Is this the stupidest reason in history for an ER visit?

[Antisocial_Worker]

You decide.

The patient called EMS for a ride to the hospital, but was refused service by 911. Undeterred, the patient drove themself to the hospital. Why?

Chapped lips.

I repeat. Chapped lips. The patient was very irate that the hospital also refused service, and demanded compensation for the gas used to drive into town.

One more time. Chapped lips. They tried to get an ambulance to take them to the hospital for that. Frankly, this is even dumber than the homeless people who walk in demanding sandwiches.

[bhskittykatt]

That...that is special. Now, I can see perhaps going to a walk-in clinic for severely chapped lips, but an ER visit for normal winter-chapping...that is very very special.

Frankly, this is even dumber than the homeless people who walk in demanding sandwiches.

I agree, since most hospitals have at least a cafeteria then at least there's some logic to that.

[sms001]

And somewhere out there in the great frozen north, someone is going to try to airlift to an ER for one chapped lip...

Other than that, no, I can't imagine anything so silly.

[AnaKhouri]

But his lips hurt real bad!

[Moirae]

And somewhere out there in the great frozen north, someone is going to try to airlift to an ER for one chapped lip...

In Canada, we all knew we were probably going to get chapped lips.

[cleorose]

I can't beat that but my husband comes close. He cut his finger on the grill. It was a SMALL cut. Barely noticable but it kept bleeding. He refused to put a bandaid on it and some hydrogen peroxide like most people. Instead he went to the ER for wait for it... ONE STITCH. Cost of one stitch = $750 dollars. Our son's concussion from the weak prior AND his bruised bone medical bills were less than that combined. (Our boys are mini tarzans, they tried to swing on a curtain from the top bunk to entertainment center. Cheap curtain rods, thin carpeting. Round one was a bruised heel bone, and round two was a concussion and a cracked window. )

[crazylegs]

I can't beat that but my husband comes close. He cut his finger on the grill. It was a SMALL cut. Barely noticable but it kept bleeding. He refused to put a bandaid on it and some hydrogen peroxide like most people. Instead he went to the ER for wait for it... ONE STITCH.

I think a first aid course will do wonders here, after all it sure as hell wont cost $750!

[Sapphire Silk]

The patient called EMS for a ride to the hospital, but was refused service by 911. Undeterred, the patient drove themself to the hospital. Why?

Chapped lips.

OK, it's official. I have now heard it all.

[dalesys]

Chapped lips.

Which lips? Work-related?

[Antisocial_Worker]

OK, it's official. I have now heard it all.

Best of all, this crisis occurred between 1 and 2 am. It's like the people who bring their kids in with the sniffles at 3 or 4 in the morning. It just couldn't wait!

[raudf]

Chapped... lips... *BSODs* Seriously?!

I lost a battle with the toilet one time. Actually, I was taking a bath. Someone had left the shampoo on the sink. In between the tub and sink was the toilet. I was a stupid kid and reached out of the tub, stretched out to grab the shampoo and slipped. Split my chin rather nicely. Got two stitches. Two. Nowadays, we'd use steri-strips to close it and just go on with life.

Come to think of it, I don't know why she didn't just do that then too? It wasn't like I'd bitten my tongue or you could see bone...

[MoonCat]

Sounds like the guy that called the paper a few weeks ago wanting a reporter to write about how the ER didn't treat his wife fast enough, they had to wait for HOURS to see someone about....her swollen lip.

I was SO tempted to ask if his fist was the reason she had a swollen lip, but I didn't.

[AccountingDrone]

Rob was using a small hatchet inside to split some slivers of kindling off a larger piece of fatwood [heartwood pine] and nicked the corner of the hatchet into his knee, resulting in a 1 cm x 1 cm jab into his kneecap. This meant an ER trip ... Christmas morning.

My brother and another guy in his warehouse were using a pair of forklifts to lift a third guys car to change a tire and one of the forks slipped and dropped the car on the car owners foot ... smashing the steel toe flat and abrading a shin, needing a trip to a doc in a box for treatment.

And I remember previously mentioning the poor trainer at the Mystic Aquarium who got bit on the butt by an orca ...

[sms001]

ooh, ooh - I thought of one - Paper cut!!!

I live in the northern most part of one of the more northern states of the U.S.. And I could totally see some of the locals here bothering ER staff with something trivial. (Actually, given what some of my co-irkers call out of work for, maybe my paper cut thing isn't so ludicrous....)

[Aethian]

In Canada, we all knew we were probably going to get chapped lips.

I've seen people here in the mitten get called living in the frozen north.
I've seen idiots try to go through the ER for the weakest things. Like the lady rubbed some skin raw on her hand deeming she was more important then me who just slid down a set of concrete stairs, hitting each one as I went down. Didn't loose a piece if mail tho.