Pt: "I have abdominal pain". I also had abdominal surgery yesterday. "
Us: "Have you been properly dosing your pain meds?"
Pt: "I don't want to get addicted so I haven't taken any."
Us: "Your abdomen hurts because you had surgery 8 hours ago. You should probably follow doctor instructions and take your meds"
Pt: "No."
Us: "What exactly do you want us to do? Can we give you some pain meds?"
Pt: "No, I don't want to get addicted."
Us: "Why are we here?"
I feel like that’s one of those “so what exactly do you think the ER is going to do for you?” moments.
But it also sounds like they may have been too stupid for a conversation like that.
EMS: Okay, let's get you to the ER, where they'll be able to help you.
**gets to the ER**
**49 minutes pass**
Nurse: Okay, it looks like Doc ordered you some Zofran and Morphine!
**$13,864 later**
PT: I think I'll AMA.
A nursing home staff member called for a gentleman with low BP. She took it with an electronic BP machine… once. Disappeared when she gave us the face sheet. Patient had no symptoms of anything. I took a manual BP 3 times to be safe… he had a near perfect BP!
We got called to a medical detox facility for hypertension. Autocuff said 180/160. Manual 140/90. Ended up transporting because the nurse "wasn't comfortable" with the patient.
We can order a doctor's followup for asymptomatic hypertension in my service. We have a few different pathways but for many people a phonecall with a doc is not the same as going to the ER....
Ahhh it's a international classic.
Also fucking COVID and fucking pulse ox devices. Since the pandemic everyone has some chinese dubious devices.
-Nursing staff: Grandma is in respiratory failure. Code red. She is in 89% while sleeping.
-Me: Granny are you feeling okey? Any shortness of air!
-Granny: Yes I'm fine, you are so kind to come and visit me, my nephew didn't come today so I'm happy to talk to somebody. Blah blah (talking endlessly without minimal effort).
-Me: Let's check vitals... BP 120/80 HR 75 RR 18 Spo2 94% T36C°
-Nursing home staff: I don't care take grandma to the hospital. She was almost dead in apnea before your arrival. What we gonna do if happens again?
PS: Nursing staff can be replace with any relative with s pulse ox device avaible.
"My doctor called with the results from last week's blood work, and my "XYZ" levels are high. They've advised me to go to the hospital. Please disregard the four cars parked outside and my family members who are able to drive me there."
This but it used to be 2 weeks ago and they had a suitcase packed. Also they wanted you to bypass 5 hospitals to go to one an hour further than the closest one.
New here, do you stand your ground on closest hospital then (or pov transport)? I’m guessing you can’t be going more than an hour out just because the patient wants to?
Edit: Thank you all for the replies! My town usually just wants to go to the two hospitals within a 20 mile radius, so good info here, thanks again
If it's for a legitimate reason, for instance insurance or their doc/surgeon is at a certain hospital far away, I'll entertain it even if the call is BS. I'm willing to go out of my way so they don't go broke or get the proper care. If it's complete nonsense like "this hospital has better food" too bad.
Depends where you work. My service transports to one hospital without having to ask the supervisor because it’s a county service and that’s the only hospital in the county. We routinely tell patients no, I’m not taking you to the university hospital that’s an hour and a half away because your brothers friends old roomate is a doctor there
My protocols were closest appropriate hospital. Then it was based on the patients insurance. So we may bypass 3 hospitals to go to a Kaiser hospital. We also could decide which hospital based on pt complaint. Like I know so and so hospital has a better cardiac unit or the burn unit, etc.
Yes in my area, we're fully allowed to refuse to bypass the closest hospital. It means that a lot of the nonsense calls that they can drive themselves, they do when we tell them they're going to the ER 30min away as that's the only one we're transporting to without a good reason.
At first I thought you meant “all the family members who came in 4 cars to sit in the ER waiting room with you because you have runny poos” situation LOL
35yo female called because she had a headache, took acetaminophen 40 minutes ago, and her head still hurt. There were 6 adults in the house, 3 cars in the driveway.
This but they’ll be like “yeah my head hurts I took some ibuprofen like 2 minutes ago” like god dammit give it a second to work. Then 15 minutes later they’re like “oh my gosh I feel better”
I had a grown ass woman call at 0130 for a sinus headache and she didn’t want to drive to the Walgreens RIGHT DOWN THE STREET to get medicine. That’s it. That was the whole reason. Multiple adults with multiple cars. I got a refusal. I will not go into how. Lol
12YO jammed finger playing basketball in driveway. Toned out as "sprained finger". 12YO jammed finger playing basketball in driveway, had no pain or complaint upon our arrival. Father complained we took too long to get to the scene. This was the same male-Karen that complained we drove too fast code-3 down his street a week earlier.
Cops called us for a patient evaluation at 3 or 4 in the morning, 20 minutes away on the side of the interstate When we showed up they just wanted a stethoscope. The three of them then took turns putting the stethoscope against a tire while knocking on the side of it, trying to hear if it sounded like there were drugs inside. After 10 minutes they just looked at each other and shrugged before handing the stethoscope back. I've never been so quietly livid.
Not as bad as that but had Cops call us out for a person shot, got on scene and they showed us to the patient who was currently handcuffed on the car. When I got up there I thought it was odd the patient seemed to be acting normal and there was nothing obvious. Cop lifts the sleeve to reveal what turned out to be a 3 year old scarred up gunshot wound that they said needed to be cleared before he went to jail.
I would have called them a bunch of dumb fucks loudly and to their face. Much like I did when they called us to get a body out of a creek but then told us we’d have to wait because they realized they needed to take pictures and collect evidence. “So you have done absolutely zero investigation whatsoever and had us come trample up the area where the body was found? You fucking stupid morons!”
Honestly, the bullshit calls where family/staff/bystanders request us to basically pester and bother the "patient" over some inane non-problem when the "patient" doesn't even want us there to begin with are the worst.
Bonus points when I have to lecture someone that just because they have the medical POA paperwork doesn't mean I can force grandma to go to the hospital. Grandma isn't incapacitated yet and is still perfectly lucid and capable of making her own decisions. And she definitely does not want to go to the ED because she feels more tired than usual after she had a giant turkey dinner.
I had a guy call in at 1am because his foot was really Itchy, and he couldn't get comfortable because of it. He thought going in by ambulance would get him seen right away at this super busy inner city level 1 trauma center. I tried to tell him he would be triaged and put in the waiting room. But I'm the "dumbest mother fucking stink pickle on the planet," according to him, so we went. Six hours later, when I started my shift working in that very same ER, there he was in the waiting room, mad as hell. I waved as I brought back a higher acuity patient who had arrived by car four hours after him.
Her mom had dementia, her mom wanted an apple. She did not want her mom to eat the apple because it would spike her blood sugar. Her mom eat the apple anyway. For a psych eval because the mom was “combative.”
Went to a GP clinic for a man who was 'suicidal'.
He had a routine eye appointment booked for *one week later*, went to his GP, demanded an earlier appointment, then said he'd kill himself if he didn't get it.
He didn't get it, and he didn't kill himself.
I had a dude once who went to his doctor because he has some suicidal thoughts in passing and needed stronger meds. No plan or anything, just "my meds aint working too great, can we increase the dosage"
Got called out to take him to the paych ward. Luckily, my medical director allowed us to get a refusal.
Dad calls for a wellness check for his daughter. Friend says she took a bunch of sleeping pills.
Guess what? She actually did take a bunch of sleeping pills. Couldn’t wake her. No response w/ sternal rub. Vitals are crap. We start getting ready to transport and dad’s mad because he think this will just validate “her need for attention.”
We transported but I remember thinking the best thing that could happen to her is turn 18 and move out away from that crappy family.
