Life is short and death is inevitable, two rules to live by. We're often told when it's your time, it's your time, so don't be scared but... what if we could hold off on that expiration date by just being smarter and healthier? EMS workers see death and tragedy all of the time and they admit, a significant amount of pain is highly avoidable just by realizing human error.
Redditor u/WapitiTal wanted to hear from some of our medical heroes who are hard at it in the field by asking.... EMS workers of reddit, what's the most avoidable death you've ever seen?
Slippery when Wet.
GiphyNot completely sure if I'm interpreting this right but people who take off their medical alarm (well known brand life alert) to shower. It seems like half the dead bodies I go on have a medical alarm but they took it off and slipped in the shower or while getting out. Those things are usually water resistant and that's an extremely common place to slip and fall. thereWasAnAttempt42
Drive Smart.
Probably anytime someone could have worn a seat belt but didn't. itfosho
Totaled my car a couple weeks ago. Without my seatbelt I would've gone through the windshield. As it was, I hit the airbag hard enough to pop it and spiderweb out the windshield in front of the wheel.
All in all, I got out with a couple friction burns on the inside of my forearms. Everything on the passenger side was shoved back about a foot or so.
Ps. State Farm "Emergency" Roadside Assistance was over 4 hours late to dispatch a driver, even after I called, cancelled with the automated system AND a phone operator. G_E_I_R_A_V_O_R
Take your Health Seriously.
When patients don't take their medicine. Lots of type 2 diabetics don't take their Metformin or change their diet/exercise simply out of denial or they are too set in their ways. End up with bad kidney failure or heart problems.
Additionally, had a patient who refused to take their medicine for their high blood pressure. No reason, just refused. Ended up with a brain bleed on his brain stem, was a quadripeligic, on a ventilator, could not speak, move, or breathe on his own.... he was in his 30s.
Take your medicine people. shocked_caribou
Smoke Away.
As an ER MD:
Me: Sir, you are having a heart attack. The cardiologist will be here shortly, and we will be taking you to the cath lab as soon as we can.
Patient: I'm going outside to smoke.
Patient rips off ecg leads and defib pads. Walks out despite warnings from myself and others.
EMS Radio (15mins later): XXX year old male cardiac arrest. CPR in progress. AndyEMD
Don't Wait!
GiphyIt's hard to narrow it down to a specific one but I assure you it involves family that said "we just wanted to wait and see what happened."medic8388
Broken Bones.
I used to be an ambulance officer and on the job it was suicides. I had a guy slash his forearms with a knife then realize he didn't want to go through with it... we got half way to the hospital roughly before he checked out. The most avoidable death I've seen was my grandmother though she went to hospital with a broken wrist. She then developed a Staph infection which meant a couple of days stay supposedly, the orderlies then dropped her while moving beds and broke her hip which then lead to her getting pneumonia and her subsequent death. From a healthy 69 year old woman with a broken wrist to dead in a bit over a week. tungstenfish
The Simple Bleed?
Guy had a simple rectal bleed (eg fissure or tear in colon or intestine, blood comes out the anus). He got out of bed and tried to clean it up in the bathroom. That didn't help so he sat on the toilet and tried to stop it. That didn't help and it was getting messy so he went had a shower. Still didn't help so he went out into the bathroom and at that point, probably weak, he sat down in the ground and tried to wipe it up with toilet paper.
We found him dead, stiff with rigor mortis the next morning. Cell phone on the bathroom counter.
It was all pretty obvious from the trail of blood and bloody hand stains on the doorknobs, mirror, walls, toilet, shower knobs, floor... everywhere.
Folks, if you are bleeding a lot out of your butt, there is nothing you can do to stop it and your priority isn't cleaning it up. It's embarrassing but isn't worth dying over. Pjpjpjpjpj
In times of War.
I was an Army combat medic (EMT-B). The worst completely avoidable death was when we got a call that an Afghan soldier nearby was having chest pains, and their own medic was really concerned about it, so they sent him to our base.
On the drive over, their convoy had to stop suddenly. One of the guys riding in the back of a pickup truck fell off the back because he wasn't wearing any kind of seatbelt or harness. He probably would have been okay, but the truck behind them wasn't able to stop as quickly, so he got caught between the two. He probably would have survived, but he wasn't wearing his helmet either. His skull popped like a grape.
