16. His eyelids were sewn shut at the time.
“I work in a burn unit, so unfortunately we have to keep our larger burns sedated for longer periods of time—a month for some people.
The ICU delirium experienced by some of these people is out of control.
Had one guy, maxed on our ‘standard ICU protocol’ of sedation get out of bed, ripping his arterial line out (spraying blood all over in the process) and walk over to the window—it looked like he was trying to jump out of the window according to the nurse that caught him. His eyelids were sewn shut at the time.”
17. His boyfriend and him were experimenting and poured cement up his butt.
“I was Healthcare IT so these are not firsthand but have been told to me by the nurses and doctors.
Two gay guys come to the ER one says he has something stuck up his butt. Won’t really say what it was to the triage nurse. Once they get him in a room he finally spills what it is. His boyfriend and him were experimenting and poured cement up his butt.”
18. He had no skin around his penis and testicles and would never have a functioning penis ever again.
“My wife is a nurse and until recently worked in A&E. One story that sticks out is a heroin user who was admitted due to an infection from injecting into his groin. The result of this was that the skin around his genitals had become severely necroted and had to be removed. This meant that he had no skin around his penis and testicles and would never have a functioning penis ever again. The sad thing is that this was unlikely to be a wakeup call and he will continue to use heroin.”
19. He woke up with an erection, ripped sutures and pouring blood.
“Not a clinical doctor anymore, but during my junior house officer (equivalent to USA intern post I think, first year after qualifying), I was working on an adult surgical ward. We had a young man, early 20s, coming in for a circumcision (where I am boys aren’t circumcised routinely). For some reason, he didn’t want his parents to know, but he lived with them. The surgeon arranged for him to come in as a day patient rather than stay overnight and he was discharged later the same day with strict instructions not to get an erection until things had healed up a bit. He was given medication to help with this (I want to say valium, but it was 20 years ago). He got home, fell asleep on the couch without taking any medication and woke up with an erection, ripped sutures and pouring blood. He was brought back in by ambulance to the surgical ward. The surgeon at the time was on call from home, and as the junior doctor on the ward I had to stand there with my hand wrapped firmly around the poor man’s willy applying pressure to stop the bleeding as best I could. It was a very awkward 15 minutes until my senior arrived.”
