waiting room to check on him…. So the nurse that complained my daughter was bleeding in the waiting room complained that she was dripping blood all over the hall and into the room…I finally said I know she's bleeding this much that's why were here….

shortly after that the hospital was under new management and is a much nicer place. My daughter got the branch and splinters removed and they got the wound packed and put her on antibiotics…today she barely has a scar…I herd the guys family sued the hospital…

Image credits: Odie Smith

#28

How about Saddest?

The day I rushed my husband into the ER, it was swamped - every bed was full and the hallway too. We were lower priority, and he was stable, so we waited.

We happened to be right across the Isolation aka contageous room. For 2 hours I listened behind our curtain of baby after baby crying and coughing with Whooping Cough. I lost count at 20. I found out later, our city had an epidemic of cases. It was by far the most devastating sound one can ever hear. Vacinate your babies.

Image credits: Wendy Crow

#29

I had to take my GF at the time to the hospital for some issues she was having. They drained her issue and stitched her up. She didn't have great insurance at the time so she was just going to pay out of pocket. When we got finished we were led to discharge. They said it would be $1500 and they would bill her. She wasn't excited. I asked if there were any self pay discounts. The administrator said yes, if you pay right now its AN 87% DISCOUNT. I wasn’t sure if I heard her, so I asked how much. $195. No s**t, I am not making this up. Paid with credit card.

That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever witnessed in the ER.

Image credits: Michael Ferreira

#30

Some guy, high on dr*gs, began by pi*sing on the furniture. Then, he went outside, took off his clothes, s**t, and rubbed the s**t all over himself. True story. I didn't see it, but was called to help deal with the situation. Oh, I was a hospital employee at the time.

Image credits: Frederick Allen Conner

#31

Unfortunately, as someone who has both been there for myself and my family, I've seen a lot of weird stuff.

I was there for a visibly broken arm, patiently waiting (even though I was soaked in sweat from pain), because you know it's an ER and more life threatening cases go first.

There was a couple there, I'd say mid 30’s. A big guy was moaning and groaning about his chest and stomach hurting. His wife kept yelling her head off about how he was dying, having a heart attack, and he needed help immediately. But they've been waiting 25 minutes, she's gonna sue, she's going to call the cops, she's going to fight the staff to get him seen.

I sat there concerned, as he had been triaged but he was waiting for a bed to open up and admittedly, for someone having a heart attack, time is of the essence.

Suddenly, he threw up all over the floor of the waiting room… then let out the biggest belch I've ever heard. After that, he said he felt fine and wanted to leave.

Next, they called both him and me back. We ended up sharing a double exam room.

The doctor explained to the man that the EKG was fine, all his blood work was normal. They wanted to keep him overnight anyway, to monitor his condition. He refused, saying he knows it's not his heart, but wouldn't say why. His wife shouted them both down and got him admitted. Then she went home because they had little ones that she had to pick up from the neighbor's. When she left, he told the doctor what he did. On a dare with his friends, he swallowed a bunch of seltzer tablets and chugged a 2 liter of cola.

His problem was he had bad gas. The doctor recommended he didn't do that anymore, then washed his hands and came to my side of the room with a look of disgust on his face he couldn't hide.

Me on the other hand, arm broken in 4 places. Went home 30 minutes later.

Image credits: Goldie Medick

#32

It was my birthday and I had some friends over for a dinner party. One of my friends said that she had the perfect guy for me and asked if she could bring him. During dinner I offer wine. The guy she brought had some wine when he knew he cant on the medication he was on. He had a reaction and ended up going to the hospital in an ambulance. Then we all went to the hospital and waited in the emergency room area. They took him to psych. He was brought out into the waiting area on a stretcher and asked for my phone number.