Of course, in my opinion, 100% of the deaths I saw were completely avoidable. Especially because after nearly two decades of war, the US military pulled out and the Taliban immediately retook the area. Men, women, children, and my brothers died for nothing.
Oh, by the way, the chest pain guy was completely fine. There was absolutely nothing wrong with him. Lovebot_AI
Sobriety First.
Drunk drivers. Way to many drunk drivers and the poor souls unlucky enough to be in their path. andrewdmc
Drunk driver killed my first husband. Drunk drivers are scum. So avoidable. I don't understand how people who rack up multiple DWI's aren't in prison. NiDonnaNaiz
Leave the Stickies!
GiphyPerson in the hospital kept taking their EKG leads off because they didn't like the stickers on their chest. They kept doing this after being warned.
Had a heart attack and didn't get found until they couldn't be saved. Keep your damn leads on people. Bird_of_the_Word
Save your Blood!
I had a 32M admitted for multiple pulmonary embolisms, turns out this was his second admission within 2 months because he stopped taking his anti-coagulant that was prescribed during his previous admission. His reasoning? They didn't feel like they were doing anything so he stopped taking them. Due to this, he was then started on a different anti-coagulant that requires weekly blood tests, so instead of just taking a pill with little follow-up he had to live with weekly blood tests and a higher risk medication! toolate4ogusername
Can you Hear Me Know?
Not answering the phone is common, family will call for a welfare check. Sometimes a family member comes to visit. Old people also do this in assisted living and nursing homes but in my experience those rarely result in death. thereWasAnAttempt42
Nothing is Obvious.
GiphyObvious answer would be all of the overdoses but also many incidents in nursing homes, where a patient will be found dead and the staff state "they just saw them 30 minutes ago" when that is definitely not the case.
The worse is a parent rolling onto their baby while asleep, I haven't had that call yet but other crews did recently and it is just devastating to all involved... family, medics, police, fire.... everyone. FuzzyMeep7
Never Go Back!
Was an EMT, but this was prior to that when I was just a Volunteer Firefighter... got called to a house fire when a grandmother had woken up her grand daughter and got safely out of the house. Unfortunately she decided to go back into the house and died of smoke inhalation mere feet from the door. Since it was a ways out in the county by the time we got there, the house was fully involved, meaning we couldn't go in had to fight the fire back to get through the door. Moral of the story, don't go back into a building in fire where everyone is out safe, things can be replaced but you can't. moderndaygypsy13
Unlucky.
Guy stationed on a coast guard ship got hit in the head by a crane when it fell over. The crane operator didn't put down the outriggers (the big metal feet that stick out to stabilize the crane) and it fell over. Victim was in the wrong place at the wrong time, left behind four daughters and a wife. SpyingForTheNSA
Jackhammer.
Dude caused massive internal bleeding from using a jack hammer incorrectly. By the time his wife called 911, he was all but dead, and had filled several small trashcans with blood he had vomited.
Big guy too. Had to use firemen and the sling to get him down the stairs. The whole time we were working on him and getting him down the stairs, his wife was nagging him about not hiring someone to break up the pavement, that he was such an idiot for trying to do it himself. She didn't know these were the last words he'd hear from her. nitewake
Too Much To Bare...
Not an EMS but my friend died of AIDS because he "got tired of" taking his medication. He was born with it and was always a little crazy in an offbeat kinda way. Our friend group never knew he was sick until he got hospitalized. Even then, we didn't know anything but he had pneumonia. When I went to see him his spine was visible and he kept telling us how they'd give him anything for pain, whenever he asked, which we all laughed at. He died a month later, laughing til the last day. He expressed regret at having stopped his drugs. His girlfriend, who he'd infected, was devastated as they'd just had twins. He had watched his mom die from it. Completely avoidable death. SexceptableIncredibl
I Know THAT Look!
I've posted this before but I once had a patient who had "the look" of someone with one foot in the grave who had near complete blockages in all three of the main blood vessels that supply the heart. That's not super unusual, and with open heart surgery she probably had an excellent chance of a good outcome. What was different about this case was she had apparently she'd had the same thing happen (to slightly less degrees) not once, not twice, but THREE times over the previous six months and had refused surgery each time in favor of a Mediterranean diet.
She decompensated very quickly, was immediately sedated and intubated, and flown out to the big city hospital for the surgery she should have received six months ago. I'm pretty sure she did survive, but did not have a great quality of life. ggrnw27
Hair Back.
