Despite going all the way to see a medical specialist, many people will then thank them for their time, take out their prescription and then not use the meds. As it turns out, when it comes to health and just doing what doctors tell people to do, people are a lot less consistent than one might imagine.

Someone asked “Nurses/Doctors of the ER, what are some crazy behaviors patients do that are more common than we realize?” and medical workers detailed their best examples. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and be sure to share your own examples and stories in the comments section down below.

#1

The ammount of people who stop taking a medicaton and are suprised when the symptoms return…especially when it’s their own kid.

Image credits: microbiome22

#2

Hey, my _____ hurts.

“No worries, _______ is very treatable. Take _____, you’ll be good in a week”

Three days pass

HEY! MY ______ STILL HURTS.

“It’s only been 3 days instead of a week.”

I DON’T CARE, IT HURTS.

“Have you been taking _____?”

NO. F**K YOU FOR NOT HELPING ME, YOU’RE A BAD DOCTOR.

Image credits: theguyfromtheweb7

#3

Hallucinating is more common than you think. Dehydration alone can cause hallucinations.

Image credits: SR-Neptune

#4

Keeping their loved ones alive but with no quality of life because they feel guilty they didn’t spend enough time with them/don’t want to make the call to change goals of care. Worse if they refuse pain medication on the patients behalf….

Image credits: camithecamel

#5

The misconception that yelling at or being snarky with the healthcare team will improve your loved one’s care. It won’t. We’ll still take care of them but no one wants to go the extra mile if there’s a family member recording or belittling them.

ETA I have more:

Not telling the RN in triage that you have a contagious illness and only casually mentioning it later on. I cannot tell you the number of people who come to the ER for an unrelated complaint and after they’re roomed will say “I had Covid 2 days ago”, “yeah I’m being treated for shingles now” etc. If you have a contagious disease, even if unrelated to your current complaint, we NEED to know so we can protect you and others.

Being upset that we don’t have an on call dentist to remove your tooth at 3 AM. I get that infected/c*****d teeth can hurt like a b***h. But dentist don’t work in the ER. (There are oral/maxillofacial docs for facial trauma but no one is extracting your impacted wisdom teeth).

Lying that you have chest pain because you think you’ll get a room faster. You won’t. You’ll get vitals and an EKG but unless either are concerning you’ll continue to wait like everyone else.

Not using a flared base.

Image credits: mamemememe

#6

Somehow trying to threaten me by refusing treatment. You’re the sick person, not me.

That and the fact that some people don’t seem to understand that acting rude/belligerent/condescending/violent will not get you better care.

Image credits: talashrrg

#7

They truly believe not being able to eat for 24 hours is unacceptable and will forego tests that could save their life, or at least lead to successful treatment. Connected to this is the number of patients who confide in me that they ate before an operation but, “Don’t tell the doctor”. I’m going to tell the doctor.

Image credits: Pistalrose

#8

I went into Diabetic Ketoacidosis last year and I was so confused. I was fighting and aggressively pissing myself. I came to blind from the blood sugar and in restraints. My husband told me what I was acting like and I desperately apologized to the nurses. I was met with empathy and one said, “don’t apologize, it was exciting”.

So if I got that nice reaction from my thrashing rage, I can’t imagine how bad it can get. I spent 8 months on the transplant floor and it was very quiet compared to the ICU and ER.

Image credits: JerkOffTaco

#9

There is a saying that if you don’t want to explain to nurse how it happened you probably shouldn’t do it. That being said, if you do need to explain to a nurse how it happened, tell the truth, because it is much harder to help if you lie.

Image credits: Murka-Lurka

#10

Yelling at staff; coming into the ER for really self treatable things (like for throat pain but they’re eating Takis in triage lol); calling EMS for super minor things like a stubbed toe or tooth pain; refusing to believe d***s/ tobacco are the root of their issue (like hyperemesis with weed, chest pain caused by incessant vaping, cardiac problems from m**h etc), not picking up their abx for whatever we diagnosed them with a few days ago and then storming into the ER demanding to know why they didn’t get better when they never picked up their abx for their UTI and now it’s our fault it’s worsened to a kidney infection 😅 just a few examples.

