Nurses Divulge The Most Haunting Thing They Ever Heard Someone Say On Their Deathbed
The things we are faced with at the end of life are unimaginable.
The mind is ready to unload it all in those last moments.
I suppose it's because when we know the end is coming, it's our last chance to try and make it right or unburden ourselves.
Just in case there is a hereafter.
And the people who always catch these last-minute monologues besides our loved ones?
Nurses and healthcare workers.
Redditormaaraa_hwanted to hear from healthcare workers who have been there in the end. They asked:
"Nurses of reddit, what where the most haunting things someone said on their deathbed?"
I have many a bean to spill. But I'd have to be on morphine to confess half of them.
I Confess
"So this happened a couple of years ago. We had an ex-gang guy who was dying of cancer and he confessed that he was the gang hit-man for many years. He wanted to confess to all the killings and show the police where the bodies are buried."
"He would get closure knowing that the surviving families of his victims find out where they are buried. We had to get the hospital legal team involved cause we had no policies to deal with that. Cops got involved and the dude confessed to gang murders from decades ago."
lurkermuch
Tell Them
"Was an EMT-B on the 911 unit that got a call about a hit and run. Cops were on the scene first. The area of the city I worked in was rough. Some guy and his GF had got into a fight in the parking lot. It ended with the guy running over his GF, then backing up over her. Needless to say, she wasn’t doing well, and her vitals were tanking."
"We loaded her up, with a fireman and police officer joined with us in the back of the rig. She kept mumbling 'Tell my mom. Please tell my mom.' And naturally I figured it was her asking us to let her mom know she was hurt. The hospital takes care of that and I put it out of my mind rather quick as we were working over her."
"She flatlined before we arrived. They did not get her back. My partner was finishing up her paperwork and we turned to give her wallet back to the staff. The nurse on duty, who I knew pretty well, was reading a dirty piece of paper. She looked disgusted. When I asked what was up she simply put the piece of paperwork down."
"It was a letter that was picked up near her purse on scene. She had gotten accepted into a college. I realized then that in the ambulance, she was asking us to tell her mom she got into college. That is a deep sadness I have never forgotten."
Nspired_1
Cats know things...
"I provided hospice care for a loved one so she could die in her own home rather than a hospital. At the end, she became convinced that taking morphine for the pain was killing her. She would lay in agony asking me for help but refused the pain meds. I resorted to just raising and lowering her bed to help her get comfortable. The day she died her cat went from being aloof to sleeping on the bed with her. Cats know things."
GrandmaPoly
Oh Irene!
"I had a patient whose memory had been fading for years. It’s weird, right before a patient dies, sometimes they’ll sudden be doing a lot better. Anyway, he thought I was his late wife. I played along and just listened to him while he recalled his engagement, his wedding, his first childbirth, and a few other memories for me."
"At one point, he says 'Oh! Irene, there you are! Sorry, you know my eyes aren’t as good as they used to be. Well, thank you for listening to an old man tell his stories. I hope you have great stories to tell one day too. I’m coming, Irene.' And then he passed. He was my first long-time patient."
bedroompopprincess
Wow. People really hold in a lot. Sad.
“Will I die?”
"I had to tell my grandmother that dialysis would only give her another week or so to live and it was her choice to try or not. She was in and out of consciousness at that point and was in a clear state for the moment. She asked, 'Will I die?' I said, 'yes.'"
"She looked me in the eye and smiled just a little and said, 'sometimes you gotta do what you don’t want to do.' She closed her eyes, squeezed my hand and slept until she passed a day later. When things get hard, I always hear her say, 'sometimes you gotta do what you don’t want to do.'"
-Silouan-
“don’t let it bother you”
"Not a nurse, but my grandfather was put into a 24/7 care home with severe Parkinson’s. My mom and grandma had spent 4 years basically taking care of him constantly and needed a break for a couple weeks (although visiting him every other day in shifts)."
"I went one day alone and he looked me straight in the eye and said 'I need you to get me home so I can die, I can’t do it here.”' I tried saying everything I could to the nurses and my family to get him home without saying what he told me. 24 hours later he got rushed to emergency, as he was dying he looked at me and said 'don’t let it bother you' and died. Still bothers me."
Wanderedabit
Things in the world...