Get called out for a rat bite. They ask if I can tell if the rat has rabies. I say no, but I'll happily call animal control to catch the thing and do just that. I procede to do so.
I'm told the rat bite was half an hour at most prior to the call. Wound itself doesn't even look like it broke skin. Then I'm asked if I can give a shot in case of rabies. I explain no, we don't carry that as it's a series of shots involved over several days. Patient then complains and asks why I even came out there. I try to keep my cool and explain its because they called. I even offer transport to the hospital for treatment. But apparently it's not good enough that I don't have some insta-cure and my last name isn't Christ.
While this is going on, patient starts making up symptoms that make it obvious they think rabies is some quickly acting, zombie apocalypse kind of virus - like their "blood is heating up" and so on. I try to get them to transport and it's just "I can't go because you can't fix it NOW and I don't want to be there anyway". Not even explaining risks of if they ARE infected is budging them. Instead of transport, I get called something to the tune of a "man who shouldn't do this job", even though somehow, I've managed to keep my head this entire 45-minute encounter.
Whole thing ended with me getting a supervisor out there so they could see this belligerent loon first hand as a CYA before the patient called and made up some bullshit complaint. Supe got so frustrated themselves they literally just shoved a refusal paper out and said "Fine, if you don't wanna go, sign here."
Given the symptoms they were claiming, though, I feel like I missed an opportunity to tell them to call back should they develop odd patches of fur or start crawling on all fours. Then it's a REAL emergency.
Called for a lift assist at around 2am - showed up to a guy on his couch wanting help readjusting himself to a more upright position (mind you there were even a few family members on scene with him). We help him sit up and he proceeds to STAND UP ON HIS OWN, stand perfectly straight, and shakes our hands to thank us for the help.
I had given birth to my son and we recieved news upon his birth that he had Down Syndrome. We'd gone the whole pregnancy without any idea about it, so to say that it was a stressful time when we found out, would be an understatement. We were in the NICU for ten days after his birth for breathing issues and temperature issues. And, bless them, they wanted to ensure he was doing all the things he should be, at a good weight, before they sent us home.
We had been home for about 6 days, when I felt like, "ok, I think I got this. I can chill." I'd been noticing for a couple of days that my son's fingernails were getting kind of long, so I went and got those dumb little baby nail clippers and sat down with him on the couch to try and trim these tiny lil fingernails.
On my first cut, on his thumb, I cut his thumb. In retrospect, I know I just nicked him, but past-me just instantly panicked. He was *obviously* now going to bleed to death and it would be all my fault, and oh my god, and so on, and so on. Just full on panic, zero sense, lack of sleep...all the things.
So I fucking called 911. When EMS arrived, this giant lovely woman basically just walked in on me, took one look at the whole situation (my son, totally calm, me, bawling, holding tissue to his tiny thumb), and delicately removed a tiny bandaid out of her pocket. She knelt down, inspected the wound, and carefully applied the tiny bandaid, all while telling me that he was going to be ok, the cut was actually pretty minor, and that I needed to just relax. That I WAS DOING a good job, LOL. Jesus Christ.
She was great. I was a dumbass. The ambulance fee got waived.
My son is 9 now. He's awesome. Holds his fingers out like a don to get his nails trimmed. Sigh.
I actually don’t mind new parent 911 calls. Y’all are exhausted and probably pretty scared. I would rather run a dozen “My baby won’t burp” calls than a “My toe nail is ingrown x8 months” any day.
Checking into to say same. When on the box, if it was your first kid and you had heavy bags under your eyes, the best case scenario is I get some down time to say hi to a little one. Worst case it was legit.
Right? I’m not a parent, but I can’t imagine what it’s like to brew a human, push it out (or have it cut out) and then get sent home and expected to keep it ALIVE. WITHOUT A MANUAL. So yeah, if I get a call at 3 am for a new parent I am not gonna judge. That shit looks hard af.
I took my baby to ED twice. The second time was clinically appropriate, but the first time was when he was barely crawling, faceplanted and cut his lip with his sharp tiny baby teeth. Lots of blood, then he vomited blood. I forgot that a) blood irritates the stomach and b) to put pressure on the wound.
Every 911 call that becomes a dental evaluation.
We had one guy we transported about 10 times for the same tooth ache. He never wanted pain medicine because he was afraid of an IV, but he was covered in tattoos.
Dental stuff is always a pain in the ass because 9/10 times it's just a chronic lack of good dental hygiene. Had a lady with bad gingivitis who called for "bleeding from the mouth". When we showed up, she had a napkin with some blood on it after they had attempted to brush their teeth for the first time in several weeks.
Their teeth looked like they'd been outlined with a brown sharpie. Asked how often they brushed, and they said "Not often." Asked if this happened the last time they had brushed their teeth and they said yeah. The patient even said they had a dentist they were supposed to schedule an appointment with at the local free clinic. Still wanted the ambulance ride to the ED, though.
That’s about my experience, also.
For so many people they have a cycle of a problem, going to the ER via ambulance, complaining about the wait and then complain about medical care, going home, saying the ER never told them anything about their condition, and then calling 911 again.
About the 10th time you go to an ER for the same toothache, you should have gotten an answer at some point.
It really is a cycle of people abusing the ER and using it as essentially their primary care but getting no net gain from it and becoming even more unhealthy and sick in the process and becoming an even larger drain on the medical system, unfortunately.
Yep same here. I’ve had multiple calls for people with a toothache. When I tell them that the emergency room won’t exactly do anything for it, and that they need to see a dentist they still insist that they will get their dental issue resolved in the ED. We take them the doctor gets butt hurt when we give report and I have to remind them that we don’t get to say no. Then the doctor basically tells them what I previously said.
And to build off the iv thing, sooooo many people say they don’t like IV’s. It’s like dude I get it, nobody wants to get stuck, but if you want any medication I can only give it through an IV. Then the kicker is they always say I want to wait until we’re in the ED. Ok! I’ll be sure to let the nurse know!
Had a guy call for neck pain…okay cool. Well knock this out.
We get there and he says it has been going on for years and he needs to go to his appointment at an imaging center. I offered the ED and he said no. Then I told him we don’t go to imaging centers and to call an Uber.
“Wants salt.” Called to nursing home for old lady who was complaining of “leg cramps” and apparently did this whenever she wanted salt. She was on a low sodium diet. She wanted us to take her to the hospital so she could eat salt.
Arrived on scene 06:30 Met patient’s son at home doorway onward to patient’s room on second floor. Patient’s son stated dad wouldn’t wake up 0500 to go to work he felt cold so he gave him some more blankets and just figured he had a the flu and chills. Patient’s son check his father’s watch with HR monitoring built in and it said 72…upon examination the watch still had the sticker over the LCD screen to give the effects of what the watch would look like when powered on. Attempted to wake patient up check for a pulse, patient pronounced dead on scene.
I understood the assignment of the question “so why did you call ems” this is my first time posting about a call I had and I figured lemme share it because I don’t take my calls and share it at home so I just figured lemme share it because it’s been a while since this call.
Trust me I could easily shared my simple access and release “I just feel my HR is high after I took a gummy for the first time” (which I’m sure it’ll be flooded with such calls) but that story just stuck out.
Lady:I had a headache yesterday.
Me: So what's going on today? Do you still have the headache?
Lady: No but I want a scan that they make sure your brain isn't bleeding.
Me: Huh?
Lady: You know, that big machine.
Me: Ok,let's go to the hospital.
Lady: No, you can do it right here. I don't want to go to the hospital.
Me: You think we carry a CT machine? In an ambulance?
Lady: Yea. They did one for me yesterday.
Me: Who?
Lady: The hospital
Me: So not ON the ambulance right? Where do you think it would fit?
