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Disclaimer: this post includes mentions of suicide, attempted murder, and drug use.
Hospitals are the home of modern medicine and life-saving care. They're also the home of a lotttttttttt of drama. In a recent Threads post, @dr.tpl asked hospital staff to share their messiest stories. Here are 18 of the juciest, grossest, and most heartbreaking answers:
1."The last hospital I worked in had to install windows in all the doctors' ICU dictation and on-call rooms because one of the attendings kept getting caught sleeping with the nurses (plural – as in, more than one nurse on more than one occasion)."
2."An elderly patient was diagnosed with gangrene in her leg, and her next of kin refused to consent to surgery. The family had stolen everything this woman had while she was in the hospital, including her home, so they figured if she died, no one would know. The hospital went to court and had a distant relative granted power of attorney, and he consented to the surgery. The day before the surgery was to take place, a nurse caught the family trying to suffocate the patient, and they were arrested."
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3."I worked a shift several years ago where a patient faked such horrible back pain that he 'needed' four nurses to transfer him to the bed. His performance was so good that the doctor became suspicious when Ativan didn’t work. Police were called, and the patient was arrested and walked out in handcuffs, back pain miraculously gone."
4."One of the younger nurse practitioners committed suicide because the surgeon she'd been having an affair with finally told her he was never going to leave his wife."
5."I found someone ODing on morphine in the bathroom. It was another nurse, who had been skimming morphine (instead of properly wasting it). Apparently, no one was surprised. She also took down two of her coworkers who would always sign off on her wastage."
6."A nurse at a hospital I used to work at admitted to draining all the morphine syringes in the automated dispensing machine and replacing the morphine with tap water. No, not even sterile water...just water from the faucet. This was on the ortho floor, where patients were recovering from hip replacement surgery. Unreal!"
7."There was an unused X-ray room that a specific doctor would use to hook up with a new nurse every single week."
8."I work in labor and delivery. Once, the baby's heart rate suddenly dropped and wouldn't recover. I yelled for someone to page the attending doctor while I got mom into every position possible to relieve the distress. The doctor didn’t show. I got the patient prepped for the operating room while the RESIDENT prepared to perform an emergency C-section. The attending and nurse finally strolled in, both disheveled. They're both married to other people. We knew they were ******* in the call room every chance they got, but now patients were at risk. As far as I know, there were no consequences. They had been carrying on for years, their families were friends, and they just kept it up."
9."I’m not a medical professional. My ex-husband had his leg amputated and had to live in a skilled nursing facility for six months while he recovered. I had nurses finding me on Instagram to tell me the inappropriate things that CNAs (certified nursing assistants) were doing; spending time with him at night, bringing him presents, you can fill in the blanks. One nurse even stole Viagra from her own cheating husband and gave it to him because she didn’t want her husband to have it for his mistress."
10."We had a coworker who was let go not too long ago, but I’m not sure of the reasoning. Apparently, they didn’t take too kindly to being fired, went into the locker room, and started violently throwing items around, including the contents of their own locker. When security arrived to ****** them out, they found a hit list in the ex-employee's bag."
11."I remember watching cars burning in the staff car park because a former psych patient didn't like us anymore. He had to climb a very high fence to get back there, so he was clearly very unwell and very determined."
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12."The grossest, nastiest thing I've ever seen in a hospital was when we had to send someone to find a missing ER doctor. He was discovered on the physical therapy floor, with a female employee, having *** in the specialized bathtub used for debriding burn victims."
13."I'm an X-ray tech. Our receptionist and an HR manager were having an affair. One day, the manager's wife came to the X-ray department asking for the receptionist. We didn't realize that this was his wife and told her the receptionist had just stepped out and would be right back. So, the wife took a seat and waited. A few minutes later, we heard loud yelling, so we went up front, and the wife was whooping her *** in front of the entire waiting room."
14."Once, an ED unit clerk got off duty, walked right into the bathroom, and OD’d on heroin. Took a long time for the ED staff to get over that one. He was a beloved team member."
15."In my first nursing job, I had a patient with a chest tube. His girlfriend had stabbed him with a huge barbecue fork, and now she had a warrant out for her arrest. Well, I was doing my rounds and walked in on her apologizing on her knees, if you know what I mean. Ma'am. The police have been looking for you. This won't change that!"
16."A nurse's husband called our facility and told a charge nurse that his wife (the charge nurse's) was sleeping with another employee in the parking lot."
17."Years ago, we had a tech that was down in the OR area to restock all the medication dispenser machines. She went out for a smoke at one point and propped open a door that leads to the surgical recovery unit. A homeless man wandered in and started taking blankets from the blanket warmer. She walked back in, saw him, and had to chase him around to get him out. The whole thing was caught on the security cameras, and we still watch it back and laugh."
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18.And, lastly, "In the '90s, we had a patient in traction for his back, and he was selling pot from his room. He couldn’t be arrested because he was hooked up to all these pulleys, so he got cited and had to go to court after he was discharged. He had to be handcuffed to the bed for the remainder of his stay, which made it even more difficult to treat him."
Have you seen some wild drama working in a hospital? Drop your stories in the comments or fill out our anonymous form. Your answer might be featured in an upcoming BuzzFeed Community post.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline provides information and referral services. You can call them at 1-800-950-6264, or text ‘HOME’ or ‘HOLA’ to 741741 to speak with a volunteer. GoodTherapy.org is an association of mental health professionals from more than 25 countries who support efforts to reduce harm in therapy.
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, you can call SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) and find more resources here.
Disclaimer: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
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