"While in hospice my grandma said to me... 'A, there are a great many things in this world worse than dying.' Then talked about how lucky she was to have lived the life she did. I had never looked at death like that before and that conversation truly changed me and my outlook. She was the most wonderful person."
feddeftones
“I found Jack”
"About 2 minutes before my grandma passed she had clarity (she’d suffered from severe dementia for years). She opened her eyes and said, 'I found Jack.' (My grandpa who’d died eight years prior). She said they were at a ball with their friends. Then she said, 'I’ve gotta go, he asked me to dance.' Then she was gone."
Chilibean127
It's just death...
"Many moons ago when I was a nursing student, a man in his 40s was lying on his deathbed from terminal cancer, his sobbing wife lying in bed next to him. He looked at his wife, using the last bit of energy he had to gently wipe away her tears and stroke her cheek. He took off his oxygen mask and said 'don't worry love, don't be afraid. It's just death' and passed shortly after."
vikingnurse
Dad
"Former CNA in the dementia unit of an assisted living facility. 'My dad is on his way to pick me up now.' She said that every time I checked on her until she died about a week after it started. While she was still mobile she would tidy her room and sit on the edge of her bed and just wait most of the day."
sikeaux
Wearing black...
"Not a nurse, but my mom, uncle, and aunt all said that when their grandfather died, he kept telling people to kick out, 'that bald headed *itch' out of the room. When they'd ask who, he'd say, 'the one wearing the black shawl, she keeps knocking on the window.' There was no one there obviously, they think he saw the reaper or something like that.
UnderwaterPianos
Death
"My patient grabbed my arm, looked me in the eyes and said 'please don’t let me die, I have a daughter.'”
macncheebs
"This is the one that gets me. I’ve made peace with the idea that I’m going to die someday not of my choosing but the idea of leaving my young children alone in this world terrifies me and fuels my desire to be a better parent."
00uwu
Late in Life
"I’ve had multiple people begging for their mothers. It made me even more sad because it was people well into their 80s/90s, who’s mothers were obviously no longer around."
x_JaneDoe
"My 85 y/o grandmother passed away on Monday. The day before she passed, when she was still able to speak, she thought I was her mother. She looked in my eyes and said 'It’s my mama.' That’ll stick with me for the rest of my life. That, and the single tear that fell from her eye the moment she passed."
daughterofpolonius
“it is what it is”
"My great uncle’s last words before he passed were 'it is what it is.' I know it’s really common but I find myself saying it quite a lot nowadays. It is what it is My great aunt who lived to be 101 was straight vegetative for like a month or so before passing, the day after her 101st birthday."
"On the day OF her birthday, she suddenly was conscious and awake as everybody had come to leave a birthday cake. She told stories and laughed. Then she went back to being comatose and died the next day. Woman loved her birthday lol."
PanzerKatze96
Forget you Family
"Not a nurse but was a cop and I was with a 20 year old who took his own life. He checked into a nice hotel and his parents reported him missing. Anyways they found out he was in a hotel by a credit card charge. I was the responding officer and when I arrived, I knocked on the door he answered and was really cool. We chatted for a few minutes and I asked him if he was willing to come down stairs to meet with his parents."
"He went back into his room and I held the door open. It appeared he was putting on a jacket but he pulled out a gun, placed it on his temple and said, 'f**k my family, this is on them' and pulled the trigger. First time someone mulled themselves in front of me and wasn’t the last. That s**t haunts you years later."
The_Troll_Gull
"How long was I out for that time?"
"Looked after a guy with end stage heart failure. He kept having episodes where if he coughed or leaned forward - anything to increase his intra thoracic pressure, he would pass out. He would come back after a few minutes and gradually go from purple back to pink. 'How long was I out for that time?' He was fully mentally fine - sharp, witty and at peace with what was going to eventually happen to him."
"Him and me were joking that one of these episodes were going to kill him, as he sipped his tea and we talked rubbish. 5 minutes later it happened again and he didn't come back. He had a DNR order which was sensible. Very eerie to talk to somebody so vibrant and alert minutes before he died. Such a nice dude, I want to be in that mindset when I go too."
knifechoir
“I didn’t want to kill the kids”
"Physical Therapist here. I treated a man in his nineties who was a DNR/DNI. At least once a week when I would go to his room to start our sessions he would cry and say 'I didn’t want to kill the kids.' After speaking to his nurse, it was revealed that he had killed children in WW2. He collapsed during a session and said 'the kids are here to get me.' He died a few minutes later."
