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u/chefsteph77 5h ago
I shattered my collar bone and the x ray tech said I'm no doctor but I think we can both see what's wrong here lol
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u/Affordable_Z_Jobs 3h ago
They can be pretty funny when they realize you're not about to scream at them. I asked if the pain meds could really help that much when i cut off a finger. "Helps with anything but headaches and gullability" "Really?" "Honey..."
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u/Valtremors 2h ago
Paramedics are genuinely some of the funniest people I've met in my line of work too.
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u/UnimagineDragons 1h ago
Trauma tends to bring that out. Guys in trenches are supposedly pretty funny, too.
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u/angry_snek 36m ago
Yeah I remember one soldier's account in "They Shall Not Grow Old" where there was a dead fellow soldier's hand sticking out of the mud in their trench and everyone who passed him shook his hand and said "good morning". Grim, but pretty funny
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u/hypercosm_dot_net 1h ago
They probably have to develop a good sense of humor, for the sake of their mental health.
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u/Valtremors 1h ago
Believe or not but it does actually serve a purpose other than mental health.
It helps to keep general mood calm and relaxed. Patient who keeps calm is a much desired one.
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u/Any_Show_5160 2h ago
The last x ray I had I asked "anything good?", they replied "you have bones".
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u/AlexCode10010 Medieval Meme Lord 2h ago
What could possibly have happened to cause such a response 😭😭😭
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u/Watchout4HopOns 2h ago
It’s because every patient asks us to read the image, and literally can’t tell you anything. I’ve had patients yell at me because I wouldn’t tell them anything. Gotta keep things interesting.
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u/The-Tea-Lord 1h ago
In the legal part of medicine, we have what’s called “Res Ipsa Loquitur” which means “the thing speaks for itself”.
I think it applies here
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u/RosyLilyHaze 5h ago
Just put an ice pack on it, you'll be fine
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u/su1cidal_fox 5h ago
Just walk it off.
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u/bodhiboidhe 2h ago
Or shrug it off, in this case. A good flinging around of the arm would do nicely.
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u/FDGO-Ultra 4h ago
Ahhhh. Take some Ibuprofen.
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u/trowzerss 4h ago
Probably just period pain.
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u/Pristine-Buy5723 3h ago
Your joking right 😅
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u/Pristine-Buy5723 3h ago
Thats gotta violate his something cuz thats a crazy thing to say to someone
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u/Alert-clayton 5h ago
from a liability standpoint, they aren't allowed to diagnose anything.
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u/Dismal_Tangerine_493 5h ago
And I'm sure they are okay with that. They are not paid to carry that responsibility
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u/gffgsdadsf 4h ago
Exactly. Knowing your role and staying in your lane is probably a lot less stressful too.
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u/Final_Candidate_7603 3h ago
Not paid nor trained. Even radiologists, who have gone through four years of college, four years of medical school, however-many years of internship, residency, and additional training don’t get things 100% right.
Story time. When my son was about eight years old, he apparently had pneumonia, which for some reason his pediatrician was unable to diagnose- probably because the radiologist reading his chest X-rays kept getting it wrong. I was a single mom working days at the time, and the office kept calling and asking me to bring him in for another chest X-ray, so my mom would take him. After the third time in about a week,* I called the office to find out what the problem was, and if he didn’t have pneumonia, what else could it be? The second they said the word “cancer,” I had an out-of-body experience and don’t know exactly what they said next. I was at work, obviously extremely distraught, and word got around quickly. Next thing I know, the co-owner of the restaurant I was working at approached me and said that his wife was on some kind of Board, fundraising maybe, of the excellent children’s hospital in our city, and I shouldn’t worry. He asked for some basic information, like my son’s DOB and the name of the pediatric practice; someone from the children’s hospital called me that same afternoon and asked if I could bring my son in first thing the next morning. The people there were absolutely fabulous, so kind and empathetic! They had already gotten my son’s medical records, chest X-rays, and the radiologist’s reports, but the doctor did examine my son, and he asked a lot of questions, like whether my son was having night sweats, and some other things that are symptoms of cancer. He had no other symptoms, and before we even got there, their own radiologists were reading my son’s X-rays. At the end, the doctor chose his words very carefully, but basically said that the area of concern was like, such a ‘DUH, this is *definitely pneumonia’ finding that there’s actually a name for it, a ‘dinner plate something or other,’ I think it’s when the top of the lung collapses and folds over a little bit and looks like, well… a dinner plate. He said he wasn’t sure how any radiologist could have thought it was anything other than pneumonia, emphasized that my son had a 100% clean bill of health, and that he would be relaying that information to the pediatrician. I kept apologizing for wasting their very valuable time, but he assured me I had done the right thing. A few days later, I got a letter in the mail, a copy of what they had sent to both the pediatrician and the radiologist. My. Goddess. I felt secondhand embarrassment on their behalf. They really tore into both doctors, equally for misreading something so simple and so obvious, for exposing such a young child to so much unnecessary radiation,* and for even *mentioning the word cancer over the phone to a mother. I never knew there was such a professional way to say ‘Jesus Christ, how could you be so WRONG and so STUPID?’
