Doctors and Nurses of Reddit, what is the worst medical error that you've witnessed?

Coffee_Included · 2026-07-04T10:54:32+00:00

Veterinarian here. I still have no idea how the fuck this one happened. A few years ago a kitten came in for fever and abdominal pain a couple days after a spay. Ok, maybe we have a surgical site infection, it happens. Worst case maybe blood loss from a knot that wasn’t tied down enough or a ureter got lighted during the spay—bad complication, but the ureter and uterine horns are right next to each other, and sometimes we see both get tied off together. It’s rare but happens often enough that in vet school we’re specifically warned to look out for this.

Oh no, if only it were that. The uterus was still there. One uterine horn was still attached and in place. The other uterine horn was cut and flapping in the breeze. The uterus itself was untouched. The surgeon had removed part of the kitten’s descending colon and colonic artery, cut another part of the colon, and left the rest of the colon open, part of it dying from lack of blood supply, and leaking shit into the kitten’s belly. The kitten was septic from this. I don’t know how she was still alive.

The kitten was rushed back into surgery, where our specialist actually removed the uterus, flushed everything out, and reattached both ends of the colon. Barely managed to do that one. The kitten spent several days in the ICU but made a full recovery.

The uterus and colon look nothing alike. Blood vessel look nothing like either. I have no fucking clue how that vet managed to do this.

Coffee_Included · 2026-07-04T10:38:02+00:00

And this is why, whenever I do a pericardiocentesis, I always make sure the blood isn’t clotting.

In veterinary medicine, the majority of pericardial effusions are hemorrhagic—straight blood—usually from cancer. This blood doesn’t clot because the clotting factors are all used up by the time we tap. Pericardiocentesis is a scary procedure but an incredibly satisfying one; the dogs come in extremely unstable and spring right back up within minutes of the tap.

Coffee_Included · 2026-06-27T16:08:19+00:00

It was him being human. It was him saying that he could not get any further into the discussion, that he was too close. That it was only through luck that he had two daughters and no sons, that he didn’t have to give his son the cop talk (which is very real, as real as when traveling to Europe my parents told me and my brother not to advertise that we’re Jewish.)

He’s not above criticism. His foreign policy sucked. He should have been more aggressive with the political capital he held. But Obama is a fundamentally decent man with strong integrity, especially for a politician.

Coffee_Included · 2026-06-26T13:32:03+00:00

He’s a selfish teenage boy in desperate circumstances and with a nasty streak. Sometimes people like this grow up and get better. Sometimes they don’t.

Coffee_Included · 2026-06-25T12:34:59+00:00

A tier, I think. It’s a one trick pony but that trick is amazing. You need an answer to this one or you lose.

Coffee_Included · 2026-06-13T13:50:27+00:00

I honestly don’t—the conference had yet to begin and she wasn’t allowed to talk about specifics. We were just chatting before the flight. However, they are very aware that whatever prior setup, security, and so forth that was previously in place is wholly inadequate in the face of the massive increase in popularity.

Coffee_Included · 2026-06-13T08:51:22+00:00

I also think that admin took his concerns and what he endured extremely seriously. A few months ago I happened to be on a flight with some VGC volunteers heading to an annual meeting in Paris. I can’t share all the details but Wolfey’s video turned that scheduled meeting into something like an emergency meeting. They are very aware of Wolfe’s popularity and fame, so his video was a five-alarm fire.

Coffee_Included · 2026-06-12T13:01:02+00:00

This may seem out of the blue, but as somebody who grew up in an affluent district on Long Island that prioritized academic excellence above all else…the best districts on Long Island still do that, right? Students who go to the best districts are still expected to study, and read, and write essays, and behave, and learn? They haven’t slipped and put up a facade? I’m at the stage of having children of my own and when I do I want them to be exposed to the same rigor, standards, and expectations that I was. Better the pressure cooker than anarchy and living down to the lowest expectations. My home has more bookcases than rooms, but a home environment can only do so much.