#33

i took my husband to the ER about 7 weeks ago in the midst of a stroke. It was his second stroke, I knew what it was and that time was critical. An ambulance would have cost us time we didn’t have. While I was driving, I called the hospital ER and told them we were less than 10 minutes away, he was having a stroke and I would need help getting him into the hospital. They said to pull up and let them know they would take him. I pulled up, put the car in park and ran into the ER waiting room. Then I stood in line for 5 minutes behind an obviously high woman who was pestering the admissions clerk about whether she could call her mom again. When I got to the admitting clerk, I identified myself, said I needed a wheelchair for my husband, and that I was prepared to fill out all his paperwork, please just get him into the hospital. 7 minutes later, someone came and rolled the wheelchair that I wasn’t allowed to touch out to get him. We had to wait in line again behind the same woman to get the wristband put on him. When they came out to get him a few minutes later, a young woman said rather loudly, “they always take the white people first”.

We missed the window for the clot busting drugs by 5 minutes.

I know hospital workers do the best they can. But there needs to be a way for an emergency room to treat an emergency.

Image credits: Marsha Jackson

#34

A fistfight between two elderly men. They seriously beat each other’s a**

#35

This is one of those “It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad,” stories.

I was working as a chaplain at a hospital in the Chicago area. This was before young doctors got much training in making death notifications, at least in the hospitals where I worked. This particular evening, a young doctor was making his first solo notification. I waited with the family in the ER “Family Room” for someone to tell them what was happening with their 80-year-old grandma.

In comes the young resident. We can see from his face it’s not good news (I already knew she’d died, but I wasn’t allowed to say anything). Most people these days have seen TV or movie scenes where a doctor tells a family something like, “We utilized all of our capabilities, but her heart was too badly damaged and we were unable to save her.” Well, this poor resident must have really wanted the family to know they’d done all they could. He described in great detail every place they’d tried to insert an IV, cut into her, inserted catheters, etc.” The family was sitting there looking increasingly horrified as he described what they heard as the ways Granny had been tortured in her last minutes.

I finally spoke up and said, “Thank you, Doctor. I’ll let you know if the family has any questions,” and opened the door for him to leave. Later, after the family left, I spoke with a nurse friend of mine who made sure the doctor received a little more coaching.

I really felt sorry for everyone involved, including the resident. He was trying to make things better for the family. He really just tried too hard.

Image credits: Jon Meyer

#36

You all know what Triage is. I hope so, but just in case: Basically that’s where they assess who is in the worst shape and needs help first, second ect. This one guy was bleeding what seemed like buckets of blood from a head wound, He was sitting there waiting and waiting. I tried to speed things up by pointing out he needed help then. They said he’d be seen to in few minutes. Few minutes turned into 30 min then an hour. He was finally called back, then I was called back. I never heard of him again.

#37

I watched a video where a woman was vomiting blood and the staff told her to go sit back down and let her die on the waiting area. After she was dead they swept around her like she was trash. I think they billed her family even though she never got to see a doctor.

#38

I was a kid and my mom took too the ER cuz i fell out of a tree and bent my arm and i couldnt move it, so we walk in and sit down and about id say 10 minutes later this dude came in screaming like a psychopath at the top of his lungs, shirtless, possibly a cr*ckhead. (Most definitely a cr*ckhead) dancing like a maniac punching on the binder at the front desk. He was then tackled by two security guards and thrown out. I was laughing pretty quietly but when I got into the car I laughed my a*s off. Fun night lol

#39

The entire waiting room could hear him. His face was red with rage as he loudly complained to whoever was on the other end of the phone that staff were making him wait while he was clearly having a heart attack. Whenever he paused for breath he'd take a deep gulp from a 1L Mountain Dew. When I left he was still sitting there, still complaining, still very much alive.

#40

A baby born into a commode.

#41

Me sitting in full uniform waiting to be seen by a doctor for about 30 seconds after being punched in the stomach by a patient. Two hour wait because of all the football injuries.

#42

I was in an ER near Lake Tahoe with a broken ankle in the skiing season. Lots of other breaks and sprains there, too. One guy had his young kid with him. The kid started swinging his heavy coat like a windmill. Coming near patients with obvious fractures. The kid’s parent wouldn’t stop him, even though a hit on a broken limb with that coat would have caused considerable pain. Complete jerk.