Image credits: FunnyFlorence

#11

Being sexually inappropriate with younger female staff. Being racist toward staff of color. Being physically violent toward staff. Nurses bear the brunt of most of this.

Image credits: casapantalones

#12

How quickly arms become painted on. They’ve come in for a chest infection and suddenly they can’t wipe their own a*s or feed themselves…. Quickly learn how to again once I ask them whether they need to be evaluated for supports at home given they can’t complete basic ADLs.

Image credits: boots_a_lot

#13

Thanking god/jesus for saving people and not the actual doctors or nurses.

Image credits: rubber1duckie

#14

I used to work inpatient psych, and now in the ER. I started noticing paranoid/delusional behavioral patterns that are shockingly common, but people are walking around in normal society with these sub-clinical issues undiagnosed. Most diagnosis and involuntary holds only happen if they show these behaviors in front of the right people at the right time.

Also, people who are completely ignorant of their bodies and what changes are normal vs abnormal. No, the tip of your toe turning black 1 month ago is not normal, and yes, that is why we are now consulting with surgery to see if we can save the rest of the foot.

Image credits: perpulstuph

#15

The amount of people who suddenly cannot lift their arm for you to put the blood pressure cuff on as soon as they’re triaged. They could have an ankle injury, a sore throat, maybe some abdominal pain, but their arms are suddenly as useless as t**s on a bull.

Image credits: madicoolcat

#16

Assuming that my answer to your question will change if you ask it again – usually louder and more aggressively to the point of being belligerent.

Example: “Can I feed my mom?”

“No, sorry, your mom is currently NPO for a procedure, which means nothing by mouth. She’s receiving IV fluids for hydration.”

“BUT SHE’LL DIE WITHOUT FOOD. So can I feed her??”

“No, not right now”

“CAN I FEED HER THOUGH??”

My sister in christ. I said no like three times. I explained myself. Please stop wasting my time and yelling at me for doing my job. Thank you.

Also – people living in hoarder homes. The amount of pts we have come in from hoarder houses is insane, and I know it’s not just my area since I’ve worked all over the province. I didn’t actually know it was that common until I started nursing.

#17

ER doctor here (board certified, practicing full time in California) — mention this on Reddit and the /r/trees enthusiasts will downvote you faster than you can blink, but marijuana actually does have a lot of side effects.

One particular marijuana complication we’ve begun to see way more of since legalization (which I support, for the record) is something called Cannibinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome.

To put it simply, chronic users (especially heavier and/or daily users) are at increased risk for developing a syndrome characterized by shockingly severe abdominal pain and vomiting that is very resistant to IV nausea and pain medications. You’ll pump these people full of multiple nausea meds, numerous doses of morphine or other narcotics, and they’ll still be projectile vomiting and miserable.

Over the years we’ve found that the best treatment for it is actually an intramuscular shot of an antipsychotic medicine called Haldol (haloperidol). Another trick is to use actual clinically formulated capsaicin cream (the active ingredient in peppers that brings the heat) all over the abdomen. Neither of these work well in any other kind of abdominal pain but it’s virtually the only thing that works for CHS.

Unfortunately the only real treatment to prevent episodes is stopping the marijuana use. That, as you can imagine, is a tough pill to swallow for people who are daily users and in particular those who have projected their marijuana use as their entire personality.

Edit: also as many have said, hallucinations and paranoia. Can happen after years of well-tolerated use.

#18

I worked the front desk/triage at an ER and couldn’t believe half the s**t people came in there for. One woman said she was looking for a primary care doctor at midnight… I was like, this is an ER, not a primary care doctor’s office.

The amount of grown men who had a cold or the flu and acted like they were dying was always funny to me. Then they were irate at how long they would be sitting in the waiting room since it wasn’t an actual life or death emergency.

#19

I’m an ICU/recovery room nurse but it is absolutely mind-blowing how so many people live. Cockroaches in their home cpap machines, lice so severe they have to cancel the surgery because they keep contaminating the sterile field, toe nails curled like talons and folds that are macerated/breaking down. And you talk to the patient and they’re totally kind and appropriate people with families. I think it’s a huge sign of our lack of appropriate mental health care and health education in this country. So many people live a life neglecting their physical bodies and it’s so sad.