RCee7
‘beautiful, beautiful’
"My stepfather passed away last year. Towards the end he was very cranky and hadn’t treated my mother very kindly. Before he lost consciousness he was stroking her face saying ‘beautiful, beautiful’… that made me happy."
crystalisedginger
Now
"My grandmother grasped the nurses hand and said 'I think I’m going to die now.' The nurse was telling her no she was doing much better and would likely leave soon but my grandmother was gone before she could finish her sentence. She knew."
KneeDragr
"I’ve literally written 'impending sense of doom' on a patients chart. If they die I want it known I took them seriously! Doc laughed at me, I don’t care, I stand by upgrading that chart to a more serious code."
the_sar_chasm
"I'm done"
"My dad was in the hospital and found out he had lung cancer. It was him, my step mom, and a nurse in the room. He told my step mom to get him something just to get her to leave the room. The nurse said that before she could stop him he took off his oxygen mask, said 'I'm done' and he lost consciousness immediately. He was on life support for a day or so but he was already gone. When we pulled the plug his body died in less than 5 minutes. I guess he really was done."
HumpieDouglas
Let it go. Let it go. It's all you can do.
And thank you, healthcare workers.
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The Best Ways To Tell If Someone's In An Open Relationship Or Actually Cheating On Their Partner
Views of commitment and monogamy in romantic relationships continue to evolve.
More and more couples have decided to open their relationships, seeing other people while still remaining committed to one another.
Dating someone who's in an open relationship can take some getting used to, however, as the feeling of knowing your new romantic interest is going home to their spouse or partner following your date is strange, to say the least.
Then too, can you ever be certain that they are in fact in an "open relationship," and not just cheating on their partner?
"How do you know when someone is really in an open relationship, and not a cheater pretending to be in one?"
When In Doubt, Don't...
"If you're feeling off about it, don't do it."- Massive-Ad7628
Bad Feeling I Anticipate Problems GIF by America's Got TalentGiphyConfirmation Needed From Both
"When the partner openly knows and acknowledges it."- EngineeringVirgin
"I was seeing a man who was married."
"He assured me that their relationship was open, that he had full permission to do whatever, and that if it would make me comfortable he would give me his wife’s number and she and I could chat."
"We saw each other for about four years."
"I went to pick him up at his house a couple times and his wife would say 'have a nice date!'."
"That’s the way to do it."
"Everything on the table."
"If there’s some sneakiness, something that makes you feel it’s not quite right, you need to listen to that feeling."- theyarnllama
"Ask to meet their partner."
"If they’re really open, it shouldn’t be a problem."- bloomautomatic
Threes Company Reaction GIF by moodmanGiphyAn Oldie But A Goodie...
"Ask them to pinky swear."- Still_kinda_hungry
Give Your Intentions A Second Thought As Well
"Agh."
"Ok so I’m in an open relationship with my partner and he hooked up with this girl, and we called her to go get a drink with us and she was like 'I knew he had a girlfriend, but I didn’t know you knew'.”
"After that I def didn’t want to hang out with her because she thought she was facilitating him cheating on me."
"Not cool."
"Intentions matter."- Physical_Witness_922
Ask And Answer
"In my experience, ask literally anything about what type of poly or open they are."
"Also anyone who isn't willing to get/show a recent std test isn't worth the risk."- Midori8751
just ask leslie jones GIF by Saturday Night LiveGiphyInstructional Videos
"My SO and I just make videos explaining the situation and ground rules."
"That way, our potential partner know what they are dealing with."- TagtheCat
Doesn't Hurt To Check...
"I slept with a woman who was in an open marriage."
"Her husband called to check on her and ask if she was ok."
"She said she was fine and that was the extent of the call. I think that’s a pretty good indicator."- Fit-Concern-81
It's All About The Reaction
"When they introduce you to their SO as their lover and the SO is fine with it."
"Open relationships rarely sneak around on each other."- welltriedsoul·
“'So like…. You know your husbands screwing Ashley right….??'”
“'Yeah I know'.”- AkKik-Maujaq
It Must Be A Mutual Decision
"In my experience, one of my ex's said we were in an open relationship, however I didn't know that."
"So yeah, that's a cheater."
"I briefly dated someone that was in an open relationship (the couple were long distance)."
