More Independence Day mishaps as told by E.R. staff.
ENJOY and have a FUN and SAFE 4th!
Firecrackers and cake.
Some years ago, a Fourth of July prank led to a trip to the emergency room for a group of teenagers in New York City. During a party, the teens had decorated a cake festively for their Independence Day celebration — with sparklers. However, one of the sparklers was actually a firecracker ...
According to the E.R. physician, after the blast, the group of teens took an Uber to the emergency room, where they were treated for minor injuries such as facial abrasions and a ruptured eardrum. When they arrived at the hospital, they were covered in cake along with red, white, and blue icing, because they didn't think to stop and wipe it off before they left, Luckily, no one suffered injuries to their eyes because they were all wearing googles as they were planning to spray each other with champagne after they "lit" the cake.
Pistols and Saggy Britches.
A nurse tells the story of the year she had a GSW victim from a fireworks stand. The victim was a big, young, Southern dude, and he was the owner of the stand. He was showing people around, restocking the tables, etc. Well, he had a pistol in the right pocket of his jeans, instead of a holster. Apparently, he didn't wear a belt that day and his jeans started to fall down as he was walking. So, he went to "hitch up his britches", grabbed his jeans while simultaneously putting his finger through the trigger guard, pulled his pants up, and fired a 9mm round into his thigh. Luckily, he missed his femoral artery, but he did break his femur; he was sent up to the floor to await the O.R. the next morning.
Alcohol and bad choices.
Another nurse shares the time when they had three people from a rollover MVC show up in the E.R. on the 4th of July. The backseat passenger was drunk and thought it would be funny to light off multiple fireworks in the car while they were driving. The driver, understandably startled, swerved, then overcorrected and flipped the car. The occupants of the vehicle came in with a combination of burns and ortho injuries along with the drunk idiot from the backseat.
For more stories like this one, pick up a copy of Off the Chart A Nurse's Journey of Heart and Humor at https://amzn.to/3RHn0nm
...and stay safe!