#20

The number of people who will cough directly on you, and not even attempt to cover their mouth or even turn their head.

#21

Sticking things where they don’t belong.

#22

Definitely Yelling and becoming aggressive with staff if things aren’t going at the speed patients would like.

Being allergic to basically all pain meds except the hardcore stuff.

Homeless using Chest pain as a reason to have a place to sleep

Parents dumping their preteen/teens at the ED for psych evals / crisis and saying they’ll be right back, and not coming back..

Bedbugs.

#23

Men making indecent advances and taking advantage of female staff (they’re like 20-35). Especially men of the ages 45-65. You mean to tell me if I walked into your ER bay with a full rack of ribs straight from the south: you could hold and eat them perfectly without issue – but you need help putting your p***s in a urinal cause you suddenly can’t all because you have the flu? Knock it off.

#24

Getting angry at you for giving them back their marianated vomit and puked filled clothing you took off them 12 hours ago when they came in unresponsive.

#25

Saying “they did NOTHING for me” at xyz hospital but per medical records they had every blood test you could think of, ECG, chest xray, CT angiogram, ultrasound, etc. What they mean is xyz hospital didn’t find a clear diagnosis for the symptoms. People forget that the entire purpose of the ER is for life saving medical intervention and stabilization. We don’t really care to find out the diagnosis, we care to figure out if the thing that’s causing your symptoms is going to k**l you in the next 24 hours.

#26

How many people use the ER as a dentist office or walk in for just a pregnancy test. The test is the same f*****g thing as Dollar General, go there and leave me alone.

#27

I will watch them walk into the ER unassisted, without difficulty, and talking. But as soon as I take them into the CT room they place possum and can’t walk, can’t move to the table, and can’t seem to talk to me coherently.

People expect to be pampered and coddled in the ER. Lately my most common used question is, “how do you get around when you’re not in the ER?” Then people realize I know they’re BS’ing me.

#28

Asking for imaging without an evaluation because their chiropractor told them to. Dude, if you want real medicine, you need to let me do real medicine. I’m not just going to order an MRI because some crackpot suggests it.

#29

“I work for a lawyer and demand…” to be seen now, to be given the meds I request and everyone’s name that’s working here.

#30

Able bodied adults of sound mind that soil themselves and then expect to be cleaned up to punish staff for not running to them in an instant when their call light goes off. I saw you walk in here, no I will not wipe the urine off of you. Do you p**s yourself at home? No? Here’s a pack of wipes, a fresh gown, and fresh sheets. If you’d like a shower I can walk you down the hall.

People (usually family members or visitors) that will stand in the door or hallway glaring at staff because they’ve been waiting a while. Yes you are waiting. Yes this is an inefficient system and there’s plenty of things I wish were different. Every year there are staff cuts, funding cuts, and we’re expected to handle more patients than ever with less. But also standing with your arms crossed pouting at staff does not make the hospital run faster.

Threatening to leave like it will get you better service. There are 20 people waiting for your bed if you don’t want it. Sign this form and there’s the door, have a good day.

Leaving against medical advice then coming back to the hospital and throwing a temper tantrum when you have to start over again in the ER. No we didn’t save your bed for you, you wanted to leave. If you’ve changed your mind please get back in line.

#31

Demanding tests/diagnostics for chronic illnesses or conditions when they’ve seen all the specialists in town already.

Ma’am, if GI has scoped all your holes, biopsied all your guts, and didn’t give you an answer, we are not going to be able to cure you today in the ED.

The medical specialty of the ER is EMERGENCY medicine. It even says it on the side of the building!

#32

Well, I don’t work in an ER, but I have been there a ton (I’m good at getting injured, no I don’t abuse going there, it’s always a last resort). But I have seen something insane when there once, that might fit.

I was in the waiting area, it had already been over 30 minutes wait, but that was fine. I’d injured my hand and wrist pretty badly, and needed to rule out a break, but I was able to wait just fine. There were other people in the waiting room, including this one guy, I don’t what was wrong with him, but he didn’t look sick or injured (but what do I know, no judgement).

