#erstories

Steps into ER sees a slow morning.

Plans to take a nap.

Unable to sit untill 12:30am.

Death at 1:00am

High Blood pressure refusing to come down. Monitoring untill 5:30Am.

Duty extends into 32 hours .

Patient was brought vis EMS to the ED for some sort of drug overdose. The patient fluctuated between being semi-unconscious to manic behavior, including shaking her head, yelling, singing, or whatnot. She told us that she had only taken marijuana, but let’s be honest... Marijuana does not give that type of response, even if an overdose. Anyways, in one of her manic phases, she attempted to jump out of the bed, so we had a sitter at the bedside to make sure she did not accidentally hurt herself. At one point, the patient sat up in bed, talking to the sitter. She started flirting with him hardcore, flipping her hair and giggling at him. The curtain to her room was open, so we were all watching this happen. All of sudden, the patient looked at the sitter, flipped her hair, ripped her hospital gown open, and started shaking her boobs at him.

It’s a normal day in the ER when there’s a patient with the chief complaint of gangrenous toe. He had a history of diabetes, so this was already understandable. On the way to the room, the smell of the foot was already wafting out. Upon examination, the big toe was twice the size of a normal toe, pretty much black all over. The nail had grown and wrapped around the toe. What really got me, was the MAGGOTS growing inside the toe! It was both nasty and amazing! They were wiggling around the toe when we were taking pictures. 

Girl: Sa OPD daw, follow up check up.

Boy: Ano yung OPD? San yun?

Girl: Dito rin sa BGH, OPD- Operation Department Disability

Most of my memorable stories are hilarious stories from the ED. However, that’s not always the case. There are those times that always stay with you because of the profound grief that comes with it. 

This story is about a kid. This was a 4 year old child, playing in her front yard. She ran out into incoming traffic, slipping in between two parked cars. The car driving by did not have a chance to stop, and she didn’t have a chance to survive. She was hit and flew into the windshield of another car 10 feet away. She was pretty much already dead on impact, however paramedics brought her to the ED to see if there was anything, just anything that could be done. I distinctly remember her with blood coming out of her ears. What I will never forget is the sight of her feet. Her small feet where untouched, ready to run around the ED. The grief could be felt in the ED, from the family, the paramedics, and the ED staff. There was a sense of loss throughout the day.

One day we had a run bringing in a heroin overdose. This patient was found on the ground, passed out. After receiving Narcan, the patient woke up and was completely alert. The patient was accompanied by the paramedics and police. When we went to talk to him, the patient was requesting to leave AGAINST MEDICAL ADVICE because he has used heroin in the past, and he just “fell asleep.” We talked to him, saying that he wanted him to stay for observation, for when the Narcan wears off. He agreed, albeit a little reluctant. We sent in one of the our EMTs to perform an EKG against him. When the EMT lifted the patient’s shirt to place the stickers, he found a pistol tucked into the patient’s waistband. Needless to say, he was extremely shocked and asked the patient if he could take it because having a gun was not allowed in the ED. Luckily, this patient was still so high that he said, “Yeah man, go for it.” The biggest shock of this was... HOW DID THE POLICE MISS THIS?! DID THEY NOT CHECK THE PATIENT BEFORE BRINGING HIM INTO THE ED??