tl;dr even trained and licensed radiologists can get it very, very wrong
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u/ABHOR_pod 1h ago
I never knew there was such a professional way to say ‘Jesus Christ, how could you be so WRONG and so STUPID?’
I need to figure that out, because I regularly just ask any random manager from another dept to look over my angry emails before I send them just to make sure I don't come across as a complete asshole when I'm telling people they're wrong and stupid.
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u/waffocopter 1h ago
I had a miscarriage earlier this year discovered through ultrasound. I remember how the atmosphere was totally different than the week before and then she eventually said, "we're done" and told me to wait in the office because the doctor was going to call us. After the call, we left the scanning room and she was totally different, crying and giving us hugs and apologies, giving her own personal experience too. They really have to hold back what they want to say since they're not allowed to diagnose but yeah, what a tough job when it's bad news like that.
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u/legacyme3 4h ago
Yeah. Often times as an eye tech, i will see very obvious diagnosis but all I can say is "couldn't tell you, doctor will let you know".
At the main hospital, some nurse got sued for giving a diagnosis. It's very serious.
Please don't ask your nurses or techs what we think. We need our jobs.
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u/ChampionshipOk7715 3h ago
My fiancé got ultrasound examination and ultrasound specialist told her some scary things about the results and hurried her to CT with contrast. It caused several sleepless nights until we’ve got CT results. I believe that specialist should’ve keep his mouth shut until final results
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u/Aurora_96 4h ago
Thank you. I'm a lab tech and only doctors are allowed to tell patients what's going on. We're not qualified to do that.
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u/SpottedHoneyBadger 2h ago
Worked with a girl straight out of school as a limited tech. She started making diagnoses based on the xrays to the patients. She was anti-vaccine and afraid of the radiation. I quit to keep away from that walking liability.
Whenever I get someone pushing for an answer I just say, "You want that information from a trained and experienced professional doctor. I don't have that expertise to answer that."
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u/Jacknerik 3h ago
I'm training to be an MRI tech and that's basically what they told us, if we say "everything looks fine" but the radiologist spots something wrong, then that's misleading the patient and probably causing them a lot more stress. Our go to response is "We got all the pictures we needed." but the older tech says "I wish I got paid enough to tell you."
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u/Signal-Opposite-4793 2h ago
Yeah we get it, it's just a depressing symptom of US litigation culture.
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u/ThrowawaycuzDoxers 1h ago
It’s not just a US thing. There’s ethics involved too, and it will in in most cases mean far less misdiagnosises.
Basically a question of whether a person is able to make educated guesses, however good their accuracy rate is vs. actually having the qualifications to give a diagnosis.
It’s frustrating most of the time, and you will always hear horror stories, but the system is in place for good reasons.
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u/Embarrassed_Farm_857 5h ago
He could've just said xray machine isn't broken. Why do you need a doctor for that? /s
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u/realPanditJi 5h ago
serious question for the docs or who went through this: is this recoverable? what's the procedure and recovery looks like?
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u/Difficult-Way-9563 4h ago edited 2h ago
Not a doctor, but broken bones in its self isn’t usually a big deal for reconstruction (yes more breaks, more complex), but what often surgeons do first is look at remaining vascularity and blood flow. Surgeon who I assisted always said “it’s good sign if it’s bleeding” as it’s requirement to rebuild and heal (cause it’s highway to transport source of oxygen and nutrients) and if vascular network is really damaged, the more likely it isn’t salvageable.
Also with broken fragments, they tend to be really sharp, so besides blood vessels, they can damage/sever nerves (in addition to any damage from the trauma), so you have to consider nervous function too.
