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Hospital emergency rooms are built for just that: emergencies. Broken bones, heart attacks, motor vehicle accidents and similar incidents that require urgent assistance from doctors and nurses. These experts are trained to handle life-threatening cases under intense pressure. For them, and their patients, every minute counts.
But every now and again, someone comes racing in and causes a collective facepalm with their 'medical emergency.' From the guy who came in because he "wanted to watch the Super Bowl and his roommates did not," to the person who had severe stomach pains but actually just needed to let out a good, long fart, people have been sharing some of the dumbest cases ever to rock up in the ER.
Bored Panda has put together the most bizarre and ridiculous ones sourced from across the internet. Some are funny, others are painful, and many might leave you thinking that sometimes, the real emergency is a serious lapse in judgment and brains that failed to function.
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#1
Had a guy call an ambulance and arrived the ER with the complaint of “wanted to watch the Super Bowl and his roommates did not”. Also this was at the height of delta where people were dropping like flies.
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#2
Sneezed, threw out my back, fell on the cat (broke his paw), got bit by the cat, and ended up with an infection from the bite and on IV antibiotics for a week.
#3
Thought my water broke when I was sleeping at 22 wks pregnant but I had just actually [wet] my pants. (They did find out I had a UTI and Covid I assumed all symptoms were from pregnancy)
StrangeOne 1 hour ago
This isn't a dumb reason to go to the hospital. If she hadn't gone she would not have known the other underlying issues until the symptoms worsened.
#4
My son (barley 3 at the time)told me his head hurt, and kept saying it for the entire day. So I thought a 3 year old with a headache is NOT normal. So I took him to Urgent care, ran every test they could and looked at him and asked “why does your head hurt?” and he said “mommy says her head hurts and she gets a snack”….. he hears me say my head hurts (i have chronic migraines) and then I have to take my medication for them with a snack.
#5
"My BP machine at home wasn't working due to no battery. So I called the health line and they told me to come to ER to get it checked."
Mind you, this was at peak delta wave with a 7hr wait in triage. Literally gave them a blank face and that was enough for them to acknowledge it was a bad time and that they'd hit the store in the AM for new batteries.
Epona 15 minutes ago
I know this post is titled "73 dumb ER visits", but calling the health line instead of just having batteries on hand is absolutely inane! If I was the responder to the person calling for that reason, I would have said "Are you serious? This is a waste of a phone call! You should have batteries on hand anyway, for a TV remote or alarm clock! Go to a store and but a 20 pack of batteries and don't waste our (and your own) time!!". Also, you can take a BP (in this case not standing for Bored Panda, rather Blood Pressure) monitor to a clinic to get it calibrated. No need to go to the ER!
#6
A woman brought her seven-year-old child in at 10pm for a mosquito bite. No infections, no complications, just a <1 cm mosquito bite.
They sat four hours in the waiting room. When they finally got seen, the doc took one look and said, "That's a mosquito bite."
The mom said, "That's what I thought."
#7
Shoes too tight. I loosened his shoes and he left.
StrangeOne 56 minutes ago
I never went to the ER or doctors for this, but I was having a lot of pain in my feet after buying new shoes. They're narrower than my old ones, and I had to replace those for other foot, ankle and knee pain issues. I was at work and suddenly couldn't walk. I limp and hopped my way to the lunchroom. A coworker got my manager. She said try loosening my laces, and that seemed to help a bit. I feel dumb now, but I genuinely thought I refractured something, or my feet bones were disintegrating.
#8
Someone told him he had flat feet. I’ve never seen a patient discharged so fast in all my life.
#9
Ooh, this one is my favorite.
Mom shows up to triage with her 17 year old son. Complaints of being blue.
I think they'd maybe even been to their primary and they sent them in for a work up, but maybe it was just a phone call, I can't recall.
Anyway, they come into my triage room and the kid is obviously a light blue all over. Not cyanotic blue, but.. light blue.
Vitals are fine, no pain or other issues. Mom is freaked out about heart issues.