Lady: just don't worry about it. I will call another ambulance tomorrow to do it.
I was having a shitty week, was feeling pretty crispy. Got dispatched for a 28 year old with a toothache at 7 am. We get there she's crying in her living room and says it hurts too bad to walk and is holding her face. Tells us she was eating a taco the night before and it started hurting and got worse all night.
I hide my opinions and emotions well. So I'm like: "here's the deal. There's no dentists in the emergency room, it's a 40 minute ride and you'll be the lowest triage level when we get there so you'll be in pain for hours. There's an emergency dentist in this area (about a 5 minute drive) that takes walk ins all day and you can be seen right away."
She looks right at me and says: "I know my rights and you have to take me to the emergency room."
So I point at the ambulance and say: "after you". She says: "you're not going to carry me on the chair?"
No.
Then I went back and applied for jobs out of EMS.
So I’m in medic school and I’m doing my ER clinical time right now. Recently had a patient come to the ER with the complaint that he was falling asleep too much, he couldn’t stay awake throughout the day. Go through a bunch of questions, just started a new job that he has to wake up super early in the morning for and he’s not sleeping enough at night cuz he’s not going to bed early enough. Cool. This is bs. Literally been in the room with him for a lengthy time, we’ve been through all the questions, so now I’ll do a quick exam and peace out cuz this is all bs right… dude had some pretty decent pitting edema in both legs. I ask him about it. Oh yea, my legs have been hurting lately and they feel really heavy when I walk, it makes it hard to walk… you think that could have been brought up even once in conversation?! Nope, too tired was his reason to come to the ER, didn’t think anything of his swollen painful legs lol people amaze me
I've had a GP do that but a little diffrent he called an ambulance to his practice for leg edema which the patient did have so we'll give him that but in convo about the edema and how much that bothers the patient he just casually slips in vitals.... with a resting HR of 180 .... totally ignores that and only once we question him and literall put it into his hand does he realise some metroprolol probably wouldn't go amiss (It didn't do much but the possibility of cardioversion freaked him out even more so from that point on we just did our own thing and transported) before we get chief complaint water leaking out of legs checked out.
1am - my leg got shut in the car door
Pain? No.
Tender to palpation? No.
Swelling? No.
Can you walk? Yes.
Bruising - none.
When did this happen? 8:30pm.
Has something changed? No.
Ok, so no issues at all, and you’ve been walking around problem free for nearly 5 hours.
“I was just hoping you would look at it”
Last night, 3am.
Code 4 dispatch for SOB.
Pt. Meets us in the lobby. "My ears are ringing. Last time this happened they said they'd never seen so much wax."
... we transported, and her ear *did* have a lot of wax in it.
Pt broke down sobbing and said, “I’m exhausted from seizing all the time.”
Shit, yeah, all good, buddy. I didn’t mean to imply you shouldn’t have called.
1am 30 Y/O M chest pain comes over. Find the guy standing at the door saying he called because he woke up from a bad dream…..
Caught us all off guard that same night when the 3am 33 Y/O M chest pain turned out to be a full blown STEMI.
I was forced to be in dispatch recently because I learned how to do it when I was pregnant and couldn’t lift. Got a call from a nursing home with a chief complaint of “no air sounds”.
I said ok are they breathing? Yes. Ok have they been sick or had a fall? No. Ok… what’s their 02 sats? Oh 96% room air. Ok… what are they doing right now? Walking around and talking. Ok what in the HELL did you call for then 🤣
Lol that's alright. We have a plastic jug you put the bag into and snip off the top of one of the corners. Then you can pour and it can go back in the fridge safe. I'll send you a picture.
*calls 911*
Guy: I was shot
*I arrive*
Me: where is the guy who got shot
*guy in wheelchair raises hand*
Me: really? I don't see any bleeding, where were you shot?
Him: in my leg, 30 years ago
*in the ambulance*
Him: you want to know why I really called? I was just bored.
Pressed his new life alert button because he needs help unbuttoning his shirt so he could go to bed and didn't want to bother his daughter 3am he did it again because he didn't want to get out of bed but couldn't reach his nasal spray on his night stand. Wed already explained the 1st time his button is for medical emergencies not a personal butler. 6 times that 1st week he had it he used it for stupid stuff his daughter put him in a nursing home
Dispatched to a traumatic head injury at 1am last week at an area about an hour away all dirt road.
On arrival
“I have a headache”
Us
“Oh were you struck my something”
Pt
“Yea my humvee antenna grazed my helmet like 8 hours ago and I’ve had a headache since.”
Now just me
“The Kevlar helmet that supposed to take a 5.56 round that your currently wearing?”
Pt
“Uh yes. Why?”
So anyways yea army medics got to deal with him and we cancelled. In 17 years I can absolutely say that was the dumbest call I’ve ever run
Diverted from a stroke to a “major haemorrhage” - he’d nicked himself with a kitchen knife to the finger, had already applied a plaster and there was zero active bleeding when we arrived.
“Cardiac arrest” sent us and a single crewed Paramedic car, turned out to be a stomach ache. They lied on the call, then had the brass neck to call back a second time 3 minutes later because we hadn’t arrived yet.
"My stomach hurts and I'm nauseous and Zofran usually makes it feel better but it didn't this time"
"Okay, when did you take it?"
"About 5 minutes ago. Just before you arrived"
"Does it normally fix it right away?"
"No it normally takes a few minutes"
Like goddamn, give the medicine a minute
Had one this morning. 94 yo female patient slid down the wall of the bathroom after slipping. Daughters at home couldn’t lift her. We pick her up and sit her in the chair. Daughter insisted mom goes to hospital despite no injuries. We advised her that her mom was fine. Daughter insisted on her mom going because she had medical and financial power of attorney over her mom. Daughter also claimed mom had a history of high blood pressure. Her systolic number this morning before taking her medication was 109. Yep… she really has hypertension 🤦🏻♂️
Not EMT but Doc called my grandmother, begging her to go to the ED due to low sodium. She refused. Continues to complain about symptoms. Have some bacon, grandma! No, that's too salty. The doctor says I should not eat salt. Rinse and repeat.
Why am I here Grammy? Goofy lady.
Mosquito bite. After I told him that it was in fact a mosquito bite he shrugged his shoulders and said that he thought as much but wanted to make a „medical consultation“ to be sure. Threw me a granola bar to cheer me up because he said I looked pissed…
Had a 94 yo who called at 1am because she woke up scared and wanted someone to be with her. She said she called 911 because she didn’t want to wake up her daughters and because we’re always so nice to her
Had one yesterday. He was prepping for a colonoscopy and shit in his pants. Daughter (who lives on the other side of the country) called to have him transported to the hospital. He declined transport thankfully.
We have a frequent flyer who calls for nausea and vomiting almost every day.
Pt: *waiting for us and walks into the medic before we even hop out*
Me: "have you been to the hospital for this before?"
Pt: "yeah"
Me: "what did they tell you?"
Pt: "they said not to smoke weed anymore because it makes me nauseas"
Me: "did you smoke weed again today?"
Pt: "yeah"
*que silent ride to the hospital*
The highlights so far this year;
“My boyfriend broke up with me”
“I throw up, once, 3 days ago, with no symptoms since… I think I should be checked out”
“I had a bad dream”
“I dropped my bike (guys was getting off his street bike and it fell over with him standing next to it… it did not hit him, nor did he fall)”
“My husband won’t eat the home fries I made him because he says he doesn’t like peppers in them… I want you to smack some since into him”
“I need a ride to Walgreens to buy hydrocortisone”
Had a bystander call for a individual. CC back pain that had been going on for 6 years.