"I spoke on the phone with the girlfriend before any sex happened so we could all be on the same page regarding boundaries and intentions, what protection will be used, testing, etc."
"It really wasn't awkward, and I appreciated knowing that everyone was aligned."- korova_chew
Cartoons Button GIF by NickelodeonGiphyIf They Say No, That's A Problem
"Ask them if you can talk to their partner."- vivi2626
Don't Ask, Don't Tell... Don't Date!
"I've been poly for closing in on 2 decades."
"I used to run a large poly meetup in a huge metro area."
"I've seen it all, personally talked to several thousand+ poly folks over the years, etc."
"I REFUSE to engage with anyone in a DADT policy at all at this point."
"HARD F*CKING PASS, the vast majority of the time its cheating."
"And when its not I swear 95% of the time is because the couple with the DADT policy hasn't done any work around opening up their relationship and there are a LOT of problems involved."
"And I want nothing to do with that huge nightmare of a cluster f*ck anymore."
"Here's my perspective and where it comes from."
"The amount of cheating I've seen is beyond staggering."
"A huge percentage of the women I know have run into TONS of men that are cheating and try to use poly, dadt, etc as a guise to do it."
"I have zero reason to put that much trust in someone I just met. It's the same reason I ask for proof of STI testing."
"I can't understand people with the attitude of 'if you can't trust them why are you with them' the whole point is you don't know them that well why would you trust them?"
"This is one step in establishing some trust."
"The ethical part of ENM is a big big deal to me, and I refuse to be complicit in cheating and be put in an unethical situation."
"If cheating was rare it would be a different situation, but f**k it's common."
"I've verified 100% of my partners are in ethical situations, and none of them had a problem with it."
"I've had a number of their partners thank me for actually checking."
"I'll accept a few options for verification, a phone call, voice chat, a brief text exchange while my date is present, a prerecorded voice / video message, or showing me snippets of a conversation where being poly is discussed / confirmed and there is a long-standing chat history with said person."
"Most of the time I had already met or seen their partner, so I already knew it was ethical."- f*cklifehard
Schitts Creek No GIF by CBCGiphyMany couples have said that their communication and commitment has greatly improved after opening their relationships.
When one half of a couple seeing other people causes pain and unhappiness, however, it seems clear that that relationship is not open in a healthy way.
Particularly if only one person is truly benefitting from it.
Rumors can be dangerous, especially when they are about scientific facts.
Sometimes, rumors are told and retold so many times that we actually start to believe the rumors rather than the actual fact.
These rumors turn into commonly held beliefs.
When I was little, I used to believe bumblebees were superheroes because they're wings were so small, physics said that they couldn't actually fly. I found out later than I would've liked that that's not true.
Redditors know a lot of commonly held beliefs that have actually been disproven by science and they are eager to share.
It all started when Redditor Redt_Wolf16 asked:
"What is a popular belief that is scientifically proven wrong?"
Heavy Winds
"Hiding under a highway overpass is actually not a good way to survive a tornado."
"It has been scientifically proven that the wind gets concentrated and the speeds increase underneath the overpass."
"If you aren’t shielded by a bridge girder or something similar you’ll just get swept away and mulched."
"Your best bet for survival if you cannot escape the tornado is to find the nearest deep ditch or hole."
– jitsbay
"That's just a rumor that was started by a tornado"
– MikePGS
He Sees You
"Goldfish have a three second memory."
"They don’t and, supposedly, you can even train them to do tricks."
– twerkette
"They can even recognize human faces."
– fractalfrenzy
"So…you’re telling me Pumpkin the goldfish recognized me? 🥹🥹🥹 He was my first pet and I loved him so much"
– Inevitable_Willow_15
"Recognised? Pumpkin loved you."
– ihaveadarkedge
Crack!
"Cracking knuckles = arthritis"
– bigfart99
"There was a guy who only cracked the knuckles on his right hand his whole life to test this. He had no real difference between his hands arthritis-wise."
– Lmtguy
Boil A Frog
"A frog thrown in a pot of boiling water will jump out immediately. If a frog is put in a pot of cool water and that water is slowly warmed, the frog won’t notice and boil to death."
"This is indeed false"
– Backwards_Pessimist
"I love this one, we slowly boiled the water and the frog didn't jump out!after we removed most of its brain"
"Also if you throw a frog into boiling water it's not going to jump out, it's going to f*cking die."
