“My resident cried for three straight days after that incident.”
As a disclaimer, some of the answers may be triggering for some.
“I was working in a very big, very busy emergency department.
I noticed a young guy in the high-level area.
He had asthma, and looked breathless and very scared.
About an hour later, a crash call goes out, and I race to the resuscitation room.
They are wheeling the guy in, navy blue, barely breathing.
I did what I could: tubed, gave adrenaline, etc.
but couldnt get him back.
He was 32 years old.
When I checked his record, I saw his CO2 was double normal.
That was an indication for urgent action, probably intubation and ICU admission.
If I would have just checked, that guy would most likely still be alive.”
It was the first time I called in sick for surgery in 20 years.
Its what you get in a society that demands more than it understands.
Would you want to undergo such a massive and dangerous surgery if your surgeon were that ill?"
When I got in, he neglected to mention that he tied off a major vessel.
The tie-off was supposed to be temporary and was ‘intended’ to be removed once the vessel was repaired.
Well, because he never mentioned it to me, we proceeded with the surgery.
Obviously, no medications worked.
During the autopsy, the pathologist found the tied-off vessel.
My resident cried for three straight days after that incident."
“I remember one patient I had who passed away when I was an intern.
He was in his fifties and seemingly a simple family man who was a farmer.
As it turned out, this would not be the case.
He ended up on cardiac arrest.
“Im going to tell you the story of how I killed a patient.
When I was assigned him, he had not been fed in several days.
He was receiving some sustenance in the form of IV nutrition which was completely unsatisfying.
He would beg for food and I would apologize profusely, explaining why.
Every day, he looked dejected.
Everyone signed off on him, knowing there was nothing more that could be done.
One day, after he had asked for food again, I wrote the order for food for him.
When the dinner trays came in, he looked like a child on Christmas.
He maintained a huge smile in between bites.
He died that night.
I still regret it.
“Patient: ‘I have gained 30 pounds recently due to losing my husband.
Can you help me get the weight off?’
Me: ‘Oh, I am very sorry to hear that.
At least he is not suffering anymore, and is in a better place.’
Patient: Looks at me like I just kicked her cat.
‘What did you say?
Did you hear what I said?
I said my husband left me for a younger woman; I am very hurt and have been eating.
I gained weight.’
At this point, I felt like shit about myself and realized I suck at listening sometimes.
She cried immediately, threw her chart at me, called me a few names, and stormed out.
I sat there for a minute, hating myself.
Nowadays, Im very honest and sometimes even give a lower number than what I think they have.
Later that day, she came in and brought her mom to the room with her.
“I am not a physician but I am a medical reporter.
He told his colleague he will forever wonder if he really f-d up.
This was early on in my career and the exchange blew me away.
On a particularly unfortunate week, I had the disaster of being on call for two days straight.
During my shift, I arrived completely zombie-like and burned out.
He had malignant lymphoma, sepsis, and a fluctuating fever.
He was friendly but seemed really weak and sick, and his vitals were also bad.
Around 6 a.m., I did the last round of last vitals.
I was extremely tired.
A month later, she came back with a growth at the trach site that was cancer.
Retrospectively, I was overly optimistic and ignored the reality of her situation.
I’ve learned to be realistic about how bad an outcome can be.
‘The worst outcome is not that you will die.
I have been a promoter of palliative and hospice care ever since.”
“My first job was at an STD clinic.
It was itchy and sounded like a simple candidal infection (thrush).
He asked me for some cream for his friend.
I was foolish and did so.
‘Thanks for the cream,’ he said, ‘It worked well.
I am just off to the diabetic clinic.
My GP diagnosed it two weeks ago.
I am now on insulin.’
He was genuinely grateful.
Genital thrush can be an early sign of diabetes.
I was so lucky he did not have a diabetic emergency.
I woke up one morning, and one of my breasts was very hard.
I called my obstetrician, and he told me to come in right away.
I called my mom, crying.
Ten minutes after I started warm compressing, my breast was back to normal.
I called the hospital and canceled the abortion and breast surgery.
My doctor called me later, asking why I canceled.
I told him what I did and that all was back to normal.
He didnt believe me and told me to come back to his office right away.
I changed doctors and had a healthy boy four months later.
A few years later, I read in the news that he lost his license for malpractice.”