I'm curious but not really concerned. So, I take out an alcohol pad and wipe his hand. It comes up blue. I show the mother and the kid, then ask if he's got any new jeans, clothes, sheets, etc. The kid says yes, he just got blue sheets and didn't wash them before he slept on them.
Clearly, that's the issue. I figure they'd be seeing themselves out, but nope - they still want to see the doctor. Oof. (And this is in the US where that's not free).
Doc agreed with me, for the record.
BarBeeGirl 1 hour ago
Reminds me of the time my daughter slammed her finger in the car door. Immediately her finger was blue so I drove to the nearest hospital. After about 5 hours of waiting she casually mentions to me that she had pained that nail with a blue marker. Used a little spit to wash it off, apologized to the staff and left in embarrassment
#12
Drank water at a house party because I had to drive home from college early the next day. went to the ER feeling like I was having a heart attack. turns out I had drank enough water to severely lower my potassium levels. The Dr was sure to point out how funny it was that I was being responsible and ended up in the ER.
#13
The custodian thought I was a ghost in a dark lab, hit me with a bucket and drove me to the ER. We’re engaged.
#15
I was in so much stomach pain and they did an ultrasound and it turns out I just needed to fart.
#16
Went to the hospital because my baby's [feces were] red, turns out my MIL gave her cherries… cried because I didn’t give her her first food.
#17
Never been sunburnt in my life. Went hiking in high elevation all day. The sky was cloudy so I thought nothing of it. On my drive home, my neck was stinging. Really bad. It was all red. I thought I had been bitten by something. Instead of going home, I went to the ER and after a few hours I was promptly told it was sunburn.
#18
My daughter was 3 at the time and she kept saying I’m dizzy right now and turns out she was trying to say I’m busy right now, that whole place probably thought I was insane.
#19
-22year old male with a sore throat x1 hour.
-varied ages for pregnancy test- including “i just know I’m pregnant but my home test was negative.”
-my 14 year old daughter has been bleeding from her privates for 3 days, she had the same problem last month for 5 days but no one took us seriously (this was mom, not like a single dad).
#20
Ate a sandwich with a spot of mold on it. Wasn't happy with the care they received at the other hospital after calling 911 so came to us for a "second opinion".
#21
I read a story here a while back that fits.
A young couple (like late teens, early 20s) came to the ER. She was fine. His complaint? Abdominal pain. After a full workup on an otherwise totally healthy young man, they determined…he was hungry.
His ‘abdominal pains’ were hunger pangs. He had never experienced them before and was scared something was really wrong.
#23
Also, and I quote, “I think my baby might’ve eaten a toenail clipping” (baby is content and playful in the stroller). Proceeds to swear at me when I tell them the longest wait is currently about 8 hours.
I could write a book about this stuff!
#24
I papercut my eyeball with a Manila folder while answering a phone at my office job.
#25
I got bit on the neck by a bat in the dollar general parking lot trying to get to my car. It was close to Halloween and when I got to the first hospital they thought I was joking… the doc refused to give me rabies shots bc they said I could have an allergic reaction… I left and went to another hospital bc I’d rather have an allergic reaction than ☠️ from rabies, they laughed too until I showed them the bite… anyway, still here and no rabies.
#27
When I worked at the ER one of the dumbest reasons I saw a patient come in for was that he LOOKED (with his eyes, no contact) at a “creature” (squirrel) and wanted to get checked for rabies because “you never know.”
#28
When i was little at the pumpkin patch i tripped while carrying a mini pumpkin and the whole stem went up my nose.
#29
Took my 1 year old to the ER because he kept tensing his whole body and we thought he was having seizures. Nope, he just thought it was funny.
StrangeOne 40 minutes ago
Tbf, that's not dumb to get checked out and it can be scary. My daughter did this when she was a about a month or 2 old. Later, when she became more mobile it turned into fits of hitting her head repeatedly and biting the anything that she could grab while screaming like she was in intense pain. No one took it seriously until my public health nurse and home visitor witnessed an episode and told me that it wasn't normal. I kept mentioning it to every specialist was saw, including speech therapists, until one finally told me it sounded like early childhood seizures. To the untrained eye, she was having tantrums. She was diagnosed with Global Developmental Delay at 18 months. When she turned 18 she's been since re-diagnosed with Intellectual Disability. I'm always wondering if those seizures were the cause or a symptom of her disability.