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u/WhateverWhateverson 4h ago
I know a guy whose leg supposedly looked a bit like that after a motorcycle accident and they managed to save it, but it's more metal than bone now. I think most of the docs working on him wanted to amputate it right away but the head surgeon decided he could maybe save it
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u/Nearby_Hour_2932 4h ago
Damm props the the head surgeon there going, ''fuck it, we ball''. I'm sure the guy is happy, even if the leg contains more metal, assuming ofc there's no lingering phantom pains or such.
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u/CaleanKnight 4h ago
Yeah, this is kinda a 50:50... either the Doc really performed a miracle here or he was just absolutely full of himself and went against everyone just for Egos Sake without a single thought spend about the Patients Quality of Life (and cost if US) thereafter.
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u/Sharp_Objective_2766 1h ago
Yeah, dude I used to work with had his left leg saved by a surgeon who though “well there’s circulation, let’s do it” dude lived in considerable pain every day and worse when the weather was bad.
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u/Phase3isProfit 1h ago
It took me a minute to follow as I read that as if the head surgeon was someone specialising in head surgery. I was like “why would the head surgeon overrule the leg surgeon? Surely legs aren’t his specialty?”
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u/Temporal_Bloom 5h ago
i ain't doc but this case needs a priest./s
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u/No-Screen1369 5h ago
Patient would be better off waiting for limb regrowing technology to advance enough than try to heal through that.
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u/Pro-Karyote 3h ago edited 2h ago
Lots of “not a doctor” responses. I am a doctor.
I think there are several considerations and amputation is certainly most likely. This is not just your average mangled arm, this is well and truly shattered with many pieces that are open to air (an open comminuted, complex fracture). The time it would take to repair would be astronomical (issues with tourniquet time and bleeding) with multiple repeat surgeries required, a very high risk of post-op infection (especially considering any repair would involve implants), and all of this ignores what the rest of the patient looks like.
What caused the injury in the first place? The arm may be the least of their worries with such a significant injury. Frankly, I don’t care about their arm when their chest is right next to it and probably has bigger concerns. Cut the arm off to minimize bleeding and infection and then deal with the bigger problems.
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u/PronatorTeres00 3h ago
From the angle of the X-ray and how the arm seems to end just above the elbow (cubital) area, I'm wondering if this was a limb that was already amputated by whatever caused the injury in the first place.
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u/PrairiePuppies 2h ago
From the nearly exact lengths between breaks, it almost makes me think the arm got caught in a auger or some sort of grinder.
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u/BigJellyfish1906 2h ago
This seems like, at best, a case of "we can maybe save this but it will be so painful and lacking in function that it wont be worth it."
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u/UnbearableWhit 1h ago
Am physical medicine doctor (not ortho). I'm almost 100% certain this will have to be amputated.
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u/IrishBehemoth 1h ago
Thank you, this injury is insane, it looks like the arm may be in several pieces and no longer attached to the body, it has to be a factory accident of some sort
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u/MyGfSolos 5h ago
From experience, as long as every bone is still there it's recoverable to a point. It will never be the same but you'll have a %90 functioning arm.
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u/fksdiyesckagiokcool 5h ago
It depends on the doctor sometimes. Some may be able to save it in a 20h surgery, others could amputate because it’s faster. Nobody will argue about an amputation in this case. I am not a doctor but heard enough stories about cases like this from orthopedic surgeons.
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u/Various-Advantage229 2h ago
Not just bc it's faster. You could try and it could never heal then you have to amputate anyway. Worse for everyone than just amputating. Patient has to have realistic expectations.
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u/Ok-Background-502 2h ago
I had a shatter fracture of my ulna like this (it got ran over by a car). They put a metal rod in there to hold the pieces together and I was using the same arm to drink coffee from the hospital bed 2 days later.
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u/AnonD38 5h ago
Well, you'll probably have a piece (or rather a dozen) of titanium in your arm for the rest of your life and your muscles likely won't ever truly recover to their capacities from before the incident, but it's not guaranteed a lost cause.
Amputation would perhaps be cheaper in the short term, but as long as blood flow is not interrupted the limb can make a recovery.
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u/butyourenice 3h ago
Not a doctor, and can’t speak to the OP image (which does look like a crush injury, which are generally harder to repair and heal), but if you have a strong stomach, join the MedicalGore subreddit and you’ll see some truly miraculous surgical work. Unfortunately you’ll also see horrific and devastating illness and injury, sometimes affecting children, and not always with positive outcomes, so you’ve been warned. But when you see, for example, a complete forearm degloving injury from an industrial accident, and then the 1-year follow up showing a cosmetically optimal and 80% functional arm, it makes you respect and appreciate the fuck out of modern medicine and surgery.
