“He Just Wouldn't Go To The Doctor”: 57 Tragedies People Could Have Avoided If They Were Just On Time

In 2001, a friend of mine got on a chartered plane to Aspen for a ski trip, arranged by one of his wealthier, entitled, but more well connected friends.

Their group was late to the airport. They get on the plane, and they’re told that they have to divert to another airport because of the snowstorm and it will be too dark to land. Legally, they could not land in Aspen because it was too late

The group leader (the guy chartering the plane) was not having it. He demanded the pilots land in Aspen, so they can get to the party. He gave them that “You work for ME” attitude. The pilots were trying to land, completely violating FAA/NOTAM restrictions, and they all crashed because the pilot couldn’t see the runway.

All because they were late for the plane and for a party. The 25th anniversary was just a few days ago.

The Donner Party was late on the travel across the US to California, tried to take a shortcut to speed back up but got delayed further instead, then attempted to cross the Sierra late in the season anyway during a huge snow year.

Spoiler alert: they died.

This one is kind of different form of being late. My freshman year of high school (2004). A lot of kids would walk to school as our campus was in a very residential area. One morning, while walking to school, my friend and his sister were down the street at a busy intersection. The walk light came on and my friend crossed the street, while his sister waited a little longer because she was talking to a friend while still on the sidewalk. He made it halfway when he turned around. He said he saw a car speeding and was avoiding to hit the car in front of it. The driver ended up swerving onto the sidewalk, running over his sister, k*****g her. Her friend survived with minor injuries. I heard all of this because when they arrived at the school the police questioned them in an office. I happened to have office duty that morning. He k****d himself the following year due to survivor’s guilt.

My pop, was meant to get heart surgery decided he would put it off to be home for Christmas to spend time with his kids(my dad was only 12) he ended up having a massive heart attack on the kitchen floor a few days after Christmas, and died. If he had gotten the surgery he would've lived most likely till I was born atleast.

This happened recently up in Michigan during Thanksgiving of 2023: a couple with two dogs were running late to fly home in their personally owned prop and insisted on taking-off in freezing temperatures. The pilot Randy Strebig (who was instrument rated) refused to even wait for the runway to be plowed.

The hangar was unheated and ice had accumulated on the wings. He decided to take off, went unto sharp bank, and stalled. He, his wife, and both their dogs hit the ground in an uncontrolled dive. He was in such a hurry he probably didn't even realize his wings were iced.

There was Yingying Zhang, a visiting Chinese scholar at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, who missed her bus and was late for a meeting to lease an apartment. She was given a ride by a former grad student and subsequently held against her will, r***d, and m******d.

I just learned about Antoni Gaudi, the famous architect in Barcelona back in 1920's. He was leaving his shop, rushing to a church to make it in time for prayer. He ran across a street, almost running in front of an oncoming tram, luckily he took a step backwards to dodge it but was then run over by the tram going the opposite direction.

My mum woke up late and missed a flight for work. Decided to make the 4 hour drive instead. She never arrived.

My brother went to the hospital in Newburgh New York in 2018 after he developed sepsis. He pulled through and fought the infection. However, the hospital did not have lipitor which was part of his regular medication routine. Can you believe that? So the doctor prescribed him another cholesterol medication. He had such a bad reaction to the replacement medication that he kept fouling the bed. The nurse attendant was brutal because the witch was annoyed with how often she had to clean my brother. So after a bathroom accident she literally ripped him another one while moving My brother around for the physical cleanup. My brother had a tear in his body from the top of his rear end about the length of his thumb.

He was discharged with the injury that was amazingly painful. A month later it still didn't heal. It was an open wound that couldn't be kept clean easily My brother got an infection again which k****d him. He was late to go for treatment of the open wound because he didn't want to sit in his car for the drive.

There was a really sweet kid I went to day camp with at the local parks and rec. As an adult, he found work filming amateur rap music videos for people in town. One night, the filming ran late and unbeknownst to him, one of the guys there was the target of a hit by a local gang. Two guys from a rival gang stormed in and shot up the place. They missed their target but k****d my friend. R.I.P.

Not sure if just late or blatant neglect, but:

My grandpa was convinced that drawing blood was sufficient enough to detect everything. He absolutely refused to get a prostate screening. At some point, he was in a lot of pain and still said it's fine.

Turns out, his prostate cancer was finally detected in late January and he was dead in September.

Get your screenings done, people.

My Nana last year had one of her legs swell bigger than the other in June. Went to the doctor and they found a blood clot. They thought it was because she was recently on a plane ride and with her age, sitting for a period of time could have caused it. It wasn’t until the end of July that the actual cause of her blood clot was a tumour encircling her lungs throwing them through her body as she started coughing up blood. By the time it was discovered she had lesions on her liver that was causing bleeding, so she was in DIC. She was thankfully kept comfortable for 8 days and then passed. RIP Nana, you are missed.

My grandpa was late to his carpool for work one morning in 1986. Took a different route to catch up. wrong place wrong time. Drunk driver ran a red light at 7:45am. I never got to meet him.

A girl in my high school was running late. An old lady ran a red light and k****d her. Of she had been earlier or even later she would have been fine. (Or you know a 90 year old who had no business being behind the wheel could have just not k****d her).

Friend of mine did a charity performance and stayed 15 minutes afterwards to chat with people who attended. She was then struck and k****d in a hit and run car accident by a man driving on a suspended license for DUI, leaving a club (so probably drunk), driving his mom’s car (because his identical car had a breathalyzer built in). They caught him because he tried to hire a body shop to repair the damage without notifying the police, and the body shop thankfully DID notify the police.

If my friend had left one minute earlier or later, she would still be alive today.

The man is only facing a maximum of 7 years in prison because it’s somehow not as bad to k**l someone with a car you’re not legally allowed to drive, flee the scene, and try to destroy the evidence as it is to k**l someone in literally any other way.

My parents had a neighbor who had always been a little off, but harmless.

She died from complications related to an untreated UTI that she ignored until her husband found her on the floor.

A family friend was slowly shutting down his business due to accelerating health issues. He was also preparing to divorce his a*****e partner. He stayed too late at the office on a Friday and was driving too aggressively trying to get home quicker. Ended up in a car accident that left him brain dead, a few days later they pulled the plug.

Bonus, he was going to file the divorce papers the following Monday, so since he didn't make it to that, the settling of his estate became a four year legal battle between his wife and his family.

Girl friend of mine drove about 90mins into the city to watch a fireworks display. They were supposed to be back by midnight, but traffic was backed up with thousands of people trying to leave at the same time. They decide to get some food and wait it out, which put them on the road at the same time the local bars were closing. Their car was t-boned by a drunk driver about 5mins from her house. After a few days on life support, she sadly passed.

I didn’t die but I was late to work one day because I slept in and ended up getting rear ended on my commute in a multi car pile up. Totaled my car and caused a nightmare that lasted two years. I frequently thought about if only I’d left on time.

Well I remember reading that both Mark Wahlberg and Seth McFarlane where both schedule to be on AA 11 ( the first that hit the trade centre) , but both missed it for various reasons, you got to feel for the person on standby that wouldn't of been on the flight in their place had they arrived on time.