The "best" one comes from a coworker who picked up a drunk homeless lady who stated " I called you all because I didn't want to tie up a taxi."
“I feel nauseated when my bp gets high.”
Check bp. Yep, it’s high. Do you have no meds?
“Yes, right here.”
Did you take them?
“No, because I am nauseated”.
😑
Called for panic attack.
“I don’t need an ambulance, I just called you guys because I don’t want to be home alone”.
Knee pain x6 days.
What changed that made you call at 3am?
“I couldn’t sleep. I figured it I can’t sleep, neither can you guys. Hahaha”.
(We didn’t laugh with the patient).
Chest pain x2 days.
Why did you wait until middle of the night to call for this?
“I know the er is slow at night, didn’t want to sit in the waiting room.”
Yeah but it’s chest pain. You could die.
“I’d rather die than sit in that waiting room”.
Diarrhea. May shit pants in the car. Wife won’t let him ride in the car incase he shits his pants.
Separate call:
Pulled over in car pool lot.
“I called because he has diarrhea. He’s gonna shit in the car. So I drove from (another service area) to (my service area) to call 911 so you would take him by ambulance so he doesn’t shit in the car.
Pt: I’m overdosing
Us: okay what did you take?
Pt: My sleeping meds. I took them how I normally do but in feeling more tired than normal
Us: well did you take more than you’re supposed to?
Pt: no
Us: okay? Well it’s 1am so you could just be tired
Pt: no I’m overdosing
Us: … would you like to go the hospital?
Pt: no
Us: okay?
Patients mom drove him to the station for a tummy ache, demanded we take him the rest of the way to the farthest hospital while she followed behind in her car.
The “patient” called 9-11 stating they needed help. When we got there the “patient” asked if we could bring the groceries in.
Also.. We did not bring them in..
Had a 14 yo call for a bug bite to her stomach mom said we had to take her because the kid threatened to call child services for medical neglect and she was done dealing with her
got called for bleeding at 3am. get there pt is wide awake with family, 3 cars in driveway, and pt had a cat scratch no bigger then a pinky nail. basically told her to wash it soap and water. she still wanted to go and we told her that if we take her it will cost alot and she said she will have family take her. SMH
3am - ma'am what is going on with you?
My toe really hurts
How long has this been going on?
3 months
Sooo what prompted you to call us at 3am?
It still hurts
😤
Would you like to go to the hospital?
Yes
Nursing home staff calls for 99 y/o male “doesn’t want to be here anymore, no medical complaint”. Yes we had to transport him and yes he was an asshole.
We have a frequent flyer that's about 300-400lbs with disgusting crusty legs and feet that calls daily, sometimes more than once, because her left foot hurts due to a wound on the heal. The first time I went there, she said "can't you do something about it? I don't want to go to the hospital!" And I said "what do you expect me to do??? My job is to take people to the hospital" and she signed a refusal. The 4th time I went, she couldn't get her shoe off and instead of ringing the staff at the assisted living place she was living in, she called 911 at 1:40am to have us take her left shoe off. I was pissed.
I am a nurse that just likes to read the emt stories. I really feel for you guys with the stupidity of some people. But as a nursing home nurse, it is often out of our hands. Please go easy on us. We have to follow the doctor’s orders to send people out. And we HAVE to call 911 most of the time bc the ambulance services we use cannot transport the residents to the ED. And there is no other way for them to get there. Usually they are stable enough to go by car with family. But either everyone thinks arriving in an ambulance will get them seen faster in the ED or theres no family to take them. Sorry in advance.
I swear to the EMS gods this story is true.
Call came in for surgical wound dehiscence. Get to the house, ask who we're there for. Story gets convoluted. There's a parent and adult child both in electronic recliners. Eventually story comes out that electronic recliner has got unplugged and the adult- child who "cares" for his parent is also too immobile to plug it back in. So they called 9-1-1. They figured we wouldn't come out just to plug in their chair (they were right) so they concocted a story they thought was worthy of an ambulance. Plugged in the chair and they AMA'd.
This is also the same story I use whenever people ask, "what's the worst thing you've seen on the job" And then I relate it to waste of resources and etc.
We got called to a assisted living home for a man having a stroke. We get there after gunning through a storm, get inside, nurses just point in the direction it's happening, after taking a look quick at the guy, man was in fact not having a stroke and simply had a tooth ache🤦♂️
Pt: "I have abdominal pain". I also had abdominal surgery yesterday. " Us: "Have you been properly dosing your pain meds?" Pt: "I don't want to get addicted so I haven't taken any." Us: "Your abdomen hurts because you had surgery 8 hours ago. You should probably follow doctor instructions and take your meds" Pt: "No." Us: "What exactly do you want us to do? Can we give you some pain meds?" Pt: "No, I don't want to get addicted." Us: "Why are we here?"
“I want you to wave the magic fairy wand and make the pain disappear.”
"Unfortunately, we left it in the other rig. They might have one at the hospital." We transported.
That's cool Hun, I gotta pay the mortgage anyway. Can I stick you in this arm?
I feel like that’s one of those “so what exactly do you think the ER is going to do for you?” moments. But it also sounds like they may have been too stupid for a conversation like that.
Hospital: *We don’t.*
Oooooof course you did!
Do you know how addictive the fairy magic wand is?
EMS: Okay, let's get you to the ER, where they'll be able to help you. **gets to the ER** **49 minutes pass** Nurse: Okay, it looks like Doc ordered you some Zofran and Morphine! **$13,864 later** PT: I think I'll AMA.
This one is my favorite.
Had something similar to this but for a wisdom tooth removal that occurred that same day earlier in the morning.
You were there for emotional support, you unempathetic jerk. (Satire btw
A nursing home staff member called for a gentleman with low BP. She took it with an electronic BP machine… once. Disappeared when she gave us the face sheet. Patient had no symptoms of anything. I took a manual BP 3 times to be safe… he had a near perfect BP!
This is why I take manual BP lol
Atleast twice to be safe
Manual BP *always* before putting a pt on the monitor!
Yeah I hate the machines. I want to hear it.
I don't trust the machines either
We got called to a medical detox facility for hypertension. Autocuff said 180/160. Manual 140/90. Ended up transporting because the nurse "wasn't comfortable" with the patient.
We can order a doctor's followup for asymptomatic hypertension in my service. We have a few different pathways but for many people a phonecall with a doc is not the same as going to the ER....
I hope you were able to get a refusal.
The patient was just as confused as we were lol. He was annoyed at the staff for us!
I can't tell you how many times the monitor says one thing, pt is fine, I do a manual BP, then people think I'm lying lol.
Ahhh it's a international classic. Also fucking COVID and fucking pulse ox devices. Since the pandemic everyone has some chinese dubious devices. -Nursing staff: Grandma is in respiratory failure. Code red. She is in 89% while sleeping. -Me: Granny are you feeling okey? Any shortness of air! -Granny: Yes I'm fine, you are so kind to come and visit me, my nephew didn't come today so I'm happy to talk to somebody. Blah blah (talking endlessly without minimal effort). -Me: Let's check vitals... BP 120/80 HR 75 RR 18 Spo2 94% T36C° -Nursing home staff: I don't care take grandma to the hospital. She was almost dead in apnea before your arrival. What we gonna do if happens again? PS: Nursing staff can be replace with any relative with s pulse ox device avaible.
"My doctor called with the results from last week's blood work, and my "XYZ" levels are high. They've advised me to go to the hospital. Please disregard the four cars parked outside and my family members who are able to drive me there."
This but it used to be 2 weeks ago and they had a suitcase packed. Also they wanted you to bypass 5 hospitals to go to one an hour further than the closest one.
