The worst smell you have ever experienced

[EMTCop86]

The other worst smell is a tampon that had been left in for >8weeks (she forgot?).

R/r 911

I might regret asking this but how did you come about encountering this particular smell?

 

[FF-EMT Diver]

We were dispatched to a res. for a guy who had not been seen in 3 days broke into the res. to find a god awful odor went on in and found the obese guy leaned against his couch DOA, bloated and leaking body fluids from all orfices, ( oh he was nude toohow nice!!!), Summer, No AC,


P.S. We use n95 masks with vicks vapo rub smeared on the inside when we have smelly enviroments.

 

[Airwaygoddess]

"Honey it sure don't look or smell pretty in here!"

Let's face it folks, we work in a job that is not all pretty and smells like roses, gas gangrene, now there is a smell..........:wacko: P.S. Funny how I can think about that and still eat..... Airwaygoddess just shrugs her shoulders and keeps on eating...........

 

[tydek07]

GI bleed

I would have to say it was an 80yr old with a GI bleed. When you can smell it the second you get off of the elevator, which is on the opposite side of the building, you know your in for a treat. Had every window open in the ambulance, had the power vent going full blast, and the AC on high.... didn't help a thing! Pretty much just dropped lifeless out of the ambulance in the ER garage haha :blink:

 

[emtlady76877]

A bad burn victim stinks pretty bad too.

 

[traumateam1]

A patient vomitting fecal matter when they havent pooped in a good while.

Yup, same for me.

 

[traumateam1]

Then again I guess a purging dead person in the prep room, pre embalming and decaying is also really nasty.. One time, luckily I was wearing a face mask, I just moved a head a little bit and the fluids came squirting out of his mouth onto my face mask!! That is also very very nasty in smell.

 

[traumateam1]

Not always, hence the misunderstanding from medics sometimes and missed L.B.O. Actually, many times the patient may have diarrhea (fluids go around stool).

The other worst smell is a tampon that had been left in for >8weeks (she forgot?).

R/r 911

Rid.. I have to ask.. How did she forget it was in there?....

 

[DT4EMS]

Grey Squirrel...........

That is what I have named the "downstairs" of a (female) person who has not been cared for......... elderly ............. bed ridden.........

I learned after the first few to always place myself at the head of the stretcher when the sheet was "poofed" over the patient.

I have smelled a lot of stinky stuff............ but to me.......... Grey Squirrel is the worst!

 

[lizhiniatsos]

I'm with airwaygoddess....Pizza anyone?

 

[Airwaygoddess]

Yep can still eat!

I'm with airwaygoddess....Pizza anyone?

Extra cheese and extra sauce!!

 

[HokieEMT]

I was doing a ride along to keep my skills up while here at school and we had a nursing home call. I first off dislike/hate nursing homes because my grandmother died in one, but the smell is always the same. So we walk into the room and it's a 90+ yr old female who got her arm caught in the bed rail when she fell out of bed. Suffice to say she had a dislocated right shoulder and broken humerus. The icing on the cake though was that the CNAs had not changed her diaper in THREE days because supposed they were told not to. There was a beautiful greyish/brownish liquid like matter oozing from her diaper which absolutely reaked. I found it when we went to roll her for the backboard and thank god i am an adamant gloves wearer because they saved my hands. From there i went to C-Spine and had to keep on looking at the diarrhea and smelling the smell it was pretty bad. Im sure ill have more to come especially when I get deployed.

 

[stephenrb81]

Had a freezer failure in the morgue and was chosen (lost a game of rock, paper, scissors) to help move a body. The body was a crispy critter that became a little soupy. My side was a bit heavier than I expected and a little goo leaked out on me...I didn't realize it right away just thought the smell was stuck to me from the freezer failure. Went back to the ER, sat next to the doc who began sniffing the air, looked at me and said in a thick Thai accent "Ooooh, Steeeve...You stink, go wash yourself"

 

[BossyCow]

Easter Morning... bowel cancer pt... stoma...ruptured during bout of vomiting, after night of drinking and about a year of avoiding any contact with her oncologist because 'he never gives me any good news'.

It may have smelled bad but it was colorful!

 

[EMERG2011]

Cardiac arrest patient with endstage stomach cancer. Tried dropping a combi-tube, and ended up having a healthy case of gastric distention. The vomit fountain out of the end of the combi-tube was pretty heinous. Something between a mix of skunk, normal vomit, and some sort of chemical smell. I had to wash my arms off for about 20 minutes to get the stench off.

 

[Tincanfireman]

I'll go for the low-hanging fruit; end-stage colon CA pt with a burst ostomy bag x 3 days. Family hadn't changed bag because it was "too icky", so they left the elderly parent to lie in it until the smell became too much to stand. The bed was unbelievable, and the patient (victim?) had skin ulcerations galore by the time we got there. Called in as "unknown complaint/medical device failure"; we figured out the rest when we got there. Yes, Social Services was notified enroute to the ER and were waiting when we arrived. Family was more worried about the cost of the new mattress than coming to the hospital. They actually asked us if we thought Medicare would buy them a new one to replace the one that Grandma had "ruined!".

 

[JonTullos]

I'll go for the low-hanging fruit; end-stage colon CA pt with a burst ostomy bag x 3 days. Family hadn't changed bag because it was "too icky", so they left the elderly parent to lie in it until the smell became too much to stand. The bed was unbelievable, and the patient (victim?) had skin ulcerations galore by the time we got there. Called in as "unknown complaint/medical device failure"; we figured out the rest when we got there. Yes, Social Services was notified enroute to the ER and were waiting when we arrived. Family was more worried about the cost of the new mattress than coming to the hospital. They actually asked us if we thought Medicare would buy them a new one to replace the one that Grandma had "ruined!".

Great bunch, that family is. I hope they were charged.

 

[Redemption]

The other worst smell is a tampon that had been left in for >8weeks (she forgot?).

R/r 911

How exactly does someone forget a tampon for that long... actually how do you forget it at all?!?!?

 

[aidan]

How exactly does someone forget a tampon for that long... actually how do you forget it at all?!?!?

I don't know..but apparently it's pretty common because I hear about it a LOT out here..

 

[Redemption]

I don't know..but apparently it's pretty common because I hear about it a LOT out here..

That's raunchy.

I'm not yet an EMT however I used to work an ISL home with four DDMR adults. I had been sick for about a week with bronchitis. Anyhow, I'd been having problems with the other staff, almost all were females, and didn't really pay attention to one of our residents hygenic care because he was male, and it 'made them uncomfortable.'

When I returned to work after that week I came into the house and smelled the most horrendous staunch I'd ever smelled. The worker I was relieving was out on the back porch because she couldn't stand the smell, and the other worker had taken the three females out and left the poor guy behind.

He had not been bathed in over a week, nor had his clothes been changed, nor had anyone assisted him with his toileting. I was shocked and appauled that they'd go out of their ways to avoid the smell.

It took me over two hours to clean him and he cried the entire time. When I finally had him all bathed I saw that he had skin breakdown in his genital region, and since I was working alone that night, I called my boss, who advised me to call for a transport to the hospital. It was the most insanely heartbreaking thing that I'd ever witnessed. (Even more so than the 'care' I witnessed CNA's at my previous jobs giving.)

A month later all of the employees that had cared for him had been let go, and he was transferred to a long term care facility by his family. I left my job there because of this, and other incidents.

It never ceases to amaze me what the people who are supposed to be providing care will do to someone.