the ER edit

“What’s the worst thing you’ve ever seen?” is one of those questions ER nurses hear constantly, but the answer is usually a lot heavier than people expect.
This week we’re talking about the cases healthcare workers cannot forget, including devastating family moments, pediatric codes, end of life care, ethical gray areas, unexpected deaths, freak accidents, and the strange way you can walk out of something traumatic and immediately have to keep doing your job. We also get into the Grey’s Anatomy cases that stayed with us and why emergency medicine can permanently change the way you see the world.
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https://theeredit.com
Find The ER Edit episodes, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, The Whisper Line, host links, and business contact in one place.
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4Ab8DoFQ3hTyQvIE69O2YR?si=fea43e1cda3140f0
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-er-edit/id1884089840
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theERedit
Instagram: @theERedit_
TikTok: @theERedit
Business inquiries: theeredit@gmail.com
The views and opinions expressed in this episode are those of Caitlin Armstrong and Karlie Tooley and do not represent the views, policies, or positions of their current or former employers, hospitals, healthcare organizations, or any affiliated institutions. This podcast is for entertainment and general discussion purposes only and should not be considered medical advice.
00:00 What’s the Worst Thing You’ve Ever Seen?
04:05 The Sounds Nurses Never Forget
05:05 The Gunshot Patient Who Waited in Line
07:03 Cases That Still Haunt Healthcare Workers
09:15 When Doing Everything Can Hurt
12:22 Giving a Family the Worst News
16:32 What Happens After a Patient Dies
18:14 From Death Straight to the Next Code
19:28 The Seven Week Old Baby
23:07 Blood Refusal and Patient Autonomy
25:43 The Routine Procedure With No Answer
27:51 Freak Accidents Change Your Brain
31:39 The Drowning Case That Never Left
33:51 Grey’s Anatomy Cases We Still Remember
43:48 Why Healthcare Workers Carry These Stories

This week we’re getting into medical mysteries that sound completely made up but somehow aren’t. From anti NMDA receptor encephalitis and human hibernation to auto brewery syndrome, cannabinoid hyperemesis, bizarre neurological symptoms, MRI safety, and conditions medicine still does not completely understand, the human body keeps finding new ways to terrify us.
We also get into the part ER nurses know too well: sometimes the tests rule out the emergency without actually explaining what is wrong. Medicine changes, experts disagree, and sometimes getting the real answer takes a lot longer than one ER visit.
LISTEN, WATCH, FOLLOW, AND SEND US YOUR STORIES
https://theeredit.com
Find The ER Edit episodes, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, The Whisper Line, host links, and business contact in one place.
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4Ab8DoFQ3hTyQvIE69O2YR?si=fea43e1cda3140f0
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-er-edit/id1884089840
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theERedit
Instagram: @theERedit_
TikTok: @theERedit
Business inquiries: theeredit@gmail.com
The views and opinions expressed in this episode are those of Caitlin Armstrong and Karlie Tooley and do not represent the views, policies, or positions of their current or former employers, hospitals, healthcare organizations, or any affiliated institutions. This podcast is for entertainment and general discussion purposes only and should not be considered medical advice.
00:00 Medical Mysteries We Cannot Leave Alone
01:54 The Girl Who Never Aged
04:00 When “Psychosis” Is Something Else
08:52 The Voices That Found a Brain Tumor
12:22 Surviving 24 Days in the Cold
18:14 Frozen for Two Hours and Survived
19:08 Auto Brewery Syndrome Is Real
22:14 When the Brain Changes the Person
24:22 The MRI and the Hidden BB
29:22 Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome
33:39 When the Boat Feeling Never Stops
35:59 The Mystery of Morgellons Disease
37:15 When Medical Experts Disagree
40:01 What the ER Can and Cannot Solve
41:25 Why These Cases Stay With Us