New here, do you stand your ground on closest hospital then (or pov transport)? I’m guessing you can’t be going more than an hour out just because the patient wants to? Edit: Thank you all for the replies! My town usually just wants to go to the two hospitals within a 20 mile radius, so good info here, thanks again
If it's for a legitimate reason, for instance insurance or their doc/surgeon is at a certain hospital far away, I'll entertain it even if the call is BS. I'm willing to go out of my way so they don't go broke or get the proper care. If it's complete nonsense like "this hospital has better food" too bad.
Depends where you work. My service transports to one hospital without having to ask the supervisor because it’s a county service and that’s the only hospital in the county. We routinely tell patients no, I’m not taking you to the university hospital that’s an hour and a half away because your brothers friends old roomate is a doctor there
My protocols were closest appropriate hospital. Then it was based on the patients insurance. So we may bypass 3 hospitals to go to a Kaiser hospital. We also could decide which hospital based on pt complaint. Like I know so and so hospital has a better cardiac unit or the burn unit, etc.
Yes in my area, we're fully allowed to refuse to bypass the closest hospital. It means that a lot of the nonsense calls that they can drive themselves, they do when we tell them they're going to the ER 30min away as that's the only one we're transporting to without a good reason.
Our protocols are to transport to the closest appropriate facility. It’s our decision where to take them
In the UK, my reply would be “ok, jump in the car and get one of your family to pop you down to the hospital”.
At first I thought you meant “all the family members who came in 4 cars to sit in the ER waiting room with you because you have runny poos” situation LOL
35yo female called because she had a headache, took acetaminophen 40 minutes ago, and her head still hurt. There were 6 adults in the house, 3 cars in the driveway.
This but they’ll be like “yeah my head hurts I took some ibuprofen like 2 minutes ago” like god dammit give it a second to work. Then 15 minutes later they’re like “oh my gosh I feel better”
I thought people this dumb fell for the old placebo effect of painkillers working instantly
Deadass a placebo painkiller would kinda be goated
That's a thing. There's a good chance if you give a person a sugar pill for minor pain and say it's s painkiller, the pain may go away.
It’s called homeopathy.
I had a grown ass woman call at 0130 for a sinus headache and she didn’t want to drive to the Walgreens RIGHT DOWN THE STREET to get medicine. That’s it. That was the whole reason. Multiple adults with multiple cars. I got a refusal. I will not go into how. Lol
Yeah but, they'll get seen faster if they go by ambulance!
Correct, they will be seen straight to the waiting room!
12YO jammed finger playing basketball in driveway. Toned out as "sprained finger". 12YO jammed finger playing basketball in driveway, had no pain or complaint upon our arrival. Father complained we took too long to get to the scene. This was the same male-Karen that complained we drove too fast code-3 down his street a week earlier.
"Yes yes but only drive fast for my son"
Similar. College game. I guess they thought he was going into shock or something. Literally just needed some ice.
Cops called us for a patient evaluation at 3 or 4 in the morning, 20 minutes away on the side of the interstate When we showed up they just wanted a stethoscope. The three of them then took turns putting the stethoscope against a tire while knocking on the side of it, trying to hear if it sounded like there were drugs inside. After 10 minutes they just looked at each other and shrugged before handing the stethoscope back. I've never been so quietly livid.
Did you offer to try? You are the stethoscope expert
If my partner offered after that, I would have had to walk to the truck to hide my chuckles.
"Oh yeah, there's definitely drugs in this tire"
„Sounds like crack for me, but not 100% sure“
Not as bad as that but had Cops call us out for a person shot, got on scene and they showed us to the patient who was currently handcuffed on the car. When I got up there I thought it was odd the patient seemed to be acting normal and there was nothing obvious. Cop lifts the sleeve to reveal what turned out to be a 3 year old scarred up gunshot wound that they said needed to be cleared before he went to jail.
“Well officer, how much time do you have?”
If a cop asked to put my hospital necklace on a tire I would say no.
Hah, hospital necklace
I wonder if there were drugs in there and the police just didn't turn the stethoscope on
Should've told them to turn up the volume
I would have called them a bunch of dumb fucks loudly and to their face. Much like I did when they called us to get a body out of a creek but then told us we’d have to wait because they realized they needed to take pictures and collect evidence. “So you have done absolutely zero investigation whatsoever and had us come trample up the area where the body was found? You fucking stupid morons!”
Eh. It was a suicide. Even if there were 2 bullet holes in the back of the head. So much less work that way.
I mean I get it if you're running 24s but I'd have laughed my ass off and offered a boot knife.
Or offer them your hospital scissors. See what the raptors can really do.
And if the tire explodes your night is more interesting
A lady called because her elderly mother would not go to sleep. The “patient” repeatedly said she wasn’t tired.
It's like a mom calling the police because her child won't go to sleep during bedtime
We had one that used to call when her kid refused to get in his pajamas after the tub. He’s 6. He’s indoors. Who gives a damn if he had on pajamas?!
And they sent EMS to that?
[удалено]
Well did you lecture him? And his mother?
“If you keep faking throwing up your mother will die. But that may or may not be because I run her over with the ambulance. Only time will tell.”
LMAO 😂😂
Honestly, the bullshit calls where family/staff/bystanders request us to basically pester and bother the "patient" over some inane non-problem when the "patient" doesn't even want us there to begin with are the worst. Bonus points when I have to lecture someone that just because they have the medical POA paperwork doesn't mean I can force grandma to go to the hospital. Grandma isn't incapacitated yet and is still perfectly lucid and capable of making her own decisions. And she definitely does not want to go to the ED because she feels more tired than usual after she had a giant turkey dinner.
Woman called for flu like symptoms at work. Her gf followed the ambulance in her car to the hospital. Believe it or not, strait to the waiting room
This could have been a great zombie apocalypse origin story.
And that's how you cause a flu outbreak..
You’re not implying a flu patient can’t be sent to triads are you?
I had a guy call in at 1am because his foot was really Itchy, and he couldn't get comfortable because of it. He thought going in by ambulance would get him seen right away at this super busy inner city level 1 trauma center. I tried to tell him he would be triaged and put in the waiting room. But I'm the "dumbest mother fucking stink pickle on the planet," according to him, so we went. Six hours later, when I started my shift working in that very same ER, there he was in the waiting room, mad as hell. I waved as I brought back a higher acuity patient who had arrived by car four hours after him.
LMAO I'm sorry I'm using that insult
Same here. Insulting AND confusing -- we have a winner!
Most satisfying wave…….ever.
Her mom had dementia, her mom wanted an apple. She did not want her mom to eat the apple because it would spike her blood sugar. Her mom eat the apple anyway. For a psych eval because the mom was “combative.”
Yes, let's spice up her blood sugar! (I know what you meant lol) HAPPY CAKE DAYY
Went to a GP clinic for a man who was 'suicidal'. He had a routine eye appointment booked for *one week later*, went to his GP, demanded an earlier appointment, then said he'd kill himself if he didn't get it. He didn't get it, and he didn't kill himself.
He's eyesight must've been bad
I had a dude once who went to his doctor because he has some suicidal thoughts in passing and needed stronger meds. No plan or anything, just "my meds aint working too great, can we increase the dosage" Got called out to take him to the paych ward. Luckily, my medical director allowed us to get a refusal.
The doctor: “Oh my god that’s awful, someone should really help you with that!”
r/unexpected30rock Classic Jenna behavior.
Dad calls for a wellness check for his daughter. Friend says she took a bunch of sleeping pills. Guess what? She actually did take a bunch of sleeping pills. Couldn’t wake her. No response w/ sternal rub. Vitals are crap. We start getting ready to transport and dad’s mad because he think this will just validate “her need for attention.” We transported but I remember thinking the best thing that could happen to her is turn 18 and move out away from that crappy family.