#43

An unruly man strapped down to a gurney was punched in the groin because he was yelling,swearing and spitting. The man on the gurney sued the hospital and security company and won an unknown award.

#44

There was a person laying on the floor in pain, and the receptionist kept asking for their insurance information.

#45

My lovely ex-husband had an especially bad hangover one day and decided he was dying, so made me take him to the ER. But he was “too good” for the closest hospital to our house, so we had to go to Cedars-Sinai near Hollywood. Once we sat down, ex noticed the guy in the chairs across from us (who was there with some sort of friend or assistant) had been in a movie we watched the previous night! 15+ minutes of ex insisting he go ask for an autograph, me saying to leave the guy alone as he obviously didn’t feel well if he was in the ER. I finally decided if ex felt well enough to notice and bother other people, he didn’t need to be seen in the ER and walked out towards the car. Unfortunately he followed.

Sorry I don’t remember the actor’s name, not a huge name or a great movie but only recognizable because we had literally seen him the evening before!

#46

I work for a private ambulance company, we got a call for a sick patient, we respond, check out the patient, listen to etc, etc, we go to the hospital, and as soon as our stretcher is in the triage area she starts opening the straps. I ask her what she’s doing, and she tells me “It’s OK, I only came because I have an appointment in the clinic upstairs”. I lie her back down and tighten the straps, and tell her “You’ll wait right here, lie to the triage nurse like you lied to me, and once she signs for you, I don’t care what you do”

#47

When my oldest was a baby he had a febrile seizure and had to be rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. So freaking scary. How Scary? I had 4 gorgeous firemen in my bedroom and I didn't care about anything except my baby!

When we got to the hospital E.R. the staff was amazing; wonderful and caring. I did hear the lady in the next bed arguing with her nurse. The nurse had asked her if the baby she brought in had been given Tylenol. The mom said “no” and then after they gave the baby the dose, the mom claimed she had told the nurse that she HAD given her baby Tylenol. When the nurse told her that isn't what she said she tried to PHYSICALLY FIGHT HIM! She kept screaming: ”Are you calling me a liar?” I was sitting next to my baby thinking, Wow lady the important thing here is your baby’s health not if anyone called you a liar or not. I couldn't believe the nurse's patience around this nut job!

Well, the next day my son and I baked cookies and took them to the E.R. nurses station to say “thank you”. I walked up to the nurse's station with my baby on one hip and a plate of cookies on the other hand. When I walked up to the head nurse and explained why I had come, it was like a movie moment with the scratch record sound. EVERYONE stopped and stared at me. I thought perhaps I was breaking an E.R. rule by bringing in food or something. But the nurse told me that she had been working there for over 20 years and it was THE FIRST TIME anyone had thanked them!!! She said that often after they got folks under control and shifted them to the hospital upstairs that those wings would get thank yous for the staff but that in all her time in the E.R. they had never been thanked- not even once!

So please be kind to doctors but especially nurses. They work so hard and are NOT celebrated nearly enough.

#48

I was waiting in the ER. I broke my right hand and this was a trauma hospital so you immediately know if a trauma comes in he is first. Well, there was one person in front of me - a guy with a cut on his finger. When he got called back for his vitals he had a towel on his cut now he has a Band-Aid on it. So here we go - you can hear and see the helicopter landing on the landing pad. it's called out: “multiple gunshots!” It’s a 17 yr old male. They get him and wheel him to ER.

The guy with the paper cut on his finger is complaining because he was next and what’s the point of being in line when you take people off the street first? 95% of the time I ignore people but this guy got under my skin. I asked him “Were you born an a**hole, or did you grow into it?” I yelled at him, told him “that’s someone’s child, and you want your papercut looked at first? Just shut the fu**k up or you will need them to look at more than your finger.” Well, I must have made him angry; he left and never got his finger looked at.