Four joint replacement patients in Nashville received potassium phosphate instead of the intended spinal anesthetic, mepivacaine, and the investigation shows just how many opportunities there were for someone or something to catch the mistake. We break down the pharmacy workflow and medication safety failures, then bring back some of the wildest medication error stories we have heard before ending with a truly chaotic round of Whisper Line submissions.
LISTEN, WATCH, FOLLOW, AND SEND US YOUR STORIES
https://theeredit.com
Find The ER Edit episodes, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, The Whisper Line, host links, and business contact in one place.
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4Ab8DoFQ3hTyQvIE69O2YR?si=fea43e1cda3140f0
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-er-edit/id1884089840
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theERedit
Instagram: @theERedit_
TikTok: @theERedit
Business inquiries: theeredit@gmail.com
The views and opinions expressed in this episode are those of Caitlin Armstrong and Karlie Tooley and do not represent the views, policies, or positions of their current or former employers, hospitals, healthcare organizations, or any affiliated institutions. This podcast is for entertainment and general discussion purposes only and should not be considered medical advice.
00:00 The Nashville Potassium Phosphate Mixup
01:02 How Spinal Anesthesia Usually Works
03:39 How Did the Wrong Syringes Get There?
05:30 Potassium Phosphate Reaches the Spine
06:36 Four Patients Are Seriously Harmed
08:47 Inside the 80 Page Investigation
09:04 How the Pharmacy Error Started
11:33 Five Syringes Get the Wrong Medication
13:45 The 29 Second Verification
15:38 Why We Want to See the Vial
16:01 What Happened After the Error
18:22 The Wild Medication Errors Begin
21:25 Tap Water in a Central Line
24:28 Medication Errors We Cannot Explain
27:41 The Whisper Line Gets Wild

Niels Högel was an ICU nurse who deliberately created medical emergencies in patients and then jumped into their resuscitations, reportedly chasing the recognition that came with saving them. We break down the healthcare serial killer case, the staggering number of deaths surrounding his shifts, how another nurse finally caught him, the hospitals' response, and the uncomfortable question every healthcare worker is left with: how would you actually recognize something like this happening on your own unit?

LISTEN, WATCH, FOLLOW, AND SEND US YOUR STORIES

https://theeredit.com

Find The ER Edit episodes, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, The Whisper Line, host links, and business contact in one place.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4Ab8DoFQ3hTyQvIE69O2YR?si=fea43e1cda3140f0

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-er-edit/id1884089840

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theERedit

Instagram: @theERedit_

TikTok: @theERedit

Business inquiries: theeredit@gmail.com

The views and opinions expressed in this episode are those of Caitlin Armstrong and Karlie Tooley and do not represent the views, policies, or positions of their current or former employers, hospitals, healthcare organizations, or any affiliated institutions. This podcast is for entertainment and general discussion purposes only and should not be considered medical advice.

00:00 A Nurse Who Created His Own Emergencies
00:31 Another Healthcare True Crime Case
01:08 Who Was Niels Högel?
02:37 Coworkers Notice a Terrifying Pattern
03:45 The Hospital Lets Him Leave
04:26 321 Deaths Around His Shifts
06:44 Why They Called Him Resuscitation Rambo
08:33 How Did He Choose His Patients?
13:18 A Nurse Finally Catches Him
15:10 Families Start Asking Questions
17:54 How Did the Hospitals Miss This?
21:16 Hospital Accountability vs Nurse Responsibility
26:48 His Motive Was Recognition
28:43 Sociopath vs Psychopath
36:20 How Healthcare Serial Killers Can Hide

Nurses! You Need this book! pick up a copy of "Chart Like a Lawyer" here: https://amzn.to/4guzGvz
We are reading some of the wildest things nurses and doctors have actually put in patient charts, from unhinged triage notes and direct patient quotes to dictation disasters, copy and paste mistakes, questionable physician comments, and truly chaotic documentation. Then it gets a little too real when we start questioning our own charting, how much nurses should actually document, and what happens when that medical record becomes legal evidence.

LISTEN, WATCH, FOLLOW, AND SEND US YOUR STORIES

https://theeredit.com

Find The ER Edit episodes, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, The Whisper Line, host links, and business contact in one place.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4Ab8DoFQ3hTyQvIE69O2YR?si=fea43e1cda3140f0

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-er-edit/id1884089840

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theERedit

Instagram: @theERedit_

TikTok: @theERedit

Business inquiries: theeredit@gmail.com

The views and opinions expressed in this episode are those of Caitlin Armstrong and Karlie Tooley and do not represent the views, policies, or positions of their current or former employers, hospitals, healthcare organizations, or any affiliated institutions. This podcast is for entertainment and general discussion purposes only and should not be considered medical advice.

00:00 Why Nurses Love a Good Triage Note
01:47 This Is Definitely Not a Charting Lesson
03:16 The Wildest Notes From Medical Charts
04:21 When Physician Dictation Goes Very Wrong
05:39 Dark Humor Somehow Made the Chart
08:11 Heroic Notes and Questionable Follow Ups
11:22 Direct Patient Quotes Are Forever
14:00 Gen Z Has Entered Triage
15:27 How Much Should Nurses Actually Free Text?
16:40 When Documentation Becomes Legal Evidence
20:30 The Patient Quotes Nurses Never Forget
21:39 When Patients Make It Personal
24:13 The Blue Eyed Devil Story
28:02 Copy and Paste Charting Nightmares
31:15 Doctors Say the Wildest Things