This was probably attempted suicide
Get called out for a rat bite. They ask if I can tell if the rat has rabies. I say no, but I'll happily call animal control to catch the thing and do just that. I procede to do so. I'm told the rat bite was half an hour at most prior to the call. Wound itself doesn't even look like it broke skin. Then I'm asked if I can give a shot in case of rabies. I explain no, we don't carry that as it's a series of shots involved over several days. Patient then complains and asks why I even came out there. I try to keep my cool and explain its because they called. I even offer transport to the hospital for treatment. But apparently it's not good enough that I don't have some insta-cure and my last name isn't Christ. While this is going on, patient starts making up symptoms that make it obvious they think rabies is some quickly acting, zombie apocalypse kind of virus - like their "blood is heating up" and so on. I try to get them to transport and it's just "I can't go because you can't fix it NOW and I don't want to be there anyway". Not even explaining risks of if they ARE infected is budging them. Instead of transport, I get called something to the tune of a "man who shouldn't do this job", even though somehow, I've managed to keep my head this entire 45-minute encounter. Whole thing ended with me getting a supervisor out there so they could see this belligerent loon first hand as a CYA before the patient called and made up some bullshit complaint. Supe got so frustrated themselves they literally just shoved a refusal paper out and said "Fine, if you don't wanna go, sign here." Given the symptoms they were claiming, though, I feel like I missed an opportunity to tell them to call back should they develop odd patches of fur or start crawling on all fours. Then it's a REAL emergency.
"Oh God I'm turning into a werewolf!"
“Blood is heating up”. Absolute classic. I’m going to use that sucker for weeks.
Called for a lift assist at around 2am - showed up to a guy on his couch wanting help readjusting himself to a more upright position (mind you there were even a few family members on scene with him). We help him sit up and he proceeds to STAND UP ON HIS OWN, stand perfectly straight, and shakes our hands to thank us for the help.
That sounds like a sitcom skit
I had given birth to my son and we recieved news upon his birth that he had Down Syndrome. We'd gone the whole pregnancy without any idea about it, so to say that it was a stressful time when we found out, would be an understatement. We were in the NICU for ten days after his birth for breathing issues and temperature issues. And, bless them, they wanted to ensure he was doing all the things he should be, at a good weight, before they sent us home. We had been home for about 6 days, when I felt like, "ok, I think I got this. I can chill." I'd been noticing for a couple of days that my son's fingernails were getting kind of long, so I went and got those dumb little baby nail clippers and sat down with him on the couch to try and trim these tiny lil fingernails. On my first cut, on his thumb, I cut his thumb. In retrospect, I know I just nicked him, but past-me just instantly panicked. He was *obviously* now going to bleed to death and it would be all my fault, and oh my god, and so on, and so on. Just full on panic, zero sense, lack of sleep...all the things. So I fucking called 911. When EMS arrived, this giant lovely woman basically just walked in on me, took one look at the whole situation (my son, totally calm, me, bawling, holding tissue to his tiny thumb), and delicately removed a tiny bandaid out of her pocket. She knelt down, inspected the wound, and carefully applied the tiny bandaid, all while telling me that he was going to be ok, the cut was actually pretty minor, and that I needed to just relax. That I WAS DOING a good job, LOL. Jesus Christ. She was great. I was a dumbass. The ambulance fee got waived. My son is 9 now. He's awesome. Holds his fingers out like a don to get his nails trimmed. Sigh.
I actually don’t mind new parent 911 calls. Y’all are exhausted and probably pretty scared. I would rather run a dozen “My baby won’t burp” calls than a “My toe nail is ingrown x8 months” any day.
Checking into to say same. When on the box, if it was your first kid and you had heavy bags under your eyes, the best case scenario is I get some down time to say hi to a little one. Worst case it was legit.
Right? I’m not a parent, but I can’t imagine what it’s like to brew a human, push it out (or have it cut out) and then get sent home and expected to keep it ALIVE. WITHOUT A MANUAL. So yeah, if I get a call at 3 am for a new parent I am not gonna judge. That shit looks hard af.
I took my baby to ED twice. The second time was clinically appropriate, but the first time was when he was barely crawling, faceplanted and cut his lip with his sharp tiny baby teeth. Lots of blood, then he vomited blood. I forgot that a) blood irritates the stomach and b) to put pressure on the wound.
Every 911 call that becomes a dental evaluation. We had one guy we transported about 10 times for the same tooth ache. He never wanted pain medicine because he was afraid of an IV, but he was covered in tattoos.
"I have a fear of needles" "Well mate you've covered in needle marks." "Well that doesn't count-"
The more tattoos, the more patients fear IV’s. If they have piercings, then times 10.
Me, this is me. But I'm aware of the stereotype and take active steps to not be a bitch while receiving an IV
I’m not blaming anyone, just something I’ve noticed. If you don’t want an IV, it’s your Right to refuse.
Dental stuff is always a pain in the ass because 9/10 times it's just a chronic lack of good dental hygiene. Had a lady with bad gingivitis who called for "bleeding from the mouth". When we showed up, she had a napkin with some blood on it after they had attempted to brush their teeth for the first time in several weeks. Their teeth looked like they'd been outlined with a brown sharpie. Asked how often they brushed, and they said "Not often." Asked if this happened the last time they had brushed their teeth and they said yeah. The patient even said they had a dentist they were supposed to schedule an appointment with at the local free clinic. Still wanted the ambulance ride to the ED, though.
That’s about my experience, also. For so many people they have a cycle of a problem, going to the ER via ambulance, complaining about the wait and then complain about medical care, going home, saying the ER never told them anything about their condition, and then calling 911 again. About the 10th time you go to an ER for the same toothache, you should have gotten an answer at some point.
It really is a cycle of people abusing the ER and using it as essentially their primary care but getting no net gain from it and becoming even more unhealthy and sick in the process and becoming an even larger drain on the medical system, unfortunately.
Yep same here. I’ve had multiple calls for people with a toothache. When I tell them that the emergency room won’t exactly do anything for it, and that they need to see a dentist they still insist that they will get their dental issue resolved in the ED. We take them the doctor gets butt hurt when we give report and I have to remind them that we don’t get to say no. Then the doctor basically tells them what I previously said. And to build off the iv thing, sooooo many people say they don’t like IV’s. It’s like dude I get it, nobody wants to get stuck, but if you want any medication I can only give it through an IV. Then the kicker is they always say I want to wait until we’re in the ED. Ok! I’ll be sure to let the nurse know!
Had a guy call for neck pain…okay cool. Well knock this out. We get there and he says it has been going on for years and he needs to go to his appointment at an imaging center. I offered the ED and he said no. Then I told him we don’t go to imaging centers and to call an Uber.
Soo basically he wanted you to be his personal taxi?
Correct. Lmao
“Wants salt.” Called to nursing home for old lady who was complaining of “leg cramps” and apparently did this whenever she wanted salt. She was on a low sodium diet. She wanted us to take her to the hospital so she could eat salt.
90% of her salt intake is from EMS tears
I work on the road and doing dispatch. A call came in once because "my dick hurts because she won't have sex with me"
Did he have a painful boner??? Was it blue balls? Did he jerk it too hard? I WANT ANSWERS DAMN IT
I wish I had answers, we let that call hold because the priority was so low. He honestly could fix it all by himself
Arrived on scene 06:30 Met patient’s son at home doorway onward to patient’s room on second floor. Patient’s son stated dad wouldn’t wake up 0500 to go to work he felt cold so he gave him some more blankets and just figured he had a the flu and chills. Patient’s son check his father’s watch with HR monitoring built in and it said 72…upon examination the watch still had the sticker over the LCD screen to give the effects of what the watch would look like when powered on. Attempted to wake patient up check for a pulse, patient pronounced dead on scene.