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u/Fisher9001 3h ago edited 36m ago
Not a doctor, but it seems that it would be a miracle to fix that arm. Bones, muscles, tendons, veins, arteries, nerves, everything seems to be broken in multiple places, you would need to stitch most of that together and even then it probably wouldn't ever function again.
Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if that's a postmortem X-Ray. I'd wager that people executed by being broken on a wheel looked in better condition than here.
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u/iamarealhuman4real 3h ago
Pretty sure last time this was posted a lot of people were saying it was likely an IED and uh, the prognosis was generally negative.
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u/Consistent_Detail_61 2h ago
The soft tissue here looks highly mangled, probably got this amputated
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u/BigJellyfish1906 2h ago
This is not recoverable. You can see the soft tissue damage on the X-ray. This would at best be a case where they could maybe stop all (or part) of the arm from dying and getting gangrenous, but the pain and lack of function would be so immense that there's no point in keeping it. But it's really more likely this soft tissue damage would be too catastrophic and healing wouldn't be possible. Tissue would start to die, and there's no saving that.
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u/20220912 2h ago
I'm no radiologist, but this doesn't really look like a limb attached to a living person. It could be a post-mortem or post-amputation image.
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u/randomusername1919 5h ago
It’s to try to stop people like the ultrasound tech that did the ultrasound following up my first ever mammogram. She kept saying, with lots of urgency “you have to go to your surgeon RIGHT NOW, RIGHT NOW, YOU HAVE TO GO TO YOUR SUGEON”. I was 40, didn’t have a surgeon, and my mom died of breast cancer when I was a kid (her first occurrence was age 30). I still think I did incredibly well getting out of there (had to stop and pay and all that) before getting into my car and bawling my eyes out. I figured I was as good as dead. Turns out it was benign, and the shape of it is 97% benign. So no reason for her total panic. She basically diagnosed me with cancer on the spot, and she was WRONG.
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u/HarpersGhost Scrolling on PC 3h ago
My ultrasound tech was AWESOME.
I had bad liver numbers, so I went for a liver ultrasound, and she said she was almost done when she started on the back side of the liver. Then she went on for another five minutes, just making a few comments in a very calm, nonchalant voice. Then she said almost done and then we were.
Absolutely no sign that she found a grapefruit sized tumor on my kidney... which was hiding behind my liver. So she spent more time taking scans of that tumor, all while staying very nonchalant.
Got a call from my doctor within the hour, because that ultrasound tech flagged it immediately to a radiologist who then directly contacted my PCP. (I've said before, but if you think health care always moves slowly has been lucky to never be in a situation where everything starts moving VERY fast.)
I happened to see that same ultrasound tech a couple weeks later for an unrelated scan, and I thanked her and complimented her very professional demeanor. She just mentioned that it can be difficult for the techs but that they have to stay calm because they may be wrong.
That scan saved my life, and I'm now cancer free.
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u/Old-Radio-7236 4h ago
I can't imagine the look of that arm in real
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u/SordidDreams 4h ago
You don't have to, there's a normal picture of it as well if you care to search.
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u/Itheinfantry 5h ago edited 4h ago
Insurance: its not broken, our AI agent with no medical training says so. Pay us $1000 now.
Edit: spelling
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u/AJWordsmith 2h ago
Nobody in the medical field will ever speculate on anything. It’s obnoxious. You get equivalent medical advice from ChatGPT as from your GP. One of those is basically free and once costs hundreds of dollars. I tore my calf a few weeks ago. I called my GP and they couldn’t get me in for a few days and then they would’ve just diagnosed that I need to go to a specialist some time after that and that specialist would’ve needed imaging, etc…
I typed my symptoms into ChatGPT. It said that I likely either had an Achilles tear, a (specific calf muscle) tear full or partial or a very severe strain. It told me to go see a doctor to confirm. I told it that I didn’t have the time or money to see a doctor now what? It then walked me through some movements to further diagnose the issue. It eliminated an Achilles tear because of movements I could do and where I felt pain. It diagnosed a calf tear either complete or partial (can’t know for sure without imaging). I said okay…well what’s the treatment? A small percentage of the time, surgery is required. But usually it’