– Enk1ndle
BOOM!
"That rice will make the birds who eat it explode. Birds eat rice all the time! It's actually good for them, especially brown rice."
"I believe this myth was made up so people would stop throwing rice at weddings, but harming the birds wasn't an actual risk. It was getting rice grains stuck in your ear that was."
– Mister_Moho
"The church my family went to had a sign on the door about not throwing rice at weddings, because the birds would eat it and "would get harmed". I think they just got tired of trying to get the rice out of the carpeting."
– genital_furbies
What About The Other 90%?
"We only use 10% of our brain"
– Key-Wallaby-9276
"I'm pretty sure I know a few people for whom this is true."
– maybebaby83
"...and others, that is a very generous overestimation."
– Any_Street
Lightning Flashed
"Lightning never strikes in one place twice."
– JarJarLifts
"Right? The Empire State Building gets hit about a few dozen times per year."
– dcbluestar
"Friends" Lied To Me!
"Despite popular belief, urine is not sterile."
– koalamiracle
"As a corollary: do not pee on jellyfish stings."
– Slant_Juicy
Both Can Be True
"“Fish don’t feel pain” , and simultaneously “Fish do feel pain” are both arguments which ignore centuries of research."
"They lack a Neocortex which deems them unable to “process” pain, however they have several nociceptors located around the mouth which allows them to “feel it”. What does this mean? Well nobody actually knows yet, and it is largely open to interpretation. It’s unfathomably hard for us to understand, as we can both feel and process pain. Some scientists describe “acting on instinct” as symptoms of pain when these nociceptors become compromised. Some scientists describe it as just that though, acting on instinct based on what parts of their body are compromised and hence weaker or vulnerable."
"For example : You hook and release a bass. That Bass now moves slower, eats a little less, and socializes less. Are these actions the result of the fish acknowledging the compromised nociceptors and acting accordingly while giving itself a chance to heal? Or is the fish genuinely hurting and sad? Research points to both being correct, but neither have enough evidence to prove anything yet."
"All we know with certainty is that we don’t have a definite answer supporting either argument, so anyone that leans hard one way or another doesn’t know what they are talking about."
– goldieglocks16
Lazy Simba
"Don't know if it's been said yet still scrolling, but that male lions don't hunt or do anything. Yes, lionesses do most of the hunting but males do help if the prey is too big and strong, such as with cape buffalo or giraffe. Males do a lot, staying back and protecting the territory which is very important if there are cubs, not to mention that the mane not only blows their cover more when hunting, but it tires them out quickly as it's a bunch of hair weighing on their head. Males also have to leave their birth pride at a certain age which of course until they can find a pride, they at that point have to hunt."
"Also on the topic of African animals (wildlife nerd) hyenas hunt more than lions and are more successful predators, and hyenas aren't dogs. Elephants don't think you or any human is cute."
"Edit: I was told wrong a lion's mane doesn't weigh as much as I thought, but it does have more of a negative effect on their hunting compared to a lioness."
– wildnstuff
That's That
"The one about earlobes (free, or attached) being inherited from your mom and dad were taught to us in 8th grade. We were supposed to go home and examine our parents. Mine are free, both my parents are attached and I'm not adopted. My science teacher sadly informed me that I MUST be adopted and that's that."
– snarksneeze
"I have an identical twin and he has one attached lobe and another that is free. Both of mine are attached."
– philodendrin
"I’m sad to inform you that either you or your identical twin MUST have been adopted and that’s that."
– TaintlessChaps
Blue Bloods
"That blood is blue until it comes into contact with air"
– xPunkdaddy
"Wow thanks, this is the first one I read that I didn't know. My old science teacher was amazing and she taught us it was blue, so I really doubted you until I looked it up. In her defense, she was a physics/maths fanatic and openly admitted biology just wasn't her thing. But still, I presume it must have been in our textbook. Madness!"
– guypr
Sweetness
"The belief that sugar causes hyperactivity in children.This belief has been around for decades, but numerous scientific studies have shown that there is no evidence to support it."