#49

My wife had cancer that had spread through her body. We had found out it had spread to her eye. A couple or 3 days later my wife started getting a migraine that started behind the eye that the eye doctor said the cancer had spread to.

She called his office and was told to go to the ER for treatment/relief.

On the way to the hospital was the building my daughter had her guitar lessons at and she was due to go when my wife finally admitted she couldn’t stand the pain anymore and wanted to go to the hospital. So on the way to the hospital we dropped off my daughter for her guitar lesson. At the hospital I had to speak for my wife as the pain in her head had nearly turned her into a zombie. We sat down in the waiting room and I observed the other people waiting their turn. It looked like there wasn’t anyone who had a real emergency. No broken bones, scrapes or bruises. Of course this doesn’t always tell the whole story but no one looked like they needed immediate treatment. Oh, there was a baby crying who may have need immediate treatment. Anyway, my wife put her head between her knees and I left her to go pick up my daughter. I was gone about an hour when I returned to the ER. In the waiting room the crying baby was gone as were the rest of the people that were there when I left my wife. My wife was still there with her head between her knees. I tried talking to my wife and she was coherent and said her name hadn’t been called. Along came a couple carrying their child who obviously looked hurt and the ER staff made a quick assessment and took him in. That was fine. Then they called in a man who told the nurse that called him that he had twisted his ankle and wanted it checked out. I went red with anger but held myself in check because if I (or anyone) displayed hostility then security would be called, perhaps even the police. I approached the nurse calling the patients up for treatment and explained my wifes circumstance and that she’d been waiting for over an hour. Then she called up this man with a twisted ankle ~ wait for it ~ HE WASN’T EVEN LIMPING! When was my wife going to be called???? The nurse profusely apologized and called my wife immediately. I had to help her to the treatment area because she could barely walk. She had a face on that looked like she was playing a game of poker and was frozen. I had never seen her eyes so glazed over. She got pain treatment and when her face relaxed and her eyes cleared her attending doctor said the cancer couldn’t have caused her migraine as cancer doesn’t invade the eye. We had been warned about this belief by our eye doctor. He had explained that the eye does get growths but they may not be worrisome as that’s all they are is growths. However if that growth is “leaking”, as my wifes was, then that is cancer that needs to be treated. My wife was a medical ethicist but she, nor I, was in shape to school the ER doctor. I thanked him for his service and we left.

#50

Myself getting wanded & frisked by Security. My three-year-old grandangel had a tonsillectomy & all she wanted me to bring her was a “blue Icee”. No problem. I thought the sugar might burn her throat, but I’d give it a shot. Anything for my grandkids. I had gotten off a grueling 12-hour shift across town & was exhausted. I headed to the nearest C-store. They had gotten rid of the Icee machine & replaced it with a coffee bar! What the what??? Visiting hours were strict, so I needed to hurry. I headed for the next store - no Icee machine! Had the world gone mad? I zipped over to another store, where I sighed with relief when I saw the familiar logo on the back counter. All I could think about was the tiny girl who was in pain & waiting on her Nana to save the day. I jumped out of the car & ran in…cherry Icees. White Icees. No blue Icees. By the time I drove all over the city like a madwoman & FINALLY found the prize, I was all the way across town from the hospital.

By the time I got THERE, visiting hours were over & the doors were locked. Only the ER entrance was open, there were patients waiting, & no more visitors were allowed to go through. Period. Everybody was watching. There is no more powerful force on earth than a determined Nana. No way was I going to disappoint the little girl who had been waiting patiently all that time, trusting that Nana would be there. I had on my scrubs, but I was a mess otherwise. My hair was sticking out in ten different directions. I looked deranged. I somehow talked my way in, but Security was very suspicious, even after I showed them I.D. & stated my mission. They brought out a wand, actually frisked me, & asked all kinds of questions while the precious blue Icee melted. They X-rayed my keys & everything in my pockets. I explained. I begged. I was finally given a visitor’s badge & practically ran to the room with what was left of the Icee. My angel looked up & smiled, & it was worth all of the trouble & humiliation. I was right, she couldn’t drink the sugary Icee, but at least she could depend on her Nana!