Then in comes a mom (I assumed) with a boy, no older than 10, with his entire lower leg wrapped in bloody towels. He’d cut open his entire front of the lower leg, obviously something that might need stitches, at least getting it cleaned to avoid infection – and again, obviously something more pressing to be assessed by the doctor than my injured wrist.

But this dude, that looked (and sounded, from this next part) pretty fine too and who had been there shorter than me, started yelling he’d been there first and had waited ‘at least an hour’ (I had been there a little over 30 minutes and I was there before him), and that it was unfair that they’d taken the boy in before him! He needed to talk to a doctor, and there was a line (dude..).

He still sulked after being told how an ER works, and I was fetched to get my hand and wrist looked at. My teacher who brought me to the ER (being a minor and away at school) told me he even send us dirty looks, but I mean.. by his standard, at least I was there first 🤷🏼‍♀️.

#33

Refusal of treatment.

#34

Faking seizures is way more common than you’d think.

#35

Family members coming up to you while you’re IN AN EMERGENT PATIENT’S ROOM to request things. Had someone get angry with me for not getting their family member pain meds while i was with a stroke patient, others trying to ask for things while you’re actively coding someone across the hall. Please have some situational awareness y’all. If I am cracking open epis or on deck for compressions I am unavailable to grab another blanket.

#36

Me: do you use recreational d***s?
Patient: no
Me: what about c*****e? When did you use that last?
Patient: 3 days ago

!!!!

#37

Substance dependency. It doesn’t discriminate. Rich people, poor people, nice people, mean people, people of all colors and health status.

#38

Getting upset when asked about allergies or medications “IT’S IN MY CHART JUST READ THAT”. Sir your chart’s a mess and says you’re on 5 different BP meds probably because the last few times you were here you said something like that as well. Let us confirm, for your safety. Or make a LIST!!

#39

Demanding IV pain medication.

#40

Public service announcement:
Research the hospitals in your area. Not all hospitals are the same. Know what services they do or don’t have and consider this in where you decide to go.

This is particularly important for pediatrics. If you’re a parent please locate Children’s hospitals in your area and have a plan if needed to go there. Many hospitals do NOT have inpatient pediatrics or pediatric ICU. Look this information up BEFORE you’re in a stressful situation with a sick child.

If you have just had surgery at a specific hospital and you have a complication, please go back to the original hospital. A different hospital won’t necessarily be able to view your records and your surgeon likely doesn’t have privileges there.

In all these cases if you cannot be treated you will be transferred, which can take multiple hours to days depending on transportation, weather and bed availability.

Obviously this is all location and situation specific. If someone’s not breathing, go to the nearest ER. If you’re rural you might not have many options. But please do some research and be thoughtful about where you go.

#41

Calling an ambulance does NOT bring you to the front of the line. You’ll get trialed and stuck in the waiting room like everyone else. Unless triage deems you sick enough for immediate attention…

Follow up… If you leave the waiting room, call EMS from 2 blocks away, we will sit your a*s right back in the waiting room where you were 15 min ago.

#42

Treating the ER as a fast track primary care. Expecting us to always have answers for their vague medical complaints bothering them for years instead of understanding it’s actually meant to be used for acute emergencies, stabilizing you, ruling out life threatening illnesses, etc.

#43

Putting their very much dead relatives in the car instead of calling for an ambulance. Paramedics and firefighters are a lot stronger than I am. I have to go find a gurney and call for help and by then, we’re starting CPR in the backseat. Not ideal.

This was maybe 6 months ago. I remember a family member telling me that I need to get a gurney ready for his father because he hasn’t been feeling well on a trip to Las Vegas. My hospital is based Los Angeles. They drove for 4+ hours to get him back and he just got worse and worse. Took 3 of us to haul his father from the car and onto a gurney. My tech almost got hit by another car in the parking lot while we were dealing with this.

I understand that people don’t want to deal with a huge ambulance bill but that situation was so dangerous for my staff and ultimately, the patient. He was oxygen deprived for too long and had a bad outcome.