– Logpoze3
"One of my all time favorite scientific studies looked into this in the 90s. The researchers setup a randomized controlled study of boys (n = 35; 5-7 yo) who had been reported as sugar sensitive by their mothers. In the experimental group, the researchers told mothers the boys received a high dose of sugar. In the control group, researchers told mothers they received a sugar-less placebo. Mothers in the experimental group reported higher levels of hyperactivity than mothers in the control group. Well, it turns out the researchers fed both groups the same sugar-less placebo. The only thing measured here was the mother's belief that sugar causes hyperactivity."
– Metridia
I used to believe that, actually. Glad to know the truth!
CW: Death, assault, and accidentals.
Katy B. She was my classmate.
She died tragically in a car accident.
Her car hit an oil slick and flew into the air, passing mid-sky over a median and landed on another car.
Katy was beautiful.
Katy was cool.
Katy was popular.
And best of all, she was kind to the unpopular.
She died shortly after graduation.
I hate that.
Life... at its worst.
Redditor leilavanora wanted to hear about the people who left this world too soon, so they asked:
"How did the kid from your school die?"
So many people gone before their time!
Gruesome
Episode One Armchair GIF by PBSGiphy"Fell off a jet ski and then got hit by it when the driver turned around. Drowned."
lindseys10
"Jet skis are insanely dangerous. If you read up on jet ski deaths they are awful much more gruesome too."
anightclubfordogs
Family Issues
"There was a boy from a family of alcoholics, whose parents divorced, he lived with a mom who was a very heavy drinker and a stepdad. Stepdad had a son who spent quite some time in mental facilities and rehab because he f**ked up his brain with drug use. The son eventually came home to live with his father and my classmate. One time the classmate accidentally saw his stepbrother sniffing glue from a bag."
"Stepbrother got mad, poured kerosene on him, and lit him up. When his mother saw her child was burning she jumped out the window and ran away while his younger siblings were trying to put out the fire. Unfortunately, once they managed to he was already dead."
Healthy-Gain-6586
April
"End-stage renal disease. She was doing good for a couple of years and waiting for a transplant while getting regular dialysis but ended up passing away in 11th grade."
whiteoff44
"That's sad. Plug for Organ donation awareness: April is National Donate Life month. Every day, 17 people die in the US waiting for an organ transplant. If you aren't an organ donor already, sign up at https://www.organdonor.gov/sign-up"
jackruby83
It was devastating
"He froze to death in his sleep after passing out in the snow. It was a school trip with his class and they had some beers but probably some of the first few times they tried alcohol. It was devastating. They were moving from one house to another and he had said he needed a break in between but everyone forgot or just thought he was in another house."
"It sounds like an obvious mistake but it's not necessarily that cold even if it's snow, especially after a drink. To lie down and chill on a snow pile with a good jacket is no problem but if you pass out and forget well damn."
Fit-Childhood879
WTF
Shock What GIF by Paramount+Giphy"In middle school, my neighbor accidentally shot and killed his best friend while hunting. Years later he was beheaded by the Taliban along with two English men. Unbearably sad."
Suspicious-War-8839
Guns and hunting. That is just constant danger.
No Violence
No Way Do Not Want GIF by Schitt's CreekGiphy"Wrestling team bully with anger management issues punched an elderly man in a road rage incident and the elderly man shot him dead and was acquitted as it was deemed self-defense."
evolution9673
So Fragile
"He was playing football and randomly passed out. Never woke up again."
Aints*itAngel
"Happened on the soccer pitch next to ours when I was playing 5-a-side with my work buddies. The kid who looked late teens fell down hard and didn't come back up again. They tried CPR and the defibrillator from the office before the paramedics showed up."
"We just stood there speechless watching it go down. And while it looked super bad, they took him away on a stretcher still working on him so I didn't actually find out he died until a week later when we were back for our usual slot and they held a silence."
"Never even found out the kid's name but I still think about it sometimes. Life can so be fragile."
ianjm
Wired
"An electrician screwed up rewiring her family’s house so a live wire was touching a metal pipe connected to the bath. Her mum was wearing rubber work boots when she filled the bath so wasn’t electrocuted but she must have accidentally brushed against the tap or gone to add some more water while submerged and was killed instantly. We lived in a very small town where everyone knew each other so it really rocked our community. She was in the grade above me so would have been around 10-11."
TimedDelivery
Be Safe
Driving Time Lapse GIF by YevbelGiphy"Like 5 of them died of drunk driving accidents, three of them at one time, Little redneck school in the middle of nowhere apparently people seem to think drinking and driving is the only way to have fun."