#51

I had a reaction to Botox shots in my head and face for cluster headaches. I was home alone so I called an ambulance and was dropped in ER waiting room where I sat for 3 hours (even though my tongue was swollen and I was unable to see out of one eye. one of the paramedics kept saying things about Botox parties and unknown drugs even though my Botox was from Walgreens and my neurologist did the 47 shots, so maybe they thought I was overreacting).

While I was there trying to stay calm, a pregnant woman and a man came in. She kept saying “it’s too soon” and he just kept quietly crying. They stood there for about 30 minutes even after telling the front desk and the triage nurse (I assume-she was the person in scrubs you saw to decide how bad your illness was) what was happening, and unsuccessfully trying to flag other staff down.

The woman suddenly doubled over and a tiny form fell onto the ground with a rush of red fluid, then she dropped down and picked it up and just started screaming. I will never forget that scream- she just crouched there shrieking, and her husband just stood and wept (I think he was barely keeping himself together and just couldn’t process how to help her in the moment). Suddenly there were 10 medical personnel grabbing her and rushing her off- they tried to get the body away from her while they were putting her on the gurney, but she wouldn’t let go, and they finally gave up and wheeled her off.

I got up and left after that, and called a cab to go home. I figured I was safer with a bottle of Benadryl and some ice packs.

#52

I had gone with my son to the ER with one of my grandsons who was suffering from pretty severe pneumonia. In the waiting room was a very obese woman who had obviously neglected personal hygiene for a while, as she had a very foul odor about her. She approached the nurse’s station where the medical staff was triaging my grandson. Even though I was retired, I told her I was a Deputy Sheriff, and if she didn’t calm down, she could be arrested for disorderly conduct. Shortly after, 2 armed security officers from the hospital came into the waiting area. They repeated the same warning. She finally crossed the line by threatening a nurse. The only person standing between that woman and the nurse triaging my grandson, was me.

The Security staff finally told her she had to leave. She responded with how they were legally required to treat her. I stepped in and advised her that was only true as long as she did not pose a threat to the staff or other patients, and that as of that moment, she was legally trespassing, as she had been asked to leave. The security staff physically pushed her out the door. I stepped out with them, and told her if she came back onto hospital grounds, she’d go straight to jail. It was no bluff. She had committed assault by threatening the staff in the presence of my grandson, which meant she endangered the welfare of a child, a felony.

Eventually she walked away just as the local police arrived. Hospital security declined to press charges, as did my son (at my suggestion). I never knew her name, but the staff told me she was only there for a minor earache. She was pissed off that she was being made to wait, even though she was thoroughly explained the way triage worked, and that higher priority patients would be treated before a minor earache.

#53

Two stand out. Both involve food.

One was a remarkable and immediate friendship struck between two completely unrelated families who had nothing in common other than waiting for someone in the ER. They bonded instantly; they had loud, excited, and lengthy conversations, and soon the whole group of ten or fifteen people appeared to be the best of pals. Someone actually called out for pizza, which was delivered right there to the waiting room, and they happily pushed together chairs and end tables to sit down to their feast.

Given the amount of germs in the average ER waiting area, it’s definitely never something I would have done, but they seemed happy enough. Security was keeping an eye on them and technically I don’t believe meals in the wait area were encouraged, but it was all so bizarre that they kind of sat back and just watched it happen.

The funniest thing was that, prior to this peculiar entente, both families had been the typical anxious types, hovering for updates and making urgent calls. Once the pizzas came, they seemed to forget where they were and indeed that their sick or injured relatives existed at all. As a matter of fact, I remember at least one group getting the okay to come back and visit the patient, and the nurse was waved off…”Ok, I’ll come back in a few minutes.”

The second was a woman we hated to see coming; we referred to her as “Skittles lady”. She was a frequent flyer, usually there for trivial reasons, and had a chain of very small children in tow.

