Funny Experiences on a Job

RH3075 said:
Hi All, I ws wondering if anyone wanted to share any truly funny experiences on calls. One of my best comes from an EDP (don't they all come from EDP's?). We picked up an EDp who was standing on a street corner yelling at traffic. We get him in the back of the bus, and as i can remember, the conversation goes something like this.

Me: So whats your name sir?
E: Jesus
M: You mean like HEY-Zeus?
E: No Jesus
M: OK, whats your last name
E: Christ, middle intial H.
M: (Trying hard not to bust out laughing) OK, well what do you do for a living
E: I am between jobs at the moment, but I am usually busy being the Savior of mankind.
M: OK, well do you have any medical history I should know about?
E: Nothing I havent taken care of my self, I can do that you know.
M: (innocently) Do what sir?
E: Cure illness, miracles, that sort of thing.
M: Ok, well we are going to go to the hospital and get you checked out anyway.
E: Ok, there are probably lots of sick people there who need my help.

At this point I totally crack up, laugh so hard I have tears in my eyes, and this guy is dead serious, never even cracks a smile. I sure hope he was just dillusional, because if he was the real deal, I might have some 'splainin' to do.


Just thought I would share...would love to hear your stories also,
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You should be ashamed of yourself for laughing at a patient while in your care in the back of a unit. This person obviously needed your help and you let him down by laughing at him. I think that the term unethical may apply here. If you felt the need to laugh so badly you could have least waited until you had delivered your patient to the hospital and you were by yourself. Tis is why so many people refuse to seek help anymore for psychiatric problems. They're afraid they'll be ridiculed.
Humor is a neccessity in this job; however not at the expense of those who depend completely on us to do our jobs.
 
Sorry, I laugh at patients all the time.. even the Doc's do. Sorry there is stupid people out there & yes, at times silly things that occurred. There is a time and place to be appropriate but for the most of the time, I can chuckle underneath my breath.

There is a thing called "black humor", in which is proven to be ethical and actually helpful for health care providers. Just like calling those in the burn unit "crispy critters".. etc... Yes, it may seem inappropriate, but over all it is a way for the psyche to deal with things.

Again, used when appropiately and mainly "lighten up" and have fun.

R/r 911
 
ElvisIsDead said:
You should be ashamed of yourself for laughing at a patient while in your care in the back of a unit. This person obviously needed your help and you let him down by laughing at him. I think that the term unethical may apply here. If you felt the need to laugh so badly you could have least waited until you had delivered your patient to the hospital and you were by yourself. Tis is why so many people refuse to seek help anymore for psychiatric problems. They're afraid they'll be ridiculed.
Humor is a neccessity in this job; however not at the expense of those who depend completely on us to do our jobs.
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This is a stressful job, laughter is a great remedy for that stress, this patient obviously had NO idea of what was going on around him. Don't take the "holier than thou" attitude, everyone has laughed at something that was considered wrong at some point.
 
"laughter is like a short vacation"
 
Mercy4Angels said:
he had you inject yourself ? wtf ? id tell him to go first...LOL. im not injecting myself with anything i dont need. funny though. here that would be a lawsuit and a loss of his job.
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The instructor probalby WOULD go first, and if you REALLY didn't want to go, he wouldn't make you.

I like the idea... it makes a point.

Further... Normasaline is a GREAT drug... it is almost as good as Placebo when it comes to reliving pain in some patients ;)
 
ElvisIsDead said:
You should be ashamed of yourself for laughing at a patient while in your care in the back of a unit. This person obviously needed your help and you let him down by laughing at him. I think that the term unethical may apply here. If you felt the need to laugh so badly you could have least waited until you had delivered your patient to the hospital and you were by yourself. Tis is why so many people refuse to seek help anymore for psychiatric problems. They're afraid they'll be ridiculed.
Humor is a neccessity in this job; however not at the expense of those who depend completely on us to do our jobs.
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Do you read Steve Berry's books? Do you find them funny?

As for waiting until after the call... isn't it worse to ridicule someone behind their back? Yes... if I was that patient, I might be hurt, but why would he say he was Jesus Christ to me, and answer all those questions like that except to get that reaction. Further, I can't imagine that he doesn't get that reaction often.


There have been times when a patient has said something humorous and I smile or laugh... sometimes it is even preceded by "you are going to think this is stupid, but" usually if I crack a smile, they are smililng too, because they see the humor as someone else would.
 
Jon said:
There have been times when a patient has said something humorous and I smile or laugh... sometimes it is even preceded by "you are going to think this is stupid, but" usually if I crack a smile, they are smililng too, because they see the humor as someone else would.
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Amen. I once had a patient tell me that "You might think this sounds stupid, but I feel like I have a hamster running around in my chest." We both cracked up.
 
Honey we do it all in EMS, we laugh, we cry and we grieve with and for our patients. As you go though this life, one does learn there is a time and place for everything. Bless our hearts!^_^
 
Jon said:
The instructor probalby WOULD go first, and if you REALLY didn't want to go, he wouldn't make you.