Maleficent-Touch-67
Life is fleeting and fragile.
Appreciate every second, kids.
Content Warning: Questionable medical care, sexual harassment or assault
Some people are really against making doctor's appointments or attending them when the day comes.
In order to properly care for ourselves, it's important that we follow through on these appointments.
But there are certain experiences that make it perfectly clear why a person would want to stay as far from a medical professional as possible.
Redditor Silent-Zebra asked:
"What's the worst thing a doctor has ever said to you?"
False Prognosis
"I went through treatment for Acute Myeloid Leukemia six years ago. I went through chemotherapy and total body irradiation with an allogeneic stem cell transplant."
"My 28-day biopsy after my stem cell transplant results came in, and my doctor literally came in stoic as could be with paperwork printed out. He just said the transplant didn’t work and I still had residual cancer cells in the flow cytometry of my marrow."
"I simply just accepted it and didn’t even look at the paper. My brain was just thinking of all the different scenarios."
"As the minutes went by, I had a different attending come in and say that there were still other options, which made me reassured. I also had another doctor from the Middle East come in after her and told me I was still young and there were other treatments we can try so it lessened the blow at that point."
"I had always been pretty optimistic even with such a poor prognosis."
"Fast forward another 14 days, I had another bone marrow biopsy to see how much the cancer had progressed to see how we could attack it and there were no signs of any cancer cells. Ever since that day, I have been cancer free."
"My donor cells attacked the residual cancer cells and saved me. I now have the DNA of a French woman that is six years old. Modern medicine can be amazing."
- GregNak
Don't Talk to My Child Like That
"When I was seven, I slipped and hit my head on the door axle. I was rushed to the hospital cause well, at that age, my skull was like butter."
"I was crying a lot, and one of the doctors told me, 'Stop crying or I'll make it hurt more.'"
"My parents couldn't do anything since she was the one responsible for fixing me up. But I know they must have been piping mad at that b***h."
- Foodcarsanime1390
Holy Misdiagnosis, Batman
"They told me that I have genital warts, proceeded to freeze them off, and sent me on my way."
"I went to my family doctor and she told me I did NOT have genital warts and was very confused by the other doctor’s diagnosis and treatment."
"I found out later on that the original doctor who gave me the treatment and diagnosed me with GW had come to Canada because he lost his license while practicing in the USA, then shortly after, his clinic was no longer open in my area."
- aycarambo
No More Martial Arts
"After my knee surgery, my doctor told me that I would still be able to practice my martial arts when I recovered. But I had never done martial arts before."
"He probably told me that because I'm Asian."
"We both had a good laugh when I told him that I didn't do any martial arts."
"I was actually a tennis player, and he told me that my tennis days were over. I still play tennis to this day, lol (laughing out loud)."
- MackumTheKnife
What's Said Behind Closed Doors...
"This was overheard by a friend of mine when a neurosurgeon looked at the CT scan of her son's brain: 'There's no point in doing this one. This kid is done. I'm out of here.'"
"The good news is another neurosurgeon did the surgery and the kid (now about 40) is perfectly fine today."
"Another story I heard while working in a hospital, but cannot verify:"
"A guy was gravely injured due to being shot in the face; there was no chance of recovery and he was expected to die within a very short period of time."
"An intern walked into the room and said, 'Is this the guy we are going to harvest the kidneys from?' The doomed patient was reported to have reacted by briefly bolting up into a sitting position. I hope it is not true, but they did get the kidneys."
- Ordinary_Today401
Incredible Violation
"I was 17 and saw a male doctor because I was scared I had an STD."
"He told me I had to give him a list of the names of all the men I'd had sex with."
"I was so young and very naive as this was a country area. And also I think I was naive by nature. So I gave him the names."
"He made it clear that I'd been shameful. In reality, it was two or three guys."
"Then he said he had to test me. He used some kind of tool to take a small chunk of the inside of my labia. Hurt like h**l."
" He then put vinegar straight onto the cut. Hurt like h**l. He said that that was part of the test for STDs."
"After that, I was messed up for years. I kept going to doctors thinking that there was something wrong with my genitals. It took one very kind doctor to realize that I had an emotional and not a physical issue, and he sat me down and told me that my vagina was in A1 condition, that it was 'beautiful,' and I had nothing to worry about."