She was never without a jumbo-size bag of Skittles, the rainbow fruit candies. She doled them out to the kids as a good-behavior reward, paid in advance with no actual good behavior evident. The kids would randomly shove handfuls in their mouths, but were just as likely to fling those handfuls at their siblings’ faces. Candy bounced off the walls, the chairs, and the floor…where it was gathered and stuffed back into mouths, in spite of our protests. Colorful candies crunched underfoot and compressed into cracked and sticky discs that never did come out of the carpeting completely. After she and the kids left, we would have to conduct a sweep of the area, pulling Skittles from the crevices of chairs before people sat on them. We found Skittles everywhere: windowsills, the soil of potted plants, under and behind chairs, and once or twice in the hair and clothes of irritated people caught in the crossfire.

It was a difficult call to the custodian, and one that only needed a single word to explain everything. She would appear with a scraper tool, a sour expression and a fresh batch of muttered expletives to pry the latest fruit-scented gunk out of the carpet fibers, knowing full well she’d be doing it again in a week.

#54

The waiting, which could hold probably 20 people, was full. One large family gets up. A new couple come in with a few McDonald’s bags, and fully spread out in the area that the family of 6 just vacated. An elderly couple come in a little bit later, and instead of cleaning up their trash to let the elderly couple sit, the McDonald’s couple leave their stuff sprawled all over.

After we are called back and are leaving the hospital, we have to pass by the waiting room again. And the trash is still everywhere, the young couple gone.

#55

I was a around twelve years old. Ended up getting really bad poison ivy all over my body. Went to the ER. While waiting in the waiting area there happens to also be a small child with their mother. Mom gives the kid skittles. Kid drops the skittles all over the floor. Kid looks at mom. Mom looks at kid. Mom says to kid “five second rule”.

Likely the hospital actually cleans its floors quite often but it just felt wrong.

#56

This is a memory that warms my heart a little. During my last pregnancy I had a sickness bug which cancelled out my anti sickness medication - I suffered with hyperemesis so without my drugs I couldn’t even keep down water. After I recovered from the bug my hyperemesis had kicked back in and without an injection I wouldn’t be able to keep my anti sickness medication down so I asked my brother and his wife to take me to A&E so I could get the injection.

Whilst we were waiting about ten members Of the security team came and stood outside the door of this one side room where a woman could clearly be heard screaming and shouting and trashing the room. Everyone was looking a bit alarmed and then everything went quiet. Then she began to sing. Loudly. But here’s the thing- she had the most beautiful singing voice ! All the staff and us went from looking alarmed to smiling awkwardly and looking awed by her singing. It was beautiful. I heard them saying she was going to be sectioned under the mental health act and they were waiting for a transfer but me my bro and his wife certainly enjoyed our little outing together. I don’t know any thing else about her but her family members seemed well and sane and I’m sure she would have made a good recovery at the hands of our fantastic NHS.

#57

I was leaving the ER to go home, after visiting a colleague so we could discuss some patients. I saw a man come into the ER waiting area.

He had been drinking alcohol, and stumbled in. He walked over to a trash can that was near a sink, and threw up in it. Then he walked to the back of the room, took off all of his clothes, laid down on the floor against the wall, and went to sleep.

I was tired, and I left.

I told a lot of people about it the next day.

Nurses laughed the most.

#58

Me being sent home with an egfr of 10 ( Kidneys 90% dead) And a gluteal ( butt) compartment syndrome that 8 years later I still can’t feel my big toe due to sciatic nerve damage. All because a dud doctor - newly imported from a patriarchal country refused to believe that I was a doctor and had previously ran that same ER ( once and one only ?) And had for years Been moonlighting as it’s 2IC.

He thought I was a junkie and did the fakest examination ever. I was astonished. I knew and had worked with all the nurses for years- but I think they were setting him up for “ nursing execution” . When he finally decided it was time for me to go home after being there ALL DAY- I shouted- this is life and death my now- “ How much has my urine output been today?” ( zero- very very bad sign) - I don’t know - subcontinental headshake and so on- give me a sample- I managed a few mls of thickened blood - and BOOM- lights sirens - blood tests- Urgent surgery. Lots happened. Including the funniest being that I went from 81kg to 130kg OVERNIGHT.. due to an overzealous attempt to flush out my kidneys.