#44

Not a doctor, but I gave this advice to one of my sisters, who’s a nurse. I simply told her, if a parent is refusing to give a child treatment like a vaccine, ask if they’ll subject them to an allergy test. The idea is to see if the parents are willing to prove that justification to the objection to the vaccine. She gave it a try and managed to out couple parents were clueless on their beliefs over the child’s health. She only had a few cases where refusal of a vaccination was medically justified.

I later learned that it was rather common for doctors to resort to psychological tactics to see if they were dealing with a competent parent.

#45

I was probably one of these people. I was very sick with my eating disorder and made to go to the ER. I sat and waited and when called after my bloods came in they wanted multiple IV bags run straight away.

As soon as I heard glucose i panicked and tried to leave and refuse treatment because ‘I was fine’. Drs and nurses tried to explain I was unwell but I refused to listen and I was generally a pain in the a**e (I’m sorry). I was put on a treatment order and treated anyway and wasn’t allowed home for a while.

Now I’m doing better I realise how I wasn’t able to think clearly and wish I’d acted better and made the hospital staffs job a little easier.

#46

Worked in hospital for a year or so long ago two things come to mind:

Some patients were communicating while sedated during “small” operations, they did not remember anything, they were not awake, but yeah we had a girl who was literally speaking with staff during operation.

The will to live is really a thing – there were people who had really not such major medical conditions, but you still could tell they will not leave the hospital alive.

#47

26 years later, I still feel horrible for telling off a nurse. But I kinda had a reason? I have given birth to three babies, I am one of the rare women out there that my labors were less than an hour. Of course, the doctor wasn’t there yet at the hospital when I started to crown. The nurse said I had to hold her in and wait for the doctor? Woman, baby’s head is litterally coming out! I screamed FU!!! Still feel really bad about it, but how did she expect me to hold her in???

Doctor RAN in two minutes later, barely chance to get in front of me. My daughter shot out of me so fast he had to catch her like it was a football. 🤣

Yes, I had a doctor one time tell me the way my body is made down there, I was born to have babies 🤣🤣🤣.

#48

Worked in a retail pharmacy so a little different but people would leave the ER 10-15 mins prior and pull up SCREAMING why their script was here, ready. I’d take a look at the paper work they would through at me and either it would be for a narcotic which is going to take a little bit of time OR it was for an OTC medication like omeprazole & they would tell me I was wrong.

Thankfully we didn’t put up with that and if it got bad we would call the hospital and send them else where or tell them to come inside and figure it out. I have 0 symptom for people who are mean to medical/retail staff.

#49

Pooping themselves and smearing p*o. Healthy, normal, physically capable, and mentally competent adults just crapping the bed and wiping with their hands.

#50

“What medical conditions do you have?”

“Oh, I’m pretty healthy. Never been to a hospital before.”

“Ok. What medications do you take?”

“I take Lisinopril, plavix, metformin, gabapentin and sometimes ambient.”

Something’s doesn’t jive.

#51

I’m not a doc, but I just got out of the hospital after 5 days. The nurses and techs were lovely and helpful. But the rest of the patients and families on my side of the floor were atrocious.

The lady across the hall kept pushing the call button whenever she needed anything like a straw or new pair of socks because these were too slouchy or someone to figure out where the next episode of Duck Dynasty was on the TV.

The person in the room next to me literally called in his entire family to come visit him so they could try and take turns to get the food staff to bring them meals for free.

At one point on my last day, the very nice tech comes into my room and shut the door and I asked her what was up and she just said: I just need a few minutes away from those people and you’re the only nice one.

That’s awful. It’s awful that they treat these people this way. Just trying to do their jobs. I’m not sure we’ll have medical staff in 10 years if this keeps up.

#52

An alarming number of people will come to the ER, refuse to tell you any information about themselves or what brings them here, refuse any testing, refuse any treatment, and then sign themselves out AMA. Why did you come to the hospital, brother.

#53

People coming in for detox. They come
in high or drunk out of their mind, cry and swear they are ready to quit. We initiate the process to get them a bed ina facility( which takes hours) and never fails they end up “changing their Mind” when they become sober and we have finally find a bed for them.

#54

I had a young girl come in and this is how it went,
Me “ What brings you here?”
Girl “ I noticed blood on my tooth brush this morning.”
Me “ Do you think you might have brushed your teeth too hard?”
Girl “ No, but it could be from a bloody nose last night.”
Me “ You had a bloody nose last night?”
Girl “ No”.

