We all make some decisions without giving them much thought. Most of the time, they are harmless. But now and then, one seemingly minor choice can send things seriously off course.
Medical workers have seen plenty of these cases up close, and some of the stories are hard to forget. We found a Reddit thread where medical professionals shared shocking cases of small choices with surprisingly serious consequences, and we’ve rounded up some of the wildest ones. Scroll through for some jaw-dropping stories you probably won’t see coming.
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#21
Patients sleeping in their contacts or showering/swimming in them, leading to an infection. It can lead to corneal scarring and ultimately reduced vision for life.
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A quick swim or a casual boat trip feels like a completely harmless way to spend the day. You are having fun, everyone is relaxed, and nobody is expecting anything to go wrong.
But the WHO warns that drowning can happen within seconds, which is why things like supervision, swimming skills, and lifejackets matter so much.
#22
Kid was vaping, a common enough thing among adolescents. Unluckily for them, they ended up with vape associated lung injury. Team was trying to decide if they could lung transplant or if they were too neurologically devastated to be a candidate.
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#23
PACU RN: woman in her mid-twenties had a tooth infection she ignored. By the time she got help for it, the infection had spread into her chest and she was septic. She had to have emergent surgery to drain the infection, a PICC line for IV antibiotics, and two drains running from inside her mouth to under her jaw. The extent of the infection was severe, and she had to remain sedated and intubated in the ICU for a couple days.
There was also a minor complication during the surgery where a facial artery was clipped. She had quite a bit of b***d loss and needed 2 units of b***d transfused.
There was also a minor complication during the surgery where a facial artery was clipped. She had quite a bit of b***d loss and needed 2 units of b***d transfused.
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#24
I'm a patient, I recently walked into a pole and got a brain bleed. Wasn't even walking that fast.
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We are all guilty of ignoring a small symptom now and then. Maybe you hit your head, feel like something is off, or notice a change in your body, but instead of getting it checked out, you carry on and hope it goes away. Sometimes that works out just fine. Other times, waiting can turn something that could have been treated early into a much bigger problem.
That's what makes these cases so interesting. Some outcomes could have been avoided by making a safer choice or getting medical help sooner rather than later.
#25
Not a medical person. But I was the dumb person.
I almost lost my finger and hand because I left a cat bite fester too long. If I ignored it for maybe..2 more days it would of been bad.
They had to slice a hole from my finger to my palm to flush out the infection.
I almost lost my finger and hand because I left a cat bite fester too long. If I ignored it for maybe..2 more days it would of been bad.
They had to slice a hole from my finger to my palm to flush out the infection.
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#27
Patient had folliculitis (infected hair follicle) from shaving his beard. Bacteria spread and got into his bloodstream. Bacteria set up shop on his aortic valve and destroyed it. Bacteria grew and he developed an aortic root abscess. We operated, surgeon did his best to decontaminate everything. An aortic valve replacement and root reconstruction for endocarditis is a big big operation. He did great postop, went home in a few days.
6 weeks later he had fevers and chills. Root was destroyed by bacteria. Patient ended up passing away at the local university hospital. All from an infected hair follicle.
6 weeks later he had fevers and chills. Root was destroyed by bacteria. Patient ended up passing away at the local university hospital. All from an infected hair follicle.
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It is wild how something that feels so minor at the time can end up having such a huge impact.
Have you ever seen a small mistake turn into a much bigger medical problem? Tell us what happened in the comments.
#28
Drinking at the golf course, fell off the cart. Doesn’t sound like a big deal, but had a TBI resulting in not being able to do anything, barely able to talk at all either. Was in his 30s and likely to be in a nursing home for the rest of his life.
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#29
Not sure this counts as a minor thing but during a residency rotation a sweet elderly man came in for a skin concern that was a simple benign fix and patient said he had no other concerns but dermatology attending did a full skin check. On patient’s shoulder was a gnarly looking growth larger than a plum (insert attending looking at me shaking his head because he knew right away). It was black, blue, green, white, red, crusted, scaly etc. When attending scraped (biopsied) it, parts just crumbled apart. Patient said it’d been there for like 15-20 years so he wasn’t concerned. Sadly, the patient passed away a few months later from something so treatable. 😞.
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#30
I once saw a pedicure result in amputation, which caused depression, and the patient ended up passing because of the depression. So heartbreaking. The pedicure place had run out of nail polish remover and had instead used chemical grade acetone.
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#31
Ignoring routine foot care when you have type 2 diabetes... Diabetic neuropathy can manifest as lack of feeling, so injury to the foot in those cases can go unnoticed and untreated, lead to ulcers, and possibly to amputation if the situation isn't corrected in time.
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#32
We had a patient that was gonna discharge. He was inpt for one night, he had something simple. I can’t remember his original thing, but it was probably like a knee or a lap appe. Regardless, he was in his 30s young, no medical history, a great independent patient. The nurse did not put an O2 monitor on him overnight because he was getting up and going to the bathroom on his own and he was going to discharge the next morning. The LNA found him deceased in his bed during 2 AM vitals. He was already cold by the time we started compressions, we got 1 weird rhythm on the AED but he was gone. Turns out he had had like an unknown heart condition…
But I always wonder if we would’ve been able to save him had that o2 monitor been on.
But I always wonder if we would’ve been able to save him had that o2 monitor been on.
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#33
My doctor didn't realize that my years of diarrhea was due to gallstones, which resulted in severe necrotizing pancreatitis and a two month hospital stay.
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#34
Misdiagnosed and therefore untreated otitis externa (swimmer’s ear) eventually led to 2 craniotomies to remove pus pockets putting pressure on his brain, plus months of IV antibiotics.
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#35
Former hospice worker here. Our medical director expressed frustration at a patient who was golfing two weeks prior to hospice admission and then passed away from a hernia that was easily repaired by surgery. Patient had fashioned a sort of sling to support the hernia instead of going to the doctor.
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#36
Spent only a year out of 13 as an ICU nurse. Had an absolute train wreck of a patient in his 40s who had a bad stroke. Totally unstable for a week, stable but still super critical for a while after that. Sometimes his nurse was 1:1 that shift. Money was tight, and he thought he could get away with skipping his warfarin for a few months, maybe save him $30 at most. That’s still a lot money for some people in some circumstances. I still think about him more a decade later and hope his wife is okay
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#37
A minor intervention that prevents a major thing. Not giving their newborn the vit k shot. Have seen way too many babies with brain bleeds over the years.
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#38
My mom’s best friend was sick for months, coughing and losing weight. She refused to go to the doctor because she thought it was cancer (so many people their age have/had it) and didn’t want to go through the suffering of treating it. One day she collapsed and was taken to hospital. It wasn’t cancer - it was tuberculosis. If she’d gone to the doctor earlier it could have been easily treated. She passed away a week later.
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#39
Me. Training for a running race. Diagnosed with tendonitis. Did all the things to fix it. Strengthening, PT, reduced workload etc. only for it to continue to get worse.
Turns out I had bone marrow edema which has now morphed into a chronic neuropathy. I've spent over $100k out of pocket in 9 months trying to fix it. Will likely lose my job/house over the next year and its likely it will be chronic and worsen.
Turns out I had bone marrow edema which has now morphed into a chronic neuropathy. I've spent over $100k out of pocket in 9 months trying to fix it. Will likely lose my job/house over the next year and its likely it will be chronic and worsen.
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#40
Mother brought her kids next door so the kid there could transmit their chicken pox to her three children “to get it over with.” All got the chicken pox. One of them appeared in the ER comatose and seizing. Varicella had made its way into her brain, caused infection there, not just the skin.
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