The kidney specialist was horrified- WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO BILL?!- (I’m 5′7 and 3/16ths ) oh we just thought he was a big man— NOOO! He’s like me pointing to his small frame.. the last of the 50kg of fluid to go was from my soccer ball sized scrotum my older brother begged to photograph but oh how it ached!

#59

I've seen on several occasions patients scream at the triage nurse that they are going to sue them for making them wait. That's not to bad compared to when I was at an appointment to see my doctor and a fight between two females broke out and the head doctor came out as it was being broken up and made each of them agree to stay apart.

Then the police showed up we don't know who called but all of the waiting on patients said I didn't see it because it was on the other side in the other waiting room. When they asked me I said I was asleep the officer just rolled his eyes at me. They left and the females who had foughten behaved because if they both didn't neither one of them were going to be seen. The doctor was smart and knew that the threat of them being rescheduled and not getting thier meds would fix the problem.

#60

A guy showed up to the ER accompanied by another guy who stated that his friend had a broken jar up his rear end , staff seemed skeptically amused and somewhat in disbelief thus causing the guys friend to explode in frustration and start yelling out what the problem was and how if his buddy died he was going to sue till they all had their credentials pulled.

The things people do behind locked doors

#61

Here I was minding my own business keeping pressure on my hand, as I just got my finger stuck in an immersion blender (long story for another time), blood running down my arm, waiting my turn. A rather snooty proper woman sitting nearby approaches me and says “Do you mind - you are getting blood everywhere?”. OK so if I can not bleed in an emergency room, where am I allowed to bleed?

#62

A patient arrived to the Emergency Room by ambulance with a minor complaint. All rooms are full so he sent to triage and then to the waiting room. He was so angry that he had to wait so he walked across the street to a restaurant and called 911 again. The ambulance picked him up and brought him back to the same ER. Once in the back he threw a fit, yelling and screaming, refusing to go back to the waiting room. He left with security and police escort after verbally abusing and threatening to hurt the staff.

#63

It’s not called the ER in my country but I was in the equivalent at 9 in the morning, as it also has a walk in facility, where they treat people as they come in ie without an appointment.

There was a guy sitting waiting to be seen by the ER staff and I heard him on his phone say that he broke his leg at midnight but didn’t want to come in to hospital so just waited until the next day. From what I could see, he had pretty badly broken his leg but didn’t want to miss out on a night’s sleep, so just got really drunk (my guess from the way he sounded).

Really strange that he didn’t seem to feel pain / be that worried that he’d broken his leg but waited to come to hospital. Ridiculous man probably made it harder for the staff to fix him up.

#64

OK, so my answer is more about getting checked in and then waiting in the ER waiting room.

The back story is that I had a terrible headache, couldn’t find a good position to sleep in, my wife would find me trying to sleep in all parts of the house. She takes me to a doc in the box clinic, he gives me several prescriptions and tells us to come back the next day if things do not improve. We go back the next afternoon, I am still miserable. He does a couple of movement tests on me, writes a note, gives it to my wife and tells her to get me to the ER as soon as possible.

We get to the ER, my wife gives the note to the triage nurse and they tell us to take a seat. Hours go by, nothing. My wife goes back to the house to make some phone calls, comes back and I am still in the waiting area. Finally someone calls my name and we go into the exam room. In a matter of minutes all hell breaks out in the exam room, everyone is gowned up, masked up, safety glasses on and prepping me for a spinal tap. I was in isolation with blackout curtains for a week.

What did the note say? ADMIT IMMEDIATELY, PROBABLE MENINGITIS. I could have infected everyone in the waiting area during the 6 hours I was waiting because someone disregarded the note that was written on a prescription pad from the doc in the box.

#65

My la