33 Eye-Opening Confessions From An ER Doctor
Recently, on Reddit, an emergency room doctor hosted an AMA, inviting users to "ask me anything" about their profession.
Here are some of the best questions and answers from the AMA:
Q: What led you to become an ER doctor, and what part of your job could drive you away from wanting to continue to be one?
A: I was drawn to emergency medicine because I loved the variety, every rotation in med school had me thinking, "I want to do this," and the ER let me do a bit of everything. I also really like the shift work. When my shift ends, I'm done. A full-time schedule is around 120 hours a month, so most days I still get to enjoy life outside the hospital.I don't really know what would make me leave. A lot of ER docs do burn out eventually, but so far, I still really love it.
Q: How much money do you make?
Q: What would you keep at home if you really wanted to not die from anything that's sometimes immediately fatal (ie, stroke, pulmonary embolism)?
Q: One health tip for the general public given your position and experience?
A: If I had to give one health tip based on what I see every day: wear a seatbelt, don't drive drunk, and stay off motorcycles. I've seen too many lives changed — or ended —because of those exact things. Simple choices, but they make a huge difference.
Q: I imagine you must have lost a patient at some point. How do you handle informing the family, and how do you make sure it doesn't affect you personally?
Q: Recently, a wonderful younger doctor took care of us in the ER, and I would like to give him something to show our appreciation, but I'm not sure what. Any suggestions? Thanks for helping other humans survive!
Q: What's the craziest case you saw?
A: One of the craziest cases I've seen was a young patient who had a massive pulmonary embolism (blood clot in the lungs) and was bleeding heavily into her abdomen at the same time. She was literally dying from clotting too much and bleeding too much at once. Treating one made the other worse — it was an incredibly tough balance and a real challenge medically. She had a thrombectomy, then emergency surgery, and was placed on ECMO. Amazingly, she walked out of the hospital a few weeks later.
Q: What was the most surreal/bizarre situation you experienced during a shift?
Q: Have you seen The Pitt? If so, what does it get right and what does it get wrong?
Q: How often do you think people in extreme pain, perhaps not from an obvious source, are denied pain medication by doctors suspicious of their claims?
A: The only times I hold off on giving pain meds are when someone is so sick that the pain might actually be helping keep them alive, or when we need to address something more urgent first, like stabilizing them or protecting their airway.Otherwise, I take pain seriously, even if the source isn't obvious right away. Just because we can't see it doesn't mean it's not real.
Q: Why do emergency doctors tell you what is wrong with you and to follow up with your doctor for further testing, instead of doing the testing while you're in the hospital?
Q: When people come through and they have health anxiety and they are talking way too much because that's how they cope, does it annoy you?
Q: What are common issues that are right on the border of needing to go to the ER vs Urgent Care and vice versa? Like, where you say, 'Yeah, I can see why you thought to go to urgent care vs. the ER, but you really should have come to the ER,' and vice versa.
A: That's a tough one; there's no perfect line between urgent care and the ER. Minor things like small cuts, sprains, or basic infections are usually fine for urgent care. But anything more serious, like chest pain, trouble breathing, bad abdominal pain, high fevers in neonates, or anything that could be life-threatening, you should head to the ER.
Q: Have you ever seen signs of obvious terminal cancer that were a complete surprise to the patient being seen?
Q: As someone who gets panic attacks, what do you think when someone shows up with one?
Q: Your answers have been very empathetic and thoughtful—do you think most of your colleagues have a similar attitude toward patient care, tolerance, etc?
A: Thanks. Everyone's a little different, but in general, I do think most people in this line of work, like doctors, nurses, techs, etc., choose it because we genuinely want to help.
Q: My 17-year-old just graduated from high school and got through an EMT program in her senior year. She is going to college in the fall, doing pre-med. Her end goal is to be an ER physician. I want my kid to reach her potential, and she is for sure cut out for it, personality-wise, but would you actually recommend the profession to others? If you had a chance to do over and pick a different career (or specialty), would you?
Q: I'm extremely phobic about needles and blood. If I came in in distress, what would your staff be able to do to make things less traumatic for me? I'm really afraid that if I thought I was having a heart attack or something, I would genuinely think twice about going in for help.
Q: Knowing what you know and having seen what you've seen, what advice would you give us?
A: If there's one thing I've learned, it's that family is the most important thing. At the end of someone's life, no one talks about the news, politics, or work. It's all about the people they love — holding hands, saying goodbye, being surrounded by family. Those moments make everything else fade into the background.
Q: What is the FUNNIEST thing that has happened?
Q: Is there any particuliar kind of accidents you prefer not to see?
Q: Are there days or times of year when the ER is a lot busier?
A: Mondays are usually the busiest, and we also see spikes right after big storms or bad weather clears.
Q: Does work provide any resources to help you recover from any trauma you experience as a result of being exposed to intense scenarios?
Q: What's the funniest story behind an injury you've treated?
Q: Do you enjoy working with paramedics or do they bother you?
