# An evening at the emergency room - oh what a joy... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 21, 2005, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-evening-at-the-emergency-room-oh-what-a-joy/317964 "2005-08-21T09:47:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-evening-at-the-emergency-room-oh-what-a-joy/317964/61 "2005-08-24T00:59:17Z")
> [@purple haze](#): > > 16 y.o. guy came in with his parents; he was very drunk and incoherent. For some reason he was completely naked with a towel draped across his lap. You could still see all. My daughter and her friend certainly got an eyeful! He sat in a wheelchair next to me and retched occasionally into a basin provided by a nurse. People barfing. The #1 reason I never got into the medical profession. I can handle all sorts of stuff. I cleaned up the aftermath of my husband’s AssPlosion from the bathroom once, without gagging. I can watch surgery shows while eating spaghetti. But I cannot.stand.puke. Tough people, those healthcare workers are… ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-evening-at-the-emergency-room-oh-what-a-joy/317964/62 "2005-08-24T01:57:27Z")
I’ve been in ER a few times (when another kid hit me over the head with a hoe, when I was hit by a truck [just a rib or two], once with a seizure, and when I broke my shoulder) and a few more with other people. The staff have always been great, even though I’ve waited far too long just about every time. They always seem to keep their cool; once I overheard one nurse say conversationally to another “Gee, we’ve sure had a lot of lacerations tonight.” ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angel_of_the_lord/32/2949_2.png) [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-evening-at-the-emergency-room-oh-what-a-joy/317964/63 "2005-08-24T03:56:26Z")
I’ve only been to the ER once. This happened during July, 2002. I was 19 at the time (my age is important to the story). I was on vacation in St. Louis with my family. We were staying in a hotel there while visiting my brother. The night before, we’d driven down from the Chicago suburbs. I’d spent most of the drive feeling like crap. I wasn’t surprised–the previous night, with my boyfriend-who-is-now-my-husband, I’d noticed that my glands were swollen, so I figured I had a cold or something. Anyway, it was the typical hot-cold-shivering-sweating-ness, made worse by my dad blasting the a/c. We get to the hotel, and I crash. The next day, I still feel like crap. By the end of the day, I’m running a high fever, can barely walk, am barely coherent, am achy, have a very sore neck, and can’t keep anything down. After I vomit still-cold water, my dad drives me to the ER. I suspect that, because I told them my neck was really sore, they thought I might have meningitis, and they brought me in right away. My dad insists it was a half-hour wait, but I think it was less. They do the basic interview, and ask me if I’m on any medicines. I tell them that I’m on the Pill, but not to tell my dad, because I was _really_ not in the mood for that conversation. The doctor I get is. . .well. . .kind of a jerk. He has my list of “what’s wrong with me stuff” right in front of him, and asks me what my symptoms are. As I’m trying to describe them, I vomit (fortunately, I’d asked for something to barf in). He continues asking me questions as I’m heaving. He then orders a chest x-ray (which, WTF?, since I wasn’t even coughing). I think that he or someone else took blood, too. I get the chest x-ray. He then comes back, and proceeds to tell me that I have a pretty big bacterial infection. Okay, not specific, but more than what I knew coming in. He then prescribes Augmentin, and gives me the following speech. “Now, I know you asked the nurse not to say anything, but _you should have been a good girl_. The Augmentin will interfere with the birth control pills that you’re on.” If I wasn’t lying there on the bed, only semi-coherent and with an IV still stuck in my arm, I so would have kicked his ass. I was of age (19, well above the age of majority), and he had no right to release information to anyone without my consent, whether the individual was my father or not. Additionally, I could have done without the little comment. . . .indicentally, I did _not_ have meningitis. The sore neck was probably due to the hotel pillows. But, mother _fuck_, it hurt. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-evening-at-the-emergency-room-oh-what-a-joy/317964/64 "2005-08-24T12:33:07Z")
You were “being a good girl” by being on the pill. What a dick. ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-evening-at-the-emergency-room-oh-what-a-joy/317964/65 "2005-08-24T14:02:12Z")
> [@Burrido](#): > > My only 2 visits to the ER were horrible. > > The second time was when my brother had his kidney stones. We waited in the room for about 2 hours. His eyes were totally glazed over and in severe pain. There happened to be another gal in the room with the same problem. My god the suffering those two were going through. It was nearly too much. Amazingly after taking my brother in, not 15 minutes later we were able to see him and he was bright as a daisy. Just some tylenol 3 or whatever it’s called and some shot. They gave him a little urine strainer that I thought was absolutely hilarious for some odd reason. When I had my first kidney stone attack, I was waiting to talk to the nurse at the receiving desk in Emergency (it was a Monday morning but quite busy) and another nurse came over and asked me what was wrong, then took me right into an examination room. I must have been conspicuously pale-faced or something from the pain. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-evening-at-the-emergency-room-oh-what-a-joy/317964.md?page=3)