Scared and Angry — Spent Hours in Emergency Room

Gatekeeper · October 25, 2003, 03:19

Everyone:

I was part of a group touring a Halloween attraction when, stumbling about in pitch blackness in a maze of sorts, I tripped over something on the floor and came down on a nail.

It tore a 2-inch gaping slash on my calf. God. There wasn't so much pain as there was blood flowing everywhere (puddling, really), and pieces of fat were torn out as well.

I ended up in the emergency room for nearly three hours. Had a tetanus shot, multiple novacain injections, twelve sutures and will now spend the next 10 to 12 days nurturing a still-seeping wound (doc said that was to be expected for 24 hours or so) that's going to leave a roughly 2-inch "ridged" scar of sorts. My leg is still throbbing, and will likely continue to do so for some time.

I have to watch for infection, but mainly avoid it by changing my bandages three times a day and, before applying new ones, use anti-bacterial spray on the wound (letting it dry before applying the new bandages).

Talk about a terrible night. I had plans on enjoying the Halloween attraction and then going to a movie. Struck out twice. All I can say is at least it wasn't worse, and that everyone involved has insurance.

One more thing. My suffering was put in perspective when I saw a woman being wheeled out in a gurney, an IV drip attached to her. She appeared to be unconscious.

Still, I'm scared and angry.

Gatekeeper

Ted Striker · October 25, 2003, 03:20

OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW WWW

Dis · October 25, 2003, 03:23

lawsuit time

Gatekeeper · October 25, 2003, 03:23

Yeah, tell me about it. I'm watching spots of blood dot the bandages now. Good grief.

Ted Striker · October 25, 2003, 03:30

well just be thankful it wasn't YOUR BALLS

Nubclear · October 25, 2003, 03:31

Ouch.
Just be thankful it wasnt more serious. Many people do fall on nails and much graver consequences come from it. All you have to deal with it pain.
(Apathetic, I know, but...

)

Imran Siddiqui · October 25, 2003, 03:32

Sue 'em

.

Nubclear · October 25, 2003, 03:33

Yeah. Sue them into the ground.

Gatekeeper · October 25, 2003, 03:39

Heh. Yeah, at least it wasn't my ball sac that got torn open. :shudders:

As for legal action ... well, all I care about right now is healing and getting the insurance straightened out. If they (i.e. attraction operators) play nice (and I prey, er, pray they do), it'll simply be a matter of two insurance companies settling things out and possibly reimbursing me for up-front costs.

Gatekeeper

Imran Siddiqui · October 25, 2003, 03:42

Sue 'em anyway

. Help out your friendly neighborhood attorney

.

Gatekeeper · October 25, 2003, 03:49

Hey, aren't you in training to become a barrister?

alva · October 25, 2003, 04:20

[slightly russian accent]

AMéRjICA..., what a couwntry !!

Skanky Burns · October 25, 2003, 06:38

Sorry to hear about that, hope the pain goes soon.

Bereta_Eder · October 25, 2003, 08:15

Get well soon. And if you fancy you can hire Imran to handle the lawsuit. Free of charge of course since he'll be practising. As long as you don't end up in jail, it will benefit both sides

Stefu · October 25, 2003, 08:18

LAWSUITE!11!!!!

Spiffor · October 25, 2003, 08:20

ouch. That must hurt

But what exactly is a "gurney" ?

MichaeltheGreat · October 25, 2003, 13:00

It's the sort of wheeled stretcher with a matress and side rails that you use to transport patients in and out of surgery or from one be to another.

MichaeltheGreat · October 25, 2003, 13:12

Gatekeeper - it would have been hard to land on your schlong or scrotum on something like that, but damn, if you're landed on your side or ribcage or face, you'd have been in a real world of hurt.

Best/worst thing I ever saw in an emergency room for keeping stuff in perspective is one of the times I broke my wrist - it was a pretty nasty break, and the wrist swelled up larger than my upper arm, and I was ignored, because all the on-call orthopedist types were busy down the hall, where some very loud screaming was going on.

