ER Stories Real Life Tales from the Emergency Room

ER Stories

Currently browsing posts found in November2008


I’m Dying!!!

November 30th, 2008 at 1:29 am » Comments (6)

Yes, yes, my dear. I know you feel like crap. I know you have been vomiting and having diarrhoea for one and a half hours. I know you may not have felt such misery in all of your 27 years. I know you are having abdominal spasms and that nausea is a horrible feeling. […]



God Help Me

November 29th, 2008 at 7:46 am » Comments (7)

OK, I am at the end of my patience. How I can maintain a straight face and offer positive medical advise when a patient comes in for “Infection in the System” - which in her case is indicated by “one to two months” of electrical shocks in her arms radiating down to her groin. This […]



Then you are Dead

November 28th, 2008 at 7:07 am » Comments (8)

If you REALLY have no pulse, then you are dead. End of story. Just because you can’t FEEL your radial pulse (which was her chief complaint), are not passing out or at least severely lightheaded, then it is not really a problem. Except of course that you are very obese and perhaps that is […]



EMS Control - Urgh!

November 27th, 2008 at 7:54 am » Comments (10)

This is a brief rant about a thing that totally annoys the crap out of me about my job. One word. Telemetry. No, not the telemetry beds that patients go to when they have cardiac issues, I am talking about the telemetry where paramedics have to call the ER and we as docs have to […]



Please Speak English

November 26th, 2008 at 7:09 am » Comments (6)

This is something most people would assume was coming from the ER staff directed towards the growing volume of non-English speaking patients - and usually you would be right. However this is something a little different. We recently have had to sit through an epically painful series of “Team Building” exercises where we “learn” how […]



Breast Lump. Emergency?

November 25th, 2008 at 12:16 am » Comments (4)

Usually not -unless accompanied by fever, severe tenderness, jaundice, or other serious accompanying symptoms. Once and a while we see a big breast abscess or a fungating cancer that has been ignored for ages but most are just overly anxious women who suddenly discover something and need referral for a mammogram or ultrasound. […]



How the Hell Can This Be? Another Crazyee Case.

November 24th, 2008 at 7:49 am » Comments (11)

Another case that makes you pause. In fact, I am still baffled by this one. About two weeks ago I had a patient who was a 16 year old female -no medical history but was sexually active. She presented with a few days of nonspecific abdominal pain. Nausea, no vomiting. No fever. She was also, […]