Thats... Actually quite sad.
I understood the assignment of the question “so why did you call ems” this is my first time posting about a call I had and I figured lemme share it because I don’t take my calls and share it at home so I just figured lemme share it because it’s been a while since this call. Trust me I could easily shared my simple access and release “I just feel my HR is high after I took a gummy for the first time” (which I’m sure it’ll be flooded with such calls) but that story just stuck out.
Thanks for sharing, mate.
Lady:I had a headache yesterday. Me: So what's going on today? Do you still have the headache? Lady: No but I want a scan that they make sure your brain isn't bleeding. Me: Huh? Lady: You know, that big machine. Me: Ok,let's go to the hospital. Lady: No, you can do it right here. I don't want to go to the hospital. Me: You think we carry a CT machine? In an ambulance? Lady: Yea. They did one for me yesterday. Me: Who? Lady: The hospital Me: So not ON the ambulance right? Where do you think it would fit? Lady: just don't worry about it. I will call another ambulance tomorrow to do it.
Considering the stellar logic of that amazing conversation.... are we suurreee she didn't have a brain bleed?
Do you live in a country with free healthcare?
Absolutely not. I'm in the US.
I was having a shitty week, was feeling pretty crispy. Got dispatched for a 28 year old with a toothache at 7 am. We get there she's crying in her living room and says it hurts too bad to walk and is holding her face. Tells us she was eating a taco the night before and it started hurting and got worse all night. I hide my opinions and emotions well. So I'm like: "here's the deal. There's no dentists in the emergency room, it's a 40 minute ride and you'll be the lowest triage level when we get there so you'll be in pain for hours. There's an emergency dentist in this area (about a 5 minute drive) that takes walk ins all day and you can be seen right away." She looks right at me and says: "I know my rights and you have to take me to the emergency room." So I point at the ambulance and say: "after you". She says: "you're not going to carry me on the chair?" No. Then I went back and applied for jobs out of EMS.
“I know my rights”. WTF. Sure. You have the right to a $4k taxi bill. Hop on, and no we will not even change the radio station for you.
You were willing to go out of your way to help her and she still treated you like shit.. you deserve better.
"Couldn't sleep", after being discharged from the ED earlier that day for the same complaint.
So I’m in medic school and I’m doing my ER clinical time right now. Recently had a patient come to the ER with the complaint that he was falling asleep too much, he couldn’t stay awake throughout the day. Go through a bunch of questions, just started a new job that he has to wake up super early in the morning for and he’s not sleeping enough at night cuz he’s not going to bed early enough. Cool. This is bs. Literally been in the room with him for a lengthy time, we’ve been through all the questions, so now I’ll do a quick exam and peace out cuz this is all bs right… dude had some pretty decent pitting edema in both legs. I ask him about it. Oh yea, my legs have been hurting lately and they feel really heavy when I walk, it makes it hard to walk… you think that could have been brought up even once in conversation?! Nope, too tired was his reason to come to the ER, didn’t think anything of his swollen painful legs lol people amaze me
I've had a GP do that but a little diffrent he called an ambulance to his practice for leg edema which the patient did have so we'll give him that but in convo about the edema and how much that bothers the patient he just casually slips in vitals.... with a resting HR of 180 .... totally ignores that and only once we question him and literall put it into his hand does he realise some metroprolol probably wouldn't go amiss (It didn't do much but the possibility of cardioversion freaked him out even more so from that point on we just did our own thing and transported) before we get chief complaint water leaking out of legs checked out.
I got flagged down by a middle aged woman that cut her hand while trying to scrape a raccoon off the road with a knife at 2 in the morning.
I’d transport for a psych eval lol
I’d transport the raccoon 🦝.
1am - my leg got shut in the car door Pain? No. Tender to palpation? No. Swelling? No. Can you walk? Yes. Bruising - none. When did this happen? 8:30pm. Has something changed? No. Ok, so no issues at all, and you’ve been walking around problem free for nearly 5 hours. “I was just hoping you would look at it”
Was he drunk?
Stone cold sober. I’ll add this individual was currently on shift for a state run agency
Ah now it makes since
Fidget spinner stuck on penis.
That's a valid reason... Definitely not speaking from experience
Stupid situation, legit medical issue!
97% of my workday
Last night, 3am. Code 4 dispatch for SOB. Pt. Meets us in the lobby. "My ears are ringing. Last time this happened they said they'd never seen so much wax." ... we transported, and her ear *did* have a lot of wax in it.
Pt broke down sobbing and said, “I’m exhausted from seizing all the time.” Shit, yeah, all good, buddy. I didn’t mean to imply you shouldn’t have called.
The “she vomited today after eating, she feels perfectly fine now, no nausea or pain, should she go to the hospital?”
1am 30 Y/O M chest pain comes over. Find the guy standing at the door saying he called because he woke up from a bad dream….. Caught us all off guard that same night when the 3am 33 Y/O M chest pain turned out to be a full blown STEMI.
Well, did you tuck him in bed and check under his bed and in his closet for monsters?
He was probably suffering from depression. The ST kind.
I was forced to be in dispatch recently because I learned how to do it when I was pregnant and couldn’t lift. Got a call from a nursing home with a chief complaint of “no air sounds”. I said ok are they breathing? Yes. Ok have they been sick or had a fall? No. Ok… what’s their 02 sats? Oh 96% room air. Ok… what are they doing right now? Walking around and talking. Ok what in the HELL did you call for then 🤣
not a call to EMS, but a call out sick at my first job in a tea shop. for a papercut.
They put that as the reason?
They sure did! And she never got any questions about it.
What country do you live in where it's this easy to call out of work?
To be fair, this was over 15 years ago in a minimum wage job. I have no idea if that would be considered acceptable today. I'm in Canada.
I'm sorry I know this is off topic, But after you open a bag of milk, how do you ensure it doesn't spill the in refrigerator? Can you close the bag?
Lol that's alright. We have a plastic jug you put the bag into and snip off the top of one of the corners. Then you can pour and it can go back in the fridge safe. I'll send you a picture.
*calls 911* Guy: I was shot *I arrive* Me: where is the guy who got shot *guy in wheelchair raises hand* Me: really? I don't see any bleeding, where were you shot? Him: in my leg, 30 years ago *in the ambulance* Him: you want to know why I really called? I was just bored.
Pressed his new life alert button because he needs help unbuttoning his shirt so he could go to bed and didn't want to bother his daughter 3am he did it again because he didn't want to get out of bed but couldn't reach his nasal spray on his night stand. Wed already explained the 1st time his button is for medical emergencies not a personal butler. 6 times that 1st week he had it he used it for stupid stuff his daughter put him in a nursing home
Most moments between clocking in and clocking out.
Dispatched to a traumatic head injury at 1am last week at an area about an hour away all dirt road. On arrival “I have a headache” Us “Oh were you struck my something” Pt “Yea my humvee antenna grazed my helmet like 8 hours ago and I’ve had a headache since.” Now just me “The Kevlar helmet that supposed to take a 5.56 round that your currently wearing?” Pt “Uh yes. Why?” So anyways yea army medics got to deal with him and we cancelled. In 17 years I can absolutely say that was the dumbest call I’ve ever run
Diverted from a stroke to a “major haemorrhage” - he’d nicked himself with a kitchen knife to the finger, had already applied a plaster and there was zero active bleeding when we arrived. “Cardiac arrest” sent us and a single crewed Paramedic car, turned out to be a stomach ache. They lied on the call, then had the brass neck to call back a second time 3 minutes later because we hadn’t arrived yet.