Not EMS, but in my lab at school they talked about safety in the lab and shared how there was this girl who was in a lab with lathes (operated by spinning) and her hair was long and got caught in the machine and pulled her to it and she died. Must wear a bun in those labs, not even a pony tail will do you good. bluesapphire731
Don't be Dumb.
GiphyPeople doing dumb things on the job. Moving an industrial generator? Sure, stand directly under it while the Loft is lowering it down. Have a truck load of 7,500 pound i-beams that need to be offloaded off a flatbed? Sure thing, do it by yourself with a forklift. Have a wood planer at a furniture factory that gets jammed? Go ahead, stick your arm in there to unjam it. IndWrist
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/
Redditor imboredaa wanted to discuss all the ways so many of us get lost watching things on the internet, so they asked:
"What are some of the craziest/strangest rabbit holes you’ve ever been down?"
I constantly get lost on talent show audition rabbit holes.
And I am proud!
Restored
Serial Killer Chainsaw GIF by Rise RecordsGiphy"YouTube videos of old chainsaw restorations. No idea why, but I guess that’s why it’s a rabbit hole. I don’t even own a chainsaw or have a need for one."
aretelio
'rooms/shared'
"I really enjoy going on a city’s Craigslist, then to 'rooms/shared' (or whatever it is for finding a room mate) and then typing words like 'warning' or 'beware' in the search to see what kind of horror show nightmare room mate scenarios people have decided to write about... it's usually some juicy headline like 'warning!!!'"
"Do NOT rent from this woman!!!! She is a PSYCHO!!….'"
"And after reading it, it’s always a guess to decide who is the actual crazy person, the landlord or tenant. Could be a bitter ex, tenant, or a scam, or whatever. But it’s an easy way to dive quick into some weird corners of the internet that are filled with drama."
After the Ice
"I spent a bunch of time about 12 years or so ago reading about all the details of the Titanic, how it sunk, what happened as it was sinking, who died, who survived. I got into the life stories of the people who died, and what became of the people who survived. And then I very nearly bought a piece of carpet from the Titanic."
SweetCosmicPope
Expeditions
"Andrée's Arctic balloon expedition"
"Dumb, then numb, a** thought he could fly a balloon to the North Pole. They had cyanide capsules and all, in case they crashed and were about to freeze to death. Or get eaten by a polar bear during a three month night. He and his assistants somehow managed to do both."
"Plot twist: Andree, the worst captain of all time, noticed the balloon was leaking the night before they were about to leave, pumped it up a bit, and said 'f**k it that'll do.' It did not do."
Needydadthrowaway
Thanks John
"An Uncle John's Bathroom Reader. Started with 1 and ended up with a 20+ collection."
originalsanitizer
"Uncle John's Bathroom Readers are so addictive."
evanman69
Toilet time can be knowledge time.
Living Sky High
City In The Sky Vfx GIF by PBSGiphy"Turning old planes into houses! About 10 years ago I found a company that would do it for you. The wings were decks and the plane was mounted to a pedestal that allowed it to be rotate with the sun!"
BeeEyeAm
Doggerland
"Mega tsunamis. Thousand foot walls of water moving at hundreds of mph? It happens more than you would think. The Azore-Gibraltar fault will cause one one day. There evidence they happened a few times in the Pacific. It doesn't take a meteor to happen, it could be an underwater landslide (Doggerland), or a large section of a volcanic island shearing off and falling into the ocean (Oahu). Doggerland is another rabbit hole that is worth googling."
KD_Burner_Account133
Hitting the Keys
"Mechanical keyboards. I wanted to buy one, so I started researching and watching videos of reviews. I went deeper and deeper, seeing special cables, obscure companies, the tons of switches, etc etc."
"I stopped when a Youtuber I watched made a video asking her viewers and discord users to stop bullying and harassing her for using some kind of switches or keycaps. I bought my keyboard and never went back to that crazy fandom."
NirvanaForce
In the Sky
"I worked in administration at an aviation academy for a few years and decided I’d start listening to aviation podcasts since I didn’t know much about it. I came across a plane crash podcast that talks about crashes in history and how it improved the safety of flying."
