Grossest Call?

[johnrsemt]

Only thing that bothers me much anymore are drunks that are vomiting:

Used to have a partner (or 2) that couldn't handle the sound of suctioning: all I had to do was turn it on: which I did a few times during a transport one day, closest I ever came to being killed, when at the end of the run she found the canister was empty and realized what I did.

 

[lightsandsirens5]

Only thing that bothers me much anymore are drunks that are vomiting:

Used to have a partner (or 2) that couldn't handle the sound of suctioning: all I had to do was turn it on: which I did a few times during a transport one day, closest I ever came to being killed, when at the end of the run she found the canister was empty and realized what I did.

Wait...the sound of the motor running is what grossed them out?

 

[johnrsemt]

sound of the suction running; Suctioning a pt made them sick, and they were at the point of hearing the suction run would do it.

 

[EMSTeen]

Wasn't me but I know an FF/Paramedic in Warwick RI that got dispatched to an attic collapse. The guy was green, bloated, covered in blood, and had inhaled fiberglass. Took them 2 hours to extricate him but he had already started to decomp when the sunlight through a window sped it up. Eww.

 

[DesertMedic66]

sound of the suction running; Suctioning a pt made them sick, and they were at the point of hearing the suction run would do it.

This is one of the things that will get me. I'm fine listening to the suction but once it starts to suck up fluid I start to gag. It gets much worse when a RT does a deep suction on stomas

 

[dalmain]

I've worked with people that can't stand the suctioning too.
I've gotten used to bad smells. Bad body odor. Feces, vomit, and others things. Luckily I have a strong stomach. Decomp is probably the one that will get me to gag.
I'm probably forgetting some. But one I remember was a guy with a gangrene foot. Diabetic that never went for treatment. Wound on the foot that just got worse. His foot was black..basically dead. It stunk of death. There were even insect crawling out of his foot. The whole ER smelled when he arrived.
I've had drunks, bariatrics, drug addicts, homeless, all kinds of folks that have smelled incredibly bad. So bad that the stench sticks to you through the whole day.

 

[bbmtnbb]

Am guessing the metholatum on your top lip does not quite do anything for the stench you are attempting to endure while trying to breathe and help the pt?

It just opens up your sinuses to let you smell more. lol

 

[anthonyccamargo]

its refreshing haha

 

[Carlos Danger]

Can't say I've ever seen anything truly gross in the field. Seen / smelled some decomposing bodies, a couple distal amputations, a mangled arm that got caught in a tractor's PTO.....a pretty badly smashed head once from a tree stand that fell out of the tree onto the poor dude's noggin.....but that's all standard EMS fare.

Probably the worst thing I ever saw was working in the ED....an old, obese woman was brought in with dried feces literally caked all over her body, with plenty of open sores as a bonus.

Recently I did a case in the OR for a young girl who had plastic surgery a couple weeks ago.....unfortunately several of the wounds became badly infected to the point that she was quite septic and the stench during the debridement was horrific.....

Still not as bad as the old woman in the ED.

 

[phideux]

That smell that comes off the obese females with bad hygiene, when you are a leg holder, while the nurse gets the catheter gets me. :sad:

 

[wife2mikejh]

I am not EMT certified yet, just a student, but I did work as a tech at a local hospital. Of all the vile things, rotting feet are the worst for me. I can deal with puke, urine, bile, poop, but rotting feet will make me throw up in a second. I had a nurse teach me to put Vicks vapor rub under my nose and it really does help with the smell. I had one patient who was refusing her foot to be amputated, even though it was practically rotting off, and we had like four scent machines in the room. I walked in and was doing vitals and literally had to run out the room and puke. OMG it was awful!