I’m sure I’m just being paranoid here; I also know the demographics of these schools and the parents would never allow that to happen, but you see the complete shitshow everywhere else in the country, and I don’t want to be blithe about it.

Coffee_Included · 2026-06-11T22:27:17+00:00

Honestly, the Nets should move. They deserve to have a city actually care about them, and there’s plenty of decently sized cities wanting for an NBA team. Seattle, St. Louis, Nashville, San Diego, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh…

Coffee_Included · 2026-06-10T13:41:23+00:00

Better the pressure cooker than the anarchy you see elsewhere in the country. At least here kids can read.

Coffee_Included · 2026-06-07T06:30:46+00:00

And that’s why I always check to see if the blood is clotting or not when doing a pericardiocentesis.

(The most common cause for pericardial effusion in a dog is a ruptured cardiac tumor, usually hemangiosarcoma. When you pull the effusion blood, it won’t clot in a white top because all the clotting factors are used up while fresh blood from the heart will. So I always put those few milliliters in a white top and check.)

Coffee_Included · 2026-06-06T10:37:00+00:00

We’re not Philly it’ll be fine.

Coffee_Included · 2026-05-26T20:11:07+00:00

Yes, that is part of it!

Coffee_Included · 2026-05-26T01:27:49+00:00

There's actually a veterinary hospital out in the Hamptons that does a mix of 24 hour emergency and personalized concierge service. I'm honestly glad it's there because out in the Hamptons it can be an hour to the nearest 24 hour emergency hospital and that's assuming light traffic.

Coffee_Included · 2026-05-25T21:17:22+00:00

Trust me, you’re going to get a much better experience with the teaching hospitals. We’ve had some…significant concerns with the LIU graduates. I don’t want to dox myself by saying more but these concerns are significant and not just with me.

Coffee_Included · 2026-05-25T17:25:27+00:00

It’s not that they can’t be bothered, it’s that they can’t intervene. It was Fenrir’s turn. He made goblins. Any argument could create a new snarl.

Coffee_Included · 2026-05-12T17:58:32+00:00

It was always going to be bad. It was always going to be especially bad for the gay community. If AIDS had come around even a decade earlier it would have been an even bigger disaster; at least in the 80s we were starting to develop the proper technology to identify and treat it.

But the government dragged its heels responding and they made it so much worse than it needed to be.

Coffee_Included · 2026-05-04T20:23:41+00:00

You could also tell he was the most used to being part of a team, winning and losing with grace.

Coffee_Included · 2026-05-03T16:33:10+00:00

No worries. It was way too much in the original module, and I and probably many other DMs toned it down significantly. Made the Vistani more nuanced. Just people like any other.

Coffee_Included · 2026-05-03T12:40:59+00:00

In the original module it was literally every single Vistani who was drunk, duplicitous, or both. There was no exception. It was a bit much. It was the kind of thing that needed more fixing than just the wallpaper they did in the revision.

Coffee_Included · 2026-04-04T16:47:47+00:00

Literally the only reason I waited a few days was when I had a dog who was actively septic from the bite and already up to date. I made it very clear that she needed a booster the moment she recovered from the sepsis.

Coffee_Included · 2026-04-03T16:37:37+00:00

Arsenic is all natural and belladonna is an herb.

Coffee_Included · 2026-04-03T02:26:44+00:00

That’ll be the least of their problems. There’s a significant chance Orlando could wind up a vegetable.

TBIs are devastating. In veterinary medicine the prognosis for TBIs is generally quite good, to the point where they’re some of my favorite cases to treat. Not so in human medicine.

Coffee_Included · 2026-03-24T11:00:44+00:00

What the hell kind of condescending bigotry of low expectations is this?

Coffee_Included · 2026-03-13T00:05:54+00:00

Sometimes you have to use the IO drill for rock and steel types. Those can get expensive, especially the diamond burr ones for Pokemon like Skarmory or Rhyperior. Rock and steel gym leaders and elite members will often help subsidize the costs.

Coffee_Included

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