#32
1. 24 yo female: “I’m tired.” Literally just wanted a nap. Called EMS, who brought her by foot in the ambulance bay doors straight to the lobby. Nothing wrong with her at all.
2. “Left leg hasn’t worked for five years.”
#33
Dry feet. I swear to all that is holy. This was the only time I ever asked a pt if they really thought this was an emergency.
#35
Newborn (literally days old) was crying.
Because it was the day before thanksgiving and sometimes when he eats too much he throws up so he wants to make sure he’s all good before he eats.
Period cramps.
#36
Had a young guy come in because his muscles were more fatigued than normal….like literally instead of him being fatigued the next day after a work out he was fatigued the same day…like wth bruh. He straight up said it usually takes a day for him to be fatigued after a workout but today he was fatigued hours after.
#37
Guy called 911 after vomiting once. He had his mommy and wife meet him at the ER. He thought he ate a bad pb&j sandwich.
#38
Healthy 23 y.o. F arrived via EMS for 3 hours of constipation….
Dc’d in 5 min.
#40
New parents bringing in their baby because the umbilical cord fell off. Seen this multiple times.
#42
I was 19. My head hurt soo bad I was convinced I was having a stroke. I was dizzy with waves of excruciating pain plus vomiting. I refused to leave until they CT scanned my brain. Turns out, it was my first and only ever migraine. They gave me some shots a cpl tablets of something. I slept for 12 hrs and have never had another lol.
#43
Impaling a needle through my finger. I pulled it out but still meandered over to ED to see what I should do about it. They wrapped it and gave me a tetanus shot (it was a sterile needle!).
#44
A panic attack.
I diagnose myself with so many things and I have horrendous health anxiety as well as GAD
I’m a neuro RN
😭😭.
#45
I thought I lost a tampon and the doctor was basically elbow deep inside of me and couldn't find anything. We assumed that it fell out in the toilet.
#46
My dad got frostbite in August. Yeah, he wasn’t usually sober then. Although to watch the ER nurses’s jaw dropped when I had to take him in again the next day for related symptoms. The nurse walking by, casually said, oh that hasn’t been filed yet, I’ll get it.
#47
I fell in my cousins grave site, in the vault. The grave diggers left a small area not covered all the way and I stepped in that very spot and the ground sucked me up into the grave, it was Friday the 13th.
#48
As an ED nurse once had a man come in bc he was afraid he had a skin or heart disorder bc his legs were turning blue… turns out he had just worn new denim jeans that day, the blue rubbed right off with an alcohol swab. Never seen someone simultaneously so grateful and unwell in triage.
#50
My roommate told us her whole stomach was going numb/paralyzed , we all took her to er, waited from 11pm-5:30am, all for her to be constipated.
#51
Fainted from dancing too hard listening to “Santa tell me” by Ariana grande. Still can’t listen to it to this day.
#52
I had flying termites I thought they were just flies which wouldn't pass away so I used sooo much fly spray and ended up inhaling it and not being able to breathe.
#53
I went to the emergency room for a doctor's note because I felt too sick to work and didn’t have the money to go to urgent care.
#54
Took my granddaughter for an eyeball up her nose. She kept fooling with her nose I finally shined a flashlight up to see if something was wrong. An eye was looking back at me. She must have had a craft with googily eyes and stuck one up her nose. The doctor thought it was quite funny.
#55
Is the GP urgent? anyway I took my daughter to the GP as a baby as I thought a piece of hair was stuck around her toe and I couldn't get it out! I panicked, turns out it was a fat roll.
#56
I went because I thought I had an allergic reaction to a anti depressant. I didn’t, I had a panic attack while taking the tablet and all the symptoms made me believe I was passing away from an allergy.
#57
Sigh…. I discovered “lemon perfect” water and drank like 6 back to back later that day genuinely thought I was having a heart attack. Nope. Acid reflux from the lemon water. I didn’t have health insurance, still haven’t paid that bill….