 

[AnthonyTheEmt]

A couple things come to mind

-When I worked BLS, we took an elderly woman for wound debrevement. She had this stage 4 pressure ulcer on her sacrum that went straight down to the bone and stunk to high heaven.
-Picked up a guy last year who had basically been peeing on himself for the last week or so, and in his bed and had no understanding of why this was a problem. His roommates called because the entire house stunk of ammonia and piss. Maybe the nastiest smell ever.
-A few months back called for who knows what. But as we are rolling up this house (with the windows up), my partner and I both smelling this nasty smell. This is about half a block away. As we get closer, we both keep asking what is that smell? We get to the house, and it smells like cat piss, and dead body. Someone walks out of the house, and says "she's inside". The FF's and us just walk in, almost gaging and crying because the smell is so bad, pick this near dead woman up in her sheet and carry her outside immediately. That was probably the closest I have ever been to yacking on a call.

 

[AnthonyTheEmt]

One other one that came to mind. We got called out for a GSW. Show up to find this 22 year old laying on the ground, with at least a liter of blood around him. Turns out he got in a fight with his gf and decided to blow his head off. If I remember correctly he shot himself from right to left, with brain matter on the ground to his left and a pretty gnarly exit wound. He was also still alive, so we transported him to the nearest trauma center, but at that point, there isn't anything that anyone can do. That was one the saddest calls ever :sad:

 

[takl23]

sound of the suction running; Suctioning a pt made them sick, and they were at the point of hearing the suction run would do it.

This is me. I'm trying to get over it. Nothing else bothers me. I guess we all have our limits.

 

[planetsteveo]

Welfare check with PD.

Mid 50's male, about 200 lbs, that apparently had died in his bathtub around 48 hours earlier. So naturally, he voided himself, on top of decomp, on top of marinating in bath water, on top of a closed up house in 85+ degree heat with no A/C.

His skin had already started to peel away from the body and was floating on it's own. But it was the smell that really got me, even over the Vick's on my lip.

 

[Kyki]

Breast implant explosion

Breast implant exploded out of this woman's chest. It had eroded the skin over a 20 year period and burst through and abscess. Not sure why she didn't take care of it sooner, clearly that was a long ongoing issue.

 

[HunterAsesino]

MVA on the interstate, driver was ejected on the northbound side over the median into the southbound side, was hit by multiple vehicles, and was unrecognizable when we got on scene. We finish covering what's left of the body in a sheet, and as I step back, I hear a "squish" and the trooper behind me goes, "Aw, :censored::censored::censored::censored: man!" Turns out we had missed his liver, which had been eviscerated and was all by itself on the highway in its textbook perfection, at least until I put my boot square in the middle of it.

 

[titmouse]

I have had a patient that has had to have relieved himself in clothes multiple times and had it dry up and continue on with his daily events. Needless to say, I deconed everything and nearly bathed in Lysol and of course the transport was a decent distance with traffic Some of the time is where we pick up and drop off pts. For some reason some places smell like fresh dookie as soon as we walk in through that door. Good thing is that it has become a regular joke and we end up laughing it off.

 

[Household6]

Well, I might have one.. I got called out to postpartum cramping, possible hemorrhaging or a intrauterine infection..

Pt couldn't estimate her bleeding levels, had no idea what color it was.. So i got to go in her bathroom, and unroll her used Kotex and determine color, estimate quantity, check the pads for clots, and excessive bleeding..

I wasn't that bad for me, because I've been postpartum three times, but I can see where it might have been a little gross..

 

[ChrisV]

Gross is a matter of perception. Scoop shoveling the patient from the train tracks to the body bag sucks. Prolapsed rectums look and sound extremely painful. A week of decomposition in 90-100 degrees renders the corpse unrecognizable and mostly liquid. Really, really stinks when they burst....not to mention the maggots and flies. When they are flame broiled way longer than Burger King standards it can be difficult bagging them up. When you find the family dog on the back of the couch, snacking on remaining brain matter from a young lad who had just blown the top half of his head off......well that's just not something you come across very often. There is nothing good about gangrene. If you come across one that's had her head, arms and a leg cut off......well you'll know that sawzall cost her and arm and a leg. Again, its all a matter of perception. Gross for me is vomit and puking and anything that goes with it.