A: I really enjoy working with paramedics, especially the ones who are engaged and curious, and I always try to follow up with them when I can so they know how their patient did. We're all part of the same team. The only thing that can be a turn-off is when someone's overconfident to the point that they miss something important, like a STEMI, or ignore a patient's pain. There's no room for ego in this work; we all need to stay sharp and humble because lives depend on it.
Q: I went to the ER recently for upper GI pain (it was bad). Turns out I was severely dehydrated and needed to pass some good ole material. I was kinda embarrassed about it. How many people come to the ER because they are backed up?
Q: I had a severe injury a couple of months ago and was scared of going to the ER due to the costs. Is that a genuine fear? I fear that if my life is in danger, I'd be too scared to call an ambulance or go to the ER because of costs.
Q: What's the common thing you see children under 10 come in for? The most severe cases and the less severe cases?
A: Most common reason kids under 10 come in? Definitely fever or upper respiratory infections — especially in the winter. We see tons of those. On the more severe end, things like allergic reactions, accidental ingestions, and trouble breathing.
Q: How often do patients not believe your diagnosis? Got some fun examples?
Q: Whats the craziest thing someone has put in their butt?
Q: Do all the staff sleep with each other like in movies, or is that, like, just in movies?
A: That's mostly just in the movies, but every hospital definitely has its fair share of drama. When you work long hours in a high-stress environment, relationships and gossip happen. It's not like Grey's Anatomy, but yeah, things go on.
Q: Whats the worst thing you have seen someone (mostly) recover from?
Q: What is the best way to advocate for yourself if you think the doctor or nurse has it wrong?
Do you work in an ER or a similar medical setting? Tell us about your experiences in the comments or via the anonymous form below:
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Newsweek
4 hours ago
- Newsweek
Boy Wears Eyepatch in First School Photo—Had No Idea the Danger He'd Beaten
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A man who lost his eye to cancer as a child has shared a school photograph taken not long after, and which one commenter said made him "the coolest kid in class." Dertrick Winn Jr, 31, from Austin, Texas, took to Reddit's r/OldSchoolCool on June 17 via his account u/ninjadertie, where he wrote simply: "I lost my eye to cancer when I was about 5. This is me on my first picture day (1998)." Attached to the post was the school photograph, with Winn beaming at the camera, his denim shirt buttoned up to the last, and a large black patch covering one of his eyes. "It's honestly my favorite photo ever, and the memories that it triggers are all good ones," he told Newsweek. "I got a lot of comments saying I was brave, and a warrior, and an inspiration. Those comments are very kind. I'm sure they were all true about me, but what's also the truth is I had no idea the kind of danger I had overcome. "I was treated with so much love and attention that I probably just thought I had the flu or something. I spent most of my time in the hospital playing video games, watching the Power Rangers movie on repeat and chasing medicine with apple juice. The whole thing felt like a sweet adventure and the older I get, the more I'm convinced that that is exactly what it was." He remembers it all, he told Newsweek—"I even remember the first day waking up after my enucleation, the surgical removal of my eyeball." Enucleation sees the entire eye removed, but the muscles that control eye movement left intact and resewn to the artificial eye, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Winn shared in a Reddit comment that he now uses a fake eye. Recalling the surgery, Winn said he and his family were staying at the Ronald McDonald House, which houses the families of sick children, and he awoke with a "huge egg-shaped bandage on my eye. Dertrick Winn Jr at around five years old, wearing a patch after losing his eye to cancer. Dertrick Winn Jr at around five years old, wearing a patch after losing his eye to cancer. Reddit u/ninjadertle "But even then, I didn't really seem to 'get' that my right eye had been removed. It was almost as if nothing changed at all, and honestly, I may have been too young to comprehend what exactly had taken place." He called the "eye patch days" at school "a bit of a blur," but remembers "getting a lot of attention from my fellow classmates". Most of it was general curiosity, he said, adding that he doesn't recall any bullying or "anything negative at all." Despite his huge positivity, with Winn revealing his memories of cancer treatment are "mostly fond ones," there are still some things he is "haunted" by, he admitted. Slipping in and out of consciousness under anaesthesia, still "mumbling words of encouragement" to his mother who was by his side at every moment; trying to get out of a hospital bed and being "pushed back down by several clammy, gloved hands" who he understands now weren't trying to hurt him, but whose weight he can still remember; and above all, "the smell of those medical masks." "I have had to wear the mask again for things like dental surgery and lasik and other post-cancer related things in adulthood," he said, and has to steel himself—"because as soon as I get a whiff of that mask, I can almost surely feel the hands pressing me against the bed." He recalled his mother—who is working on a book on her and her son's story—being by his side for everything he went through, even though she was so young herself at the time. "She was 14 when she gave birth to me and had to become an emancipated minor to sign all of the paperwork at the appointments," he said. "My dad stayed behind to work, so most of the trips to Houston were just little me and teenage her on a Greyhound." Winn's Reddit post of his five-year-old self in the eyepatch caught a huge amount of attention, racking up more than 100,000 likes, as one commenter wrote simply: "This would literally be the coolest kid in the class and no one would be able to top this." "Losing an eye to cancer sucks. You're a warrior," another praised Winn, as another said he was "cute but brave too"—to which Winn replied: "My parents are the brave ones."