#55

Many folks lose the use of their hands in the hospital. anecdotally we notice it worse in males but it really does strike every demographic. .

#56

Putting things in your urethra….on purpose!

#57

The amount of people that deny any medical history or issues. But then when you confirm that they don’t take any medication they start listing all the antihypertensives they take …. lol. You have high blood pressure. Your blood pressure is now controlled because of the medication. Also seasonal allergies don’t count when we ask about medication allergies.

#58

Cleaner in an ER. I’m in a public system. I understand some of you are coming in with traumas or car accidents or are very sick. But ya’ll are messy. Disgustingly messy. Some rooms make me wonder what your house is like. People do some vile s**t in a hospital room and treat it like dumping ground.

#59

Tell the physician (the one with 25+ years of learning and board certified expertise) that they dont know what they are talking about.

#60

People would use EMS as a taxi service then elope after triage.

#61

I worked peds emerg in an adult hospital. Kids need weighing to figure out medication amounts. The easiest way to do it is for mom to hold baby and get weighed, and then mom gets weighed by herself and simple subtraction you get baby weight. The amount of mothers who won’t get weighed killed me. ‘Lady I don’t care how much you weigh I’m here for your baby’

Also if we ask about d**g use or something personal it’s for your care not because we want to judge.

#62

“If you don’t give me this or do this, I will sign out AMA and leave the hospital.”

lol ok great.

#63

The amount of patients who think it’s on a first come first serve basis. No sir, your mother vomiting bile every 30 minutes with all vitals at a normal level does not take precedent over the fella we just figured is having a pulmonary embolism. 

A lot of people don’t seem to realise that if we’re not rushing you through then that is a good thing! It means you’re stable and not suffering a life threatening illness at this time. People who get seen by doctors before you are obviously more in need! .

#64

Some people with an ABI (acquired brain injury) present with symptoms very similar to an intoxicated person. You can’t just assume someone is intoxicated with d***s or alcohol.

#65

I never worked in the ER, but it was frustrating as hell doing intake evals for an allergist. So many patients either refused to disclose their medical histories, current meds, etc, etc on paperwork or to MAs/RNs or “forgot” they had anything wrong besides their immediate concern. Guess who got yelled at by the doc for not doing our jobs? 🙄.

#66

I’m coming from the EMS side. Just because you’re brought in by ambulance does not mean you’ll get a room faster. I could not tell you how many people take an ambulance to the ER, we get there, and the charge nurse tells them to go to triage. EMS is not an instant room. Just because you decided to call us at 2am for your ingrown toenail (yes this happens) that you’ve had for 2 weeks, doesn’t mean you’re going before the man with obvious stroke symptoms.

#67

Not a doctor or a nurse but do work in a hospital….

I try to give people the benefit of the doubt because, after all, it is *their* emergency, not mine. However, people seem to overlook basic decency???

If you cough, at least attempt to cover your mouth. It’s maybe not the best idea to walk around barefoot in the emergency department either. I promise, we will give you socks!

If you have pink eye, maybe don’t walk around touching absolutely everything, and please stop rubbing your eyes!

#68

Radiographer at an ER

„How long do I need to wait to see a doctor?“ „I am sorry, I don‘t know“ „Then go and ask them!“

Patient waiting for a hour. Leaves the ambulance to feed his cat. Patient came back 3 hours later and is now ready to see a doctor.

Papercuts you can‘t even see.

People unable to move. Old man gets „scared“ when you transfer him to the CT table. Because of that, he grabbed your a*s and chest.

Drunk men on a trolley sitting up and pissing on the floor or all over the CT scanner/table.

„I HAD TO WAIT 2H FOR MY XRAYS. I AM IN PAIN, THIS IS A DISASTER!“ in the room next to this: A young mother of two children got hit by a car, bones sticking out, blood all over the place and dead. I always offer to show them what a real emergency looks like. Be thankful that I do your fu…. ankle X-ray 5 minutes after seeing someone who lost their life with a husband crying next to her. If you can walk in normally, it‘s not broken 🙄.

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