#58
In HS, I didn’t want to go to tutoring. I put makeup on my ankle and told my mom she had to take me to urgent care because I sprained my ankle on the yard steps. I should’ve been a special fx MUA because I somehow convinced the Dr. as well and got out of tutoring.
#60
Abdominal pain that was not just abdominal pain.
I went to do a quick cath urine and what do I see? Dark grey/ bluish and pulsating in and out of her cha-cha-cha...oh my god! It was a baby trying to be born.
Ummm...homegirl hadn't had a period for many months and didn't know that she was even pregnant. And forgot to tell the triage nurse, or wasn't asked or whateva. The hell! All I could remember to tell her was 'pant, pant, pant!'
So, yeah, don't call it 'just a little belly pain, lady!'
#61
Wet socks. We took them off his feet and handed them to him with his discharge paperwork.
"I get scared on the 4th of July (VA hospital)." Ok, but it's June 4th. He read the calender wrong.
"I usually need to come to the ER on Tuesdays." Patient was MWF dialysis, frequently skipped Monday dialysis, had not skipped that Monday's dialysis, called EMS out of habit.
#62
There is a few that quickly come to mind:
Leg cramp (arrived via ambulance)
"I'm hungry" - functional adult with food at home (arrived via ambulance)
Several instances of 1cm cuts to fingers that don't require formal closure or ADT update (different patients)
Kicked toe on coffee table 1 week ago (arrived on boxing day, our busiest day of the year)
Dropped object on foot but has no pain, bruising, or other concerns. Just wanted to get checked out.
#63
I actually had a patient check in on Christmas Day for a cough that started 25 minutes prior to check in. He was in his 30s, demanded labs and a chest X-ray lol. Pre Covid too.
StrangeOne 34 minutes ago
So... how bad was the cough? Are we talking like a dry, throat-clear cough? A bit phlegmy? Hoarse and very phlegmy? Smoker's emphysema? Lung infection? Pneumonic?
#64
Sore gums after using her inhaler a couple times.
A cough every time he smokes a cigarette.
One slightly puffy cheek from eating pineapple. He already took 25mg of Benadryl at home.
I wish these weren’t true lol.
#65
A reason I personally went to the ER as a child, that looking back as an adult & a peds nurse was pretty dumb and embarrassing - my dad put a homemade cast on my arm when I fell off my bike and sprained my wrist as a child (he was a surgical tech) instead of taking me to the doctor/ER. My mom had planned to take me to the doctor the next morning to get proper care, but I woke up at night with throbbing pains in my wrist and hand.. so she took me to the ER at like midnight to get the homemade cast removed. 🙃.
#66
Leg pain due to a June bug (beetle) sitting on their leg.
They left the park,drove in to the ED, sat in the waiting room all this time they had a bug on their leg. I went to triage her because her check in complaint was just leg pain and when she shows me what is wrong I just removed the bug. She insisted that she be seen by the doctor to make sure she was okay.
#68
Every single Sunday, people usually come in for work/school notes or because “I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow, but I figured I’d come here because they’re closed on weekends and I didn’t think you guys would be busy today.”.
#69
Way before I worked in health care but I went to the ER for some bad constipation, had tried everything at home.
They did an enema. The nurse who took care of me was a girl in went to high school with.
#70
I felt sick went to hospital and farted in the nurses room went home and got fined £60 for “wasting docters time.”
#71
While eating Little Cesars in traffic, you know how easy it is to grab a $5 cheesy, and coughing due to, well, weed, I had inhaled a tiny piece of pizza crust that lodged in my airway. I could breath but it was irritating as hell. I tried to expel it for over an hour but just couldn’t get it out. It wasn’t until after triage and just seconds before seeing the doc when i finally coughed it up. Very unimpressive!!! With that little dough nugget in my palm, i jokingly said to the doctor as she slid open the exam room curtain, “ you cant charge me, i got it”, haha. They still charged me, 😂.
Sara Frazer 1 hour ago
You driving while under the influence of "well, weed" should've gotten you a whole other charge, too
#72
Not me personally, but had someone come in by squad at 0650 for an ear ache. They were discharged before dayshift took report.
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