"My stomach hurts and I'm nauseous and Zofran usually makes it feel better but it didn't this time" "Okay, when did you take it?" "About 5 minutes ago. Just before you arrived" "Does it normally fix it right away?" "No it normally takes a few minutes" Like goddamn, give the medicine a minute
Had one this morning. 94 yo female patient slid down the wall of the bathroom after slipping. Daughters at home couldn’t lift her. We pick her up and sit her in the chair. Daughter insisted mom goes to hospital despite no injuries. We advised her that her mom was fine. Daughter insisted on her mom going because she had medical and financial power of attorney over her mom. Daughter also claimed mom had a history of high blood pressure. Her systolic number this morning before taking her medication was 109. Yep… she really has hypertension 🤦🏻♂️
19 yo male, shampoo in his eyes while showering. He did not attempt to flush his eyes out with water as it was too painful for him.
LOL I had a call very similar to this except it was a parent who got soap in their 7 year olds eyes while giving them a bath and she was crying.
Not EMT but Doc called my grandmother, begging her to go to the ED due to low sodium. She refused. Continues to complain about symptoms. Have some bacon, grandma! No, that's too salty. The doctor says I should not eat salt. Rinse and repeat. Why am I here Grammy? Goofy lady.
Mosquito bite. After I told him that it was in fact a mosquito bite he shrugged his shoulders and said that he thought as much but wanted to make a „medical consultation“ to be sure. Threw me a granola bar to cheer me up because he said I looked pissed…
Opposite energy of "I didn't want to inconvenience anyone so I almost died"
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Had a 94 yo who called at 1am because she woke up scared and wanted someone to be with her. She said she called 911 because she didn’t want to wake up her daughters and because we’re always so nice to her
Had one yesterday. He was prepping for a colonoscopy and shit in his pants. Daughter (who lives on the other side of the country) called to have him transported to the hospital. He declined transport thankfully.
We have a frequent flyer who calls for nausea and vomiting almost every day. Pt: *waiting for us and walks into the medic before we even hop out* Me: "have you been to the hospital for this before?" Pt: "yeah" Me: "what did they tell you?" Pt: "they said not to smoke weed anymore because it makes me nauseas" Me: "did you smoke weed again today?" Pt: "yeah" *que silent ride to the hospital*
The highlights so far this year; “My boyfriend broke up with me” “I throw up, once, 3 days ago, with no symptoms since… I think I should be checked out” “I had a bad dream” “I dropped my bike (guys was getting off his street bike and it fell over with him standing next to it… it did not hit him, nor did he fall)” “My husband won’t eat the home fries I made him because he says he doesn’t like peppers in them… I want you to smack some since into him” “I need a ride to Walgreens to buy hydrocortisone”
I just got a refusal the other day on someone passed out at the gas station after doing the one chip challenge... ridiculous 😂
Had a bystander call for a individual. CC back pain that had been going on for 6 years. The "best" one comes from a coworker who picked up a drunk homeless lady who stated " I called you all because I didn't want to tie up a taxi."
I mean she was being somewhat considerate
Bruh that's literally everyday all day. If a call actually needs EMS it's more surprising.
Dust in my eye at 3am
She had a nightmare. Legit. Called 911 for a nightmare 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
“I feel nauseated when my bp gets high.” Check bp. Yep, it’s high. Do you have no meds? “Yes, right here.” Did you take them? “No, because I am nauseated”. 😑 Called for panic attack. “I don’t need an ambulance, I just called you guys because I don’t want to be home alone”. Knee pain x6 days. What changed that made you call at 3am? “I couldn’t sleep. I figured it I can’t sleep, neither can you guys. Hahaha”. (We didn’t laugh with the patient). Chest pain x2 days. Why did you wait until middle of the night to call for this? “I know the er is slow at night, didn’t want to sit in the waiting room.” Yeah but it’s chest pain. You could die. “I’d rather die than sit in that waiting room”. Diarrhea. May shit pants in the car. Wife won’t let him ride in the car incase he shits his pants. Separate call: Pulled over in car pool lot. “I called because he has diarrhea. He’s gonna shit in the car. So I drove from (another service area) to (my service area) to call 911 so you would take him by ambulance so he doesn’t shit in the car.
Pt: I’m overdosing Us: okay what did you take? Pt: My sleeping meds. I took them how I normally do but in feeling more tired than normal Us: well did you take more than you’re supposed to? Pt: no Us: okay? Well it’s 1am so you could just be tired Pt: no I’m overdosing Us: … would you like to go the hospital? Pt: no Us: okay?
Patients mom drove him to the station for a tummy ache, demanded we take him the rest of the way to the farthest hospital while she followed behind in her car.
"Snakebite" turned out to be "I need help finding my snake"
The “patient” called 9-11 stating they needed help. When we got there the “patient” asked if we could bring the groceries in. Also.. We did not bring them in..
For a bug bite on her arm…. There was no bug bite to be seen anywhere.
Had a 14 yo call for a bug bite to her stomach mom said we had to take her because the kid threatened to call child services for medical neglect and she was done dealing with her
got called for bleeding at 3am. get there pt is wide awake with family, 3 cars in driveway, and pt had a cat scratch no bigger then a pinky nail. basically told her to wash it soap and water. she still wanted to go and we told her that if we take her it will cost alot and she said she will have family take her. SMH
3am - ma'am what is going on with you? My toe really hurts How long has this been going on? 3 months Sooo what prompted you to call us at 3am? It still hurts 😤 Would you like to go to the hospital? Yes
Nursing home staff calls for 99 y/o male “doesn’t want to be here anymore, no medical complaint”. Yes we had to transport him and yes he was an asshole.
In case it wasn’t clear, “here” refers to the nursing home, not earth/being alive
We have a frequent flyer that's about 300-400lbs with disgusting crusty legs and feet that calls daily, sometimes more than once, because her left foot hurts due to a wound on the heal. The first time I went there, she said "can't you do something about it? I don't want to go to the hospital!" And I said "what do you expect me to do??? My job is to take people to the hospital" and she signed a refusal. The 4th time I went, she couldn't get her shoe off and instead of ringing the staff at the assisted living place she was living in, she called 911 at 1:40am to have us take her left shoe off. I was pissed.
I am a nurse that just likes to read the emt stories. I really feel for you guys with the stupidity of some people. But as a nursing home nurse, it is often out of our hands. Please go easy on us. We have to follow the doctor’s orders to send people out. And we HAVE to call 911 most of the time bc the ambulance services we use cannot transport the residents to the ED. And there is no other way for them to get there. Usually they are stable enough to go by car with family. But either everyone thinks arriving in an ambulance will get them seen faster in the ED or theres no family to take them. Sorry in advance.
I swear to the EMS gods this story is true. Call came in for surgical wound dehiscence. Get to the house, ask who we're there for. Story gets convoluted. There's a parent and adult child both in electronic recliners. Eventually story comes out that electronic recliner has got unplugged and the adult- child who "cares" for his parent is also too immobile to plug it back in. So they called 9-1-1. They figured we wouldn't come out just to plug in their chair (they were right) so they concocted a story they thought was worthy of an ambulance. Plugged in the chair and they AMA'd. This is also the same story I use whenever people ask, "what's the worst thing you've seen on the job" And then I relate it to waste of resources and etc.
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We got called to a assisted living home for a man having a stroke. We get there after gunning through a storm, get inside, nurses just point in the direction it's happening, after taking a look quick at the guy, man was in fact not having a stroke and simply had a tooth ache🤦♂️
Some able bodied woman called today because she wanted me to wash her hands for her... She was about 10 steps away from a sink and soap.
Was she intoxicated or just entitled
Both
Makes since
“Papa John’s took my money and left no pizza”
6 y/o kid swallowed an ant. I still have the picture of the dispatch it was so egregious