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Yahoo
Woman Had a ‘Great Relationship' with Her Mother-in-Law, Until She Had a Baby
A new mom says her mother-in-law has changed since the arrival of her baby In a post shared to Reddit, the woman writes that her husband's mom has been "questioning" all her parenting decisions Among the mother-in-law's issues are the temperature of the baby's milk and whether she's eating "too loudly"A woman who had her first baby in March says her mother-in-law is questioning all of her parenting decisions — and, being that she lives just a couple of blocks away, it's getting old. In a post on Reddit, the 26-year-old woman writes that while her father-in-law works "long shifts," she and her husband often take the baby to visit with her mother-in-law. "She's always been wonderful before our baby and we have a great relationship, but lately she keeps questioning things I do," she writes. During a recent trip to the mother-in-law's house, the woman brought a bottle of breastmilk and placed it in the fridge. "MIL asked, 'Why do you keep her milk in the fridge?' and I responded, 'I make so much milk now that I've got to keep it cold so it doesn't go bad. It's only good for about 4 hours at room temp,'" she recalls. "Later on I took the bottle out and was feeding baby when MIL asked if she was eating the milk cold, and I said 'Yep! She's never been too fussy about her bottle temps; she'll eat it cold or warm.' MIL looked a little shocked and said 'But breastmilk is warm when it comes out of the body!' I just defended myself and told her it's perfectly fine." While she "thought it would end there," her mother-in-law called the poster's husband a few days later and "asked him if it was really okay for baby to be drinking cold milk." "Of course he said yes, it's totally fine, we've double-checked with the doctor and everything," the woman writes. "I did a ton of research on bottle-feeding before making the decision to switch." Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. The mother-in-law also questioned why the baby is "so loud" when she eats, which the poster reassured her was perfectly fine. "I told her baby's just a loud eater and she said, 'Are you sure?' and my partner had to say yes, we asked the doctor about that too," she writes. "Maybe I'm just being sensitive, but it irks me that she had to ask her son instead of just trusting that I know what I'm doing," she continues. "Yes we're young, yes this is our first baby… but I don't make decisions for baby's health without lots of thought behind them. Am I overreacting about this or is it weird for her not to trust my judgment as a mother?" Most commenters supported the poster, noting that they would "stop visiting" the mother-in-law if she kept questioning their parenting decisions. "You are not overreacting, she's being disrespectful toward you and your role as a mother," one person commented. "My babies didn't care about bottle temperature either. It's such a normal thing I don't know why she would keep bothering you about it." Read the original article on People
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Lifelong Friends Move in Together. But Then Pal's Disrespectful Behavior Threatens to End Friendship
Two lifelong friends moved in together, but it quickly turned disastrous One of the women often disregards her roommate's boundaries, causing tension between the two Now, they wonder if they can salvage their friendshipLiving with a friend can be challenging, especially when boundaries are crossed. A 25-year-old woman seeks support from the Reddit community after ongoing tensions with her best friend and housemate have made their living situation increasingly difficult. The two have been close for decades and were initially excited to live together. However, over time, their differing needs and disregard for each other's wishes have led to tension. Now, the poster has come to realize that their lifestyles have become incompatible. 'I have always known I am pretty introverted and came from not a great family home, so shared with her ahead of time that I will need alone time and there may be days when I'm just chilling solo in my room,' the woman writes in the since-deleted post. Her housemate, on the other hand, turned out to be far more extroverted than she had realized before moving in. This fundamental difference has contributed to growing friction, along with her friend's disregard for boundaries. The woman describes how, while she was out of town, her housemate damaged their shared car but failed to inform her. 'She had some kind of minor accident leaving noticeable scratches on my wing mirror and didn't tell me, leaving me to have to ask about them when I found them,' the woman writes. Beyond property concerns, her housemate often makes unsolicited comments about the poster's health, despite being asked to stop. This is particularly sensitive given the Redditor's history with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) and a past eating disorder. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 'She will often comment on my diet and make comments about my exercise even when I ask her not to as my health is a difficult journey for me and diet in particular triggers my past binge eating disorder from my crappy home life," she writes. Her housemate has also been allowing people, including strangers, to stay in their shared space without permission. When confronted about this, she failed to respect the woman's wishes for future instances. The final straw came when the woman walked into their living room and found her housemate and her boyfriend being intimate with the door open. 'I just think she should be more considerate and I don't think I want someone in my life who doesn't care about me or how their actions would make me feel,' she writes. Though they have discussed many of these issues after the fact, the woman notes that nothing has changed. Now, as she prepares to move out, she is left wondering whether their friendship can—or should— survive beyond their time as housemates. Read the original article on People
