A man comes into the ER and
yells, "My wife's going to have her baby in the cab!" I grabbed my
stuff, rushed out to the cab, lifted the lady's dress, and began to
take off her underwear. Suddenly I noticed that there were several
cabs, and I was in the wrong one.
(Dr. Mark MacDonald, San Antonio, TX)
At the beginning of my shift I placed a stethoscope on an elderly
and slightly deaf female patient's anterior chest wall. "Big
breaths," I instructed."Yes, they used to be," remorsed the
patient.
(Dr. Richard Byrnes, Seattle, WA)
One day I had to be the bearer of bad news when I told a wife that
her husband had died of a massive myocardial infarct. Not more than
five minutes later, I heard her reporting to the rest of the family
that he had died of a "massive internal fart."
(Dr. Susan Steinberg, Manitoba, Canada )
I was performing a complete physical, including the visual acuity
test. I placed the patient twenty feet from the chart and began,
"Cover your right eye with your hand." He read the 20/20 line
perfectly. "Now your left." Again, a flawless read. "Now both," I
requested. There was silence. He couldn't even read the large E on
the top line. I turned and discovered that he had done exactly what
I had asked; he was standing there with both his eyes covered. I
was laughing too hard to finish the exam.
Dr. Matthew Theodropolous, Worcester, MA)
During a patient's two week follow-up appointment with his
cardiologist, he informed me, his doctor, that he was having
trouble with one of his medications. "Which one?" I asked. "The
patch. The nurse told me to put on a new one every six hours and
now I'm running out of places to put it!" I had him quickly undress
and discovered what I hoped I wouldn't see. Yes, the man had over
fifty patches on his body! Now the instructions include removal of
the old patch before applying a new one.
(Dr. Rebecca St. Clair, Norfolk, VA)
While acquainting myself with a new elderly patient, I asked,
"How
long have you been bedridden?" After a look of complete confusion
she answered, "Why, not for about twenty years - when my husband
was alive."
(Dr. Steven Swanson, Corvallis, OR)
I was caring for a woman from Kentucky and asked, "So how was your
breakfast this morning?" "It was very good, except for the Kentucky
Jelly. I can't seem to get used to the taste," the patient replied.
I then asked to see the jelly and the woman produced a foil packet
labeled, "KY Jelly."
(Dr. Leonard Kransdorf, Detroit, MI)
A nurse was on duty in the Emergency Room, when a young woman with
purple hair styled into a punk rocker Mohawk, sporting a variety of
tattoos, and wearing strange clothing, entered. It was quickly
determined that the patient had acute appendicitis, so she was
scheduled for immediate surgery. When she was completely disrobed
on the operating table, the staff noticed that her pubic hair had
been dyed green, and above it there was a tattoo that read, "Keep
off the grass." Once the surgery was completed, the surgeon wrote a
short note on the patient's dressing, which said, "Sorry, had to
mow the lawn."