I like the idea... it makes a point.

Further... Normasaline is a GREAT drug... it is almost as good as Placebo when it comes to reliving pain in some patients ;)
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No kidding eh!? good ol' NS.

Once they feel it running up their veins... they feel better. I hate the feeling. Bugs the hell outta me.
 
ElvisIsDead said:
You should be ashamed of yourself for laughing at a patient while in your care in the back of a unit.
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There is a huge difference between maintaining a professional attitude in the care of our patients and allowing our humanity to escape once in a while. I'm thinking if you see a lapse into humanity as a professional liability, you ain't long for EMS.
 
Me a hooker???

I was a student at the time and we were sent to get a guy whose mom said, "he's just not acting right." We got him into the back of the truck and I was questioning him with the EMT sitting on the other side of him on the bench seat. He informed us that he had plans to be a pimp but that the Russians had stolen his '69 GTO and everyone knows that to be a good, successful pimp you have to have a '69 GTO. Further questioning let us know that we had been transported from Upstate SC to Russia (and I didn't even have my passport with me!!) and the final crowning touch was when, as we pulled into the hospital, he told me that he would find me when he got his GTO back from the Russians, that I would be 'fine' for the streets and could really make some money!!

Unfortunately, I bet I could make more money on the streets than as a medic!!
 
So commrade, bless his heart!!:P :P
 
TheDoll said:
HOW is this possible in the back of the bus? i'm still cracking up, but i just can't imagine this part of the story???:D
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sorry so long in getting back its been busy. anyhoo we have pretty big trucks. at the head of the bench seat there is a drop in the floor next to the side door. you know so you dont have to be 6'4 to step into the side door. then the cot sits in the middle of the floor so there is walking room on both side of cot then jump seat at head of cot and there is also a seat in the middle of all the shelving on oppisite wall of bench seat. so the other partner was sittin in seat oppisite of bench seat and when the jump seat is turned just right you can see the door but not all the way in to the "well" of the door. this probably made it more confusing but i hope it helps.
 
a friend and i were talkin tonight and she reminded of a "hilariously" funny drunk guy we hauled in a couple years back. were called to cop shop for guy with ABD pain. he had been drinking and driving in his girlfriends car that she reported as stolen. and not wanting to jail he decides he needs an ambulance. the guy has history of pancratitis and is in constant pain. so in order to not feel the pain so much he decides to get drunk. which only aggrivates his condition. so blah blah blah we take the guy and enroute to hosp i ask him if he is allergic to anything. to which he replys in all seriousness and at near top volume "yeah stinky :censored::censored::censored::censored::censored:" my partner and i (both of us being female) snicker (as to not egg the guy on) than ask if hes allergic to any meds. needles to say i'm a little more careful about how i phrase this ques. to less than sober people. after we left the ED we were roaring with laughter.
 
MeaganIV said:
Ya gotta try so you know just what those poor diabetics go through.

My instructor for EMT-I had us inject ourselve in the abdomen with saline to experience what those IDDM Pts have to do every day with their insulin.
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Good point, but it's like repeatedly hitting yourself in the head with a brick to find out what your head injury pt's feel. :P
 
MeaganIV said:
hahaha amen to that.


Well its the only way to learn, really. I think anyway.
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When I was in school for Basic, my instructor told us a story how they: yes they inject and poke themselves with needles for practice... all the time... But the funny story was how they used to play with a defib and that special mannequin that they use to practice with... this student wanted to see what it was like to be shocked, and before the instructors knew it - he put the paddle (it was an old one) to his arm and shocked himself... What an idiot!!!
 
CotWoman said:
When I was in school for Basic, my instructor told us a story how they: yes they inject and poke themselves with needles for practice... all the time... But the funny story was how they used to play with a defib and that special mannequin that they use to practice with... this student wanted to see what it was like to be shocked, and before the instructors knew it - he put the paddle (it was an old one) to his arm and shocked himself... What an idiot!!!
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Paging Dr. Darwin...
 
HAHA Yes.... Exactly...

They apparently did stupid things to themselves...

A student whom we all lovingly nicknamed Stewie after the character in MadTV, had his first clinical in an ER... His first pt was a young man, who wasn't really "sick". Stewie went into the first room to check on this pt, and found that he was receiving a BJ from the girlfriend who brought him in... The girl, without missing a beat... said that the boyfriend took viagra and couldn't "get it down" so she was trying to help... LOL
 
CotWoman said:
HAHA Yes.... Exactly...

They apparently did stupid things to themselves...

A student whom we all lovingly nicknamed Stewie after the character in MadTV, had his first clinical in an ER... His first pt was a young man, who wasn't really "sick". Stewie went into the first room to check on this pt, and found that he was receiving a BJ from the girlfriend who brought him in... The girl, without missing a beat... said that the boyfriend took viagra and couldn't "get it down" so she was trying to help... LOL
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Need calls like that!
 
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