30 of the Creepiest Things Seen by Healthcare Professionals

‘I witnessed a patient of mine pull out his catheter’
30 of the Creepiest Things Seen by Healthcare Professionals

It doesn’t take much to make a hospital creepy. Seeing a flicker of the lights or hearing an ill-timed scream is enough to spook even the hardiest among us. But there are genuinely terrifying sights to behold, too — sometimes, literally. One Redditor, for instance, walked into the morgue to find someone holding a man’s eye in her hand and removing the cornea for a donor transplant while the nerve was still attached to the body’s head. Jeepers creepers, amirite? 

Other healthcare professionals on Reddit have recalled the most spine-tingling, haunting things they’ve witnessed during their careers, and you definitely shouldn’t read this before bed.

IlIStickToTheShadows 3y ago BSN, RN Idk man.. walking into a room where a patient took his eye out or walking into a room where the neighbor of a restrained patient lit his bed on fire are definitely two that come to mind 2 ...
chocomuggles98 3y ago Nursing Student When I was working as a home health CNA, my patient pointed out the window to a tree in his backyard, and told me he had a body buried there. I'll never know if he was being serious because he had Alzheimer's/ dementia. Не kept talking about it too for a few minutes, then never brought it up again. Very strange. 8 ...
Xiaco9020 3y ago RN When I asked an 80 year old woman who needed a foley it she'd rather have a female do it (I'm a male) and she said she'd rather I did it because she hadn't had any action in years. Or the time I did a fake exorcism on a patient because he said satan was in him and needed to get the demons out during a night shift. + 16 ...
AlexlsSociallylnept . 3y ago While I was doing my OB rotation I met a lactation consultant that said she breastfed her eight year old. My preceptor and I both turned to each other and shared a look of shock. + 34 ...
jesuisunnomade 9y ago Not me but I knew a guy in EMT who had to transport a body in the ambulance. While he sat next to it, the dead man proceeded to fart then let out a deep sigh, while the man was still dead. Не said there was no resurrection, but just some scary freaky shit. + 39 Share ...
Shenaniganz08 9y ago Actual MD here Nastiest thing was during my MS3 surgery rotation a homeless diabetic person who had maggots eating away at his feet and legs when we took off his boots. I had a mask on and managed to vomit inside of it from the stench, then vomit from gagging on my vomit. Drunk, combative, foul smelling adults... just another reason why I love being a Pediatrician 35 Share ...
Laser_Disc_Hot_Dish 9y ago Hope this isn't too late, and I'm not a doctor, but I have a few family members who are. One creepy story I'll never forget was a 90 something year old man who absolutely refused assisted living. This old man ended up falling and didn't have a life alert thing or anything and crawled across the carpet to his try and reach his phone which was very far away at the other end of this big carpeted living room. Apparently he was just in his underwear and when the family found him he had carpet-burned off his
WearJunior9739 3y ago Edited 3y ago Back when I was still a tech I had a psych patient that would pace the hallways preaching like a televangelist to no one in particular, and occasionally wander back to his room and sit quietly. I was doing my 15 min checks after everyone had gone to bed and he was still pacing and preaching, ignoring me, but eventually went back to his room and suddenly made the loudest demon noises like something out of the exorcist when I was right outside his door, startled the shit out of me. I asked him
٠٥١ tiny_pandacakes 3y ago BSN, RN I was rounding on an elderly patient on the overnight shift. She was maybe 80-85 years old. She had some issues from a stroke but was generally pretty coherent and with it. She is laying down but opens her eyes wide and looks right at me when I enter. She says The devil is in this room. I'm not religious but I promptly walked out after I checked on her. Nope, поре, not today satan. 19 ...
WeathersRabbits 9y ago I watched a patient's heart stop on the monitor once. There are false alarms sometimes of course. However, I was experienced enough to know that it was true alarm. I called the nurse and told her she might want to check the patient. I remember her laughing nervously to tell me that she was talking with the patient at that moment so she could not possibly be dying. I could even hear the patient talking to her cheerfully in the background. I double checked the monitor and saw a few beats here and there and looooong lines.
Pink_Raku 9y ago While I was in nursing school I did rotations in a small ER. We had done compressions on a full arrest for quite a while and the doctor finally called it. Afterwards they called it I was asked to do post mortem care. As I was rolling the patient with a coworker, the patient was rolled towards me and almost up against my body as the nurse cleaned her backside. At that moment she began to vomit and she kept vomiting, all over my white scrubs. Vomit sucks. But a dead lady vomiting on you takes it
BFlocka 9y ago Edited 9y ago Not me, but a family friend who was an EMT got a call that a dead homeless man was found in the woods. When he went to retrieve the guy' body, they found that it had been partially eaten by something. Не says there were organs trailing in different directions all around the body. + 215 Share ...
JulietsDisco 9y ago Nurse here. Once I had a hospice patient. I went in to check on them and asked if they wanted breakfast. They said no, I'm dying. After a few minutes of assessments and small talk I went to get their pain medication. I was gone for ten minutes. When I got back they were indeed dead. The creepy part is that their watch has stopped 5 minutes before I entered he room. A regular quartz watch. I was only gone for 10 minutes... I can't explain. Also, I checked, the pin was in the watch so he
9y ago A woman with schizophrenia had the delusion that men were ejaculating on her head constantly. So, she would smash her noggin with rocks when available to purify herself. The repair I saw, one of many as it turns out, as this was something she did frequently, required neurosurgery (for the skull cranioplastic prosthetic for the ruined skin and bone) and plastic surgery (to bring the skin together just right). She had a helmet for as long as I knew her. I have never encountered as severe a case of self harm, excepting suicides, as this woman.