"He said it in the most wholesome, genuine way and respectful way. And after that felt okay about my body again."
- thylacinesighting
Just, Gross.
"When I was 19, my primary care doctor (male) told me he could do a pap smear for me at my physical."
"When I told him I already had a gynecologist, he said, 'I can do it professionally or personally.'"
" Needless to say, I never saw him again and reported him."
- 2SadAllTheTime
Be More Reassuring
"'Welp, looks like you're probably going to go blind!'"
"While I have visions of myself walking about tapping a white cane in front of me, he blithely adds, 'But don't worry about it. Corneal transplants are 99% effective, you'll be fine.'"
"I did have transplants later when eyesight got bad enough to warrant it. They worked a miracle, but man, lead with the, 'You'll be fine,' next time."
- SchaefSex
How Frightening
"Three years ago, I went for an eye test, and the optician gave me a note and told me to go directly to an eye hospital."
"I gave the note to the reception at the eye hospital, the lady said, 'Oh, right, come this way,' and I was taken right through the waiting room and put in a CT scanner within 20 minutes of arrival."
"Shortly after, a doctor came and said that, 'There is something in the middle of your brain,' and that an ambulance is going to take me to a neurosurgery specialist hospital."
"A few hours later, I was having a drain put into my skull to get rid of built-up spinal fluid pooling behind my eyes."
"An MRI scan revealed a golf ball-sized cyst in the middle of my head that was causing problems."
"That was a pretty bad day."
- Cubix89
Incredibly Careless
"A doctor said that I obviously didn't dislocate my knee (I had put it back in myself before I went to ER) because it wasn't swollen out like a balloon."
"He then proceeded to push my knee down flat after it had seized in a bent position to put a stretchy bandage on it."
"I went back two days later because I had lost feeling in my toes as the knee had pinched nerves. They did an MRI and I had a complete tear of the ACL, and my bones in the shin bone and femur were bright white from the bone bruises/fractures."
"I absolutely dislocated my knee and the doctor just smashed my knee down and said, 'Off ya go,' basically."
- sillicibin
Abstinence Only
"I was 18 or 19, and at my first gynecology appointment, I told her how something hurt when I had sex and I wanted to start birth control."
"She told me that I was too young to have sex so she wasn’t going to help with that."
- sweetgirl757
More Exercise Isn't Always the Answer
"I would constantly complain to my doctor that I couldn’t breathe when I would walk and I would get shortness of breath, I was always tired and fatigued, and I would get dizzy if I walked too long."
"She always brushed it off and told me to get more sleep or drink more water, even though I was getting plenty of both."
"Finally, I made an appointment to talk to her face to face, and she flat-out told me I was lazy and needed to exercise more."
"I was so embarrassed because I went with my husband and she made me feel like I was just this lazy couch potato."
"I switched doctors, and my new doctor decided to do blood work, which is something that other lady should have done in the first place, and found out I was severely anemic, to the point of needing blood transfusions."
"I felt soooo much better after I got my infusions. Some people just shouldn’t be practicing medicine!"
- NotAsPlanned-
Worst Case Scenario
"At 30, I was rushed into hospital out of the blue with a Heart Infection, and needing a valve replacement."
"The Professor was absolutely brilliant, but she told me off the record that, 'You may want to get any close family to come and visit, and sort out any important paperwork as it's not guaranteed that you'll wake up again.'"
" I obviously pulled through, but her honesty was reassuring, and even after ten years, we still send the odd handwritten letter to each other."
"(We also had these stupid personal televisions at each bed which cost about £2 an hour to watch. The money would seriously rack up as I was in there for weeks, but she blagged me a pirated code so that I could watch it for free.)"
- stanagetocurbar
How Encouraging
"It was to my husband, I was in the room. He said, 'I’m not going to figure out what it is. If it was serious, you’d be dead by now.'"
"Later, we found out that this doctor was the one that my husband’s uncle was seeing before he was diagnosed with colon cancer. By the time another doctor found it, it was too late. He said there was no way it should have been missed."
- Mellopiex
Reality Check
"I’m a physician. Sometimes I worry that I’m not doing a good job because it took me an hour to return a patient’s call, or some other small thing. Then I read stories like these."
- MidnightMiasma
While there are always going to be situations where we need to seek medical attention, instances like this make it perfectly clear why some people would rather skip that appointment.