"I was fascinated by it, and found myself gradually needing to know more and listening to more of the same type of podcasts, watching videos, and listening to black box recordings. It was eerie but interesting at the time. Now, I regret it tremendously because since then I’ve developed horrible anxiety when flying."
contagiousphrase
The Big Questions
steve harvey lol GIF by TV Land ClassicGiphy"Spent a lot of time in the 'quantum consciousness' rabbit hole. I had just deconstructed from religion and wanted answers about life, death, and reality. It was long before I made peace with not knowing. I spent around a year obsessed with quantum experiments, psychedelics, and the general philosophy of consciousness."
excusetheblood
Lives (and chores) can be put on serious hold when you find a juicy enough topic to research!
Well, what rabbit holes have you gotten lost in? Let us know in the comments below.
Redditor Who_Did_You_Expect1 wanted to hear about the things from our memories that still haunt our nightmares, so they asked:
"What's the most f--ked up thing you saw that still haunts you to this day?"
Living through peril is unimaginable. I've been luckier than most.
Tragic
Sad Best Friends GIF by Lisa VertudachesGiphy"I watched cancer kill my baby brother. He was in grade school when I was in college. 25 years, and I still see it in my dreams."
TheDigitalRanger
Ay Dios mio, Dios mio!
"When I was about 8, my sister and I were walking with my mom to a bus stop to see my grandma in Mexico city. There was a lady on a bike crossing the intersection that we had just crossed ourselves but she didn't stop in time to the next one and didn't look both ways, she didn't have time to stop her bike. All I remember is the lady making the beginning of a scream as a white old muscle car ran over her (bike and all) at a high speed."
" remember the sound it made as it broke everywhere. My mother took her sweater off as she screamed and covered both my sister's and my head from looking, but it was too late. I remember looking at my sister with tears in her eyes, and I was too shocked to react or comprehend what I had just seen happened. A lot of people immediately surrounded the place, and the driver came out of his car and held his head with his hands after seeing the lady on the pavement."
"I didn't look at the lady anymore. I remember hearing people screaming in shock. My mother told my dad later as she cried. I remember hearing her wake up screaming for weeks after this saying: ay Dios mio, Dios mio! Still makes my heart race when I think about it."
amahied
I Quit
"I was a news photographer for a while in the 90’s. I got called out to an accident. A high school girl ran into the back of a semi. As I was shooting, I noticed her wallet was on the ground. It had a plastic picture holder and the wind was flipping back and forth. I saw her prom pictures and shots of her with her family."
"I quit being a news photographer shortly after. I never forgot that day, and it still haunts me."
No_Confusion4720
Images
"I saw the aftermath rather than the actual event. A woman was walking home from the grocery store late at night. She crossed the road without using the crosswalks and got hit by an SUV. The two images cemented in my mind are of her, embedded in the windshield, and the driver of the car standing a little ways down the street vomiting. I've never seen someone look so utterly broken as the way the driver looked. I can't imagine what he was going through."
GrowlyBear2
Everyday
Sad Rabbit GIF by Muffin & NutsGiphy"When I was 16 I was in a car wreck with my best friend since 3rd grade. I pulled him from the car with a broken shoulder while he was bloody, lifeless, limp. He died within the hour, not long after the ambulance got us. It’s been 18 years and I still think about it every single day."
oil_can_guster
I couldn't imagine living with that.
I also couldn't move...
"Coming to after getting hit by a vehicle as a pedestrian. Was face down, all I could see was blood soaked road and thought 'f**k, that doesn't look good.' I also couldn't move. The last thing I remember seeing before that was the grill of the vehicle. I still get jumpy when I catch a vehicles grill out of the corner of my eye and I'm not expecting it to be there."
"I'd seen a lot of accidents prior to that, but something about it being my own blood hit different."
"And yes, I had the right of way and was crossing in the proper place, at the proper time. Driver plain a** wasn't paying attention. It was daylight to boot, so no reason they couldn't see me."
Sweet_Force1478
Bad Dreams
"I was volunteering with my k9 working with NYC emergency services and chief Patell during 911 WTC attacks. We were in the middle of where the twin towers used to stand The thick gray dust, horrible smell of burnt things and dead people was all around but when the dogs started to find bodies and body parts it really freaked me out and I will forever live with this reality that seems like a bad dream."
DjCanicus
Missing
Confused Wile E Coyote GIF by Looney TunesGiphy"A family of four that had burned in a plane crash. I used to do a woodland search and rescue, and we saw a lot of wild crap, but I still have dreams about what I saw when we went to look for a missing plane."
JalenTargaryen
Goodness life is dark sometimes.
Do you have any similar experiences? Let us know in the comments below.