ScalpEm316 9y ago Medical student. While on my Psych rotation, came across an individual who was a chemistry graduate student. Apparently he had been taking astronomical amounts of ketamine, and he was just continuously disassociated. For the entire time I was on this portion of the rotation (3 weeks) I never heard him speak a word. 95% of the time we was wrapped up in his sheets like a mummy and he would just periodically laugh, a crazy soft chuckle, from under his covers if you tried to talk to him. The creepiest laugh I've ever heard, I'll never forget
Traumajunkie971 . 9y ago Not a doc but im an EMT, Honestly old demented women holding baby dolls. They pet em and shit, that baby is REAL to them....freaks me the hell out. + 1.7K Share ...
Allison_1derlnd 9y ago Obligatory not a doctor statement, but I work in a nursing home. I wouldn't say it's the creepiest thing EVER, but I once had a patient who was hallucinating and kept talking about the person behind me. I knew he was hallucinating but I'm not gonna say I didn't turn around and check a few times... + 1.6K Share ...
Doc-in-a-box 9y ago Motorcycle driver, accident, 3rd degree burns, arrived DOA. Had to transfer him from ambulance gurney to ER bed. As we were moving him with a transfer sheet, the liquefied/cooked subcutaneous fat caused the charred skin on his back to separate and his body slipped onto the floor (despite several of us trying to catch him). 1.1K Share ...
Antarcticat 3y ago I was working at a hospital in SF in the pathology lab. I needed to go upstairs to pick up specimens from the OR one morning, so I walked down the hallway and turned the corner to the elevator. As I did, I saw a hospital engineer (you can tell by the clothing) enter the elevator and the door closed. I pushed the up arrow and the door immediately opened. No one was inside. Needless to say, I took the stairs. + 56 ...
Catchsargar E 3y ago I witnessed a patient of mine pull out his catheter. With the balloon fully inflated. Не made no facial expression. Не was out of his mind. It took 3 of us to get him restrained after that. 141 ...
Ephy_Chan 9y ago Not a doctor, but I work in a personal care home. We used to have a resident who would constantly yell out 'hello', drove us a bit bonkers. After he passed away a lady moved into the room. One night I was working a double, evening to nights, she pulled her call bell. I went in and she asked me to make him stop. Make who stop what? The old man standing beside the bed, he won't stop yelling hello. + 3.3K Share ...
MarijadderallMD 3y ago Walked into the morgue one time to find someone holding a guys eye in her hand, still attached to the bodies head by the nerve, and was removing the cornea for a donor transplant into a living person. I looked outside the door, leaned back in and said you know there's a slider out here that says 'in use' right? Then slid it to in use and left to come back after she was done lol. + 373 ...
3y ago Dead mouse in patient's shoe She had neuropathy in her feet and couldnt feel anything, including weeping ulcers covering both feet, gangrenous toes and apparently a less-than- recently deceased mouse. A few small amputations, 2 months of IV antibiotics and many wound dressings later, all was well again. There should be a Foot Watchers group for diabetics to check each other's feet using the buddy system. Neuropathy is serious business. 484 ...
PsychologicalBus7357 3y ago I am an ICU Nurse. I had a patient who was declared brain stem dead. The family did not want him to become an organ donor so we withdrew treatment. I switched off the ventilator, pumps etc and extubated the patient. A few moments later the patient displayed Lazarus Sign which is a reflex that causes the patient to raise their arms in the air. I was by no means new to the role but this really scared me as I had never even heard of it let alone witnesses it. + 995 ...
sadtrombone_ 9y ago ER Nurse here. Was doing CPR on a lady whose heart had stopped. They initially rolled her into the room unconscious and not breathing. This lady is pretty much dead. However, in the middle of doing chest compressions, her hands reach up and grasp my wrists and then fall back to hanging off the table. We never got her back. + 5.2K Share ...
bluegraypurple 9y ago When I was on an ER rotation during med school we got a call about a 23 year old woman who was shot in the head, and who was already completely gone, but was reportedly 5 months pregnant so they were doing CPR until they got her to the hospital to see if the baby was viable. They got her to the ER and did an ultrasound and turned about baby was full term and they did a C-section in like under a minute and got the baby out. I don't think it's so incredibly uncommon but
ScalpEm316 9y ago Medical student. While on my Psych rotation, came across an individual who was a chemistry graduate student. Apparently he had been taking astronomical amounts of ketamine, and he was just continuously disassociated. For the entire time I was on this portion of the rotation (3 weeks) I never heard him speak a word. 95% of the time we was wrapped up in his sheets like a mummy and he would just periodically laugh, a crazy soft chuckle, from under his covers if you tried to talk to him. The creepiest laugh I've ever heard, I'll never forget
psychotherapistthrow 9y ago Edited 9y ago I work as a psychotherapist in a hospital system. My definition of creepy is probably quite a bit different from other medical professionals. The one that got to me the most was a patient who came to us after attempting suicide by sawing both his arms off at the forearm with a table saw. His arms were reattached, fairly successfully too, with only limited impairments in mobility. All I could think was how bad it would have to be to live in his head that sawing his arms off seemed better than that. Не
bluegraypurple E 9y ago Saw a lady once who had gotten high on something and chewed off her lips. + 1.9K Share ...
toddfredd 3y ago We had to move a female resident as far away from the doors as possible. They were alarmed and when they went off she would start crying and shaking. She was from Russia and lived through World War Two and alarms and loud noises really affected her. She would never speak about it. + 60 ...

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