I could see the exam room next door (now empty because they'd hauled the guy elsewhere) and the x-ray films. This dumbass was a construction worker who'd broken his leg (femur) in a skiing accident a few weeks before, and had a fairly minor original fracture - you could see the little white line on the xray just fine. That wasn't a problem. What was a problem was that the dumbass had gone back to a construction site where he was working, gotten up on a scaffold, then fell 15 feet and refractured his femur - inside the cast. THAT fracture was a bit more visible, as the bone was split clean through, both pieces sharp like spearpoints, and a couple of inches apart. The screaming was because they were having to saw the cast off of him.

For some reason, my wrist really didn't hurt much after that.

Shi Huangdi · October 25, 2003, 13:53

LAWSUIT! LAWSUIT! LAWSUIT!

Sue 'em, that way you can be compensated for pain and suffering + punitive damage.

Gatekeeper · October 25, 2003, 14:45

Quote:

Originally posted by Skanky Burns
Sorry to hear about that, hope the pain goes soon.

Y'know, that's the strange thing. Aside from the few minutes right after the incident, there really wasn't any "searing" pain. At the ER, they had a pain scale of 1 to 10 (with the 1 being "no pain" and 10 being "excruciating pain"), and I rated myself at 3 (slightly below moderate pain ... well, somewhere around there).

I also got to change my bandages for the first time today. Suffice to say, they were bloody, but the seeping seems to have largely stopped (but the wound is still raw-looking, stitched or not). I applied some of that greenish anti-bacterial goop that hospitals use (but I picked mine up at the store), let it dry, then applied two new bandages that, as I write this, have no blood stains on them. That's a good sign, IMO.

Gatekeeper

Gatekeeper · October 25, 2003, 14:52

Quote:

Originally posted by MichaeltheGreat
Gatekeeper - it would have been hard to land on your schlong or scrotum on something like that, but damn, if you're landed on your side or ribcage or face, you'd have been in a real world of hurt.

Yeah, I was just playing along to a degree in regards to the schlong/scrotum part.

Boy, if I'd landed on my side, undoubtably there could have been damage to a rib or lung if the nail had gone in deep enough. And my face? I don't even want to think about that. Thank goodness, too, that the tear only went deep into the fat layer ... just missed the muscle. Doc said that if it'd gone into the muscle, I would have needed two types of sutures — one to hold the muscle layer together, and another to hold the fat/skin layer together.

Quote:

Best/worst thing I ever saw in an emergency room for keeping stuff in perspective is one of the times I broke my wrist - it was a pretty nasty break, and the wrist swelled up larger than my upper arm, and I was ignored, because all the on-call orthopedist types were busy down the hall, where some very loud screaming was going on.

I could see the exam room next door (now empty because they'd hauled the guy elsewhere) and the x-ray films. This dumbass was a construction worker who'd broken his leg (femur) in a skiing accident a few weeks before, and had a fairly minor original fracture - you could see the little white line on the xray just fine. That wasn't a problem. What was a problem was that the dumbass had gone back to a construction site where he was working, gotten up on a scaffold, then fell 15 feet and refractured his femur - inside the cast. THAT fracture was a bit more visible, as the bone was split clean through, both pieces sharp like spearpoints, and a couple of inches apart. The screaming was because they were having to saw the cast off of him.

For some reason, my wrist really didn't hurt much after that.

Those kinds of breaks are the absolute *worst* from what I understand. What I don't get is why the guy went back to work wearing a cast. That's just not smart. "Dumbass" is certainly the correct term to use in describing him.

Gatekeeper

Gatekeeper · October 25, 2003, 14:56

Quote:

Originally posted by Shi Huangdi
LAWSUIT! LAWSUIT! LAWSUIT!

Sue 'em, that way you can be compensated for pain and suffering + punitive damage.

I'm curious. If what happened to me happened to my fellow 'Poly members who are talking about lawsuits, would you really file a lawsuit right away? Or is this just a kind of "wink and a nod" type of situation?

I mean, right now I just want to heal, and have my insurance handle things (and, if I have to pay anything, to get reimbursed).

Gatekeeper

Gatekeeper · October 25, 2003, 15:03

Quote:

Originally posted by paiktis22
Get well soon. And if you fancy you can hire Imran to handle the lawsuit. Free of charge of course since he'll be practising. As long as you don't end up in jail, it will benefit both sides

Heh. I plan on getting well over the next 10 to 12 days, and, frankly, legal action isn't exactly on my mind right now. I guess I'm not the type to call a lawyer right away (partly because it's a weekend, partly because I want to see how insurance deals with this and partly because, from what I can tell, it was a genuine accident). But, boy, if health complications arise from this, then all bets are off the table.

A good sign is that my blood sugar levels are within my acceptable range. If my body was really stressed out —*either from the wound or infection spreading from it —*then the BS readings would be higher than expected. Of course, it's been less than 24 hours since the accident. Things may or may not get worse, but they sure as heck better get better.

Gatekeeper

Spiffor · October 25, 2003, 15:06

Quote:

Originally posted by Gatekeeper
I'm curious. If what happened to me happened to my fellow 'Poly members who are talking about lawsuits, would you really file a lawsuit right away? Or is this just a kind of "wink and a nod" type of situation?

I personally wouldn't sue. But I'd expect whomever is responsible for the nail to apologize profusingly, reimburse whatever I have paid to him, and to pay any related cost that is not taken in charge by the welfare system.

Imran Siddiqui · October 25, 2003, 15:11

Quote:

would you really file a lawsuit right away

Naw... wait to see if they offer you anything first. Having a nail stick up in a Halloween attraction is definetly negligent

.

Gatekeeper · October 25, 2003, 15:13

Spiffor:

That's how I feel right now, too. The operators apologized last night and drove me to the ER. Afterwards, one came back after the attraction had closed to check on me. I just want to be reimbursed for upfront costs, heal, and be done with it.

Life is fraught with risks. Heh. My number came up last night for a bit of a reality jolt in that area.

Gatekeeper

Gatekeeper · October 25, 2003, 15:15

Quote:

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui

Quote:

would you really file a lawsuit right away

Naw... wait to see if they offer you anything first. Having a nail stick up in a Halloween attraction is definetly negligent

.

They're going to call me Monday, that's all I know right now. According to the guy I talked to, they think a group before mine went through the dark maze, and someone knocked the nail-bearing concrete/wood chunk over onto the floor. Then I came along, stumbling about blindly and, well, the rest is history.

Gatekeeper

Nubclear · October 25, 2003, 15:28

Gatekeeper: Your a capitalist!!! Sue him for all hes worth and MORE!!!

MichaeltheGreat · October 25, 2003, 15:36

Quote:

Originally posted by Gatekeeper

I'm curious. If what happened to me happened to my fellow 'Poly members who are talking about lawsuits, would you really file a lawsuit right away? Or is this just a kind of "wink and a nod" type of situation?

I mean, right now I just want to heal, and have my insurance handle things (and, if I have to pay anything, to get reimbursed).

Gatekeeper

My attitude is (a) they were clearly negligent; (b) somebody could have been really messed up, everyone was just relatively lucky; (c) they have insurance; (d) the second a lawyer comes sniffing around, or very shortly after, they'll want to write you a check to go away, as long as they can write you a reasonable check and make you go away; (e) unless you're already rolling in dough, that could make for a nice supplement to your savings account, pay for a nice shiny new toy of some kind, or otherwise be something nice and useful to you to make up for the irritation and pain in the calf.

Is it worth investing a huge amount of your time, money or effort - clearly not, but should they get away with potentially lethal stupidity?

Stick it to 'em.

Just don't get caught up in it irrationally.

************

Oh - and they're going to call you to try to **** you over.

This is not a friendly, "Gee, we're sorry, how ya doin' ol' buddy?" chat, despite any pretense to the contrary. This is a "spin anything this dumb greedy mother****er says so you can use it as evidence he's not in pain, hasn't suffered, won't have any losses, so if the dumb bastard does get some ambulance chaser, we can stick his statements up his ass later" chat.

In other words, make sure you hurt at least moderately, it's a pain in the ass to change your bandages, you're nauseous at the sight of that gooey stuff that oozed from your leg and you almost puked on the wound, you limp when you can walk around, and you have a hard time concentrating at work, let along getting there and home.

They (if they're smart) try to talk to you in a way to get you to minimize what happened, so you have to ratchet it up. If they ask if you plan to sue or have a lawyer, tell them you haven't decided yet, because the pain and general irritation has taken up more of your attention and you really haven't had the energy or time to make a decision yet.

Only complete morons will ever offer you something, because if you didn't have the idea of suing them and making

in your fertile little mind, why should they plant the seed?

Ted Striker · October 25, 2003, 15:38

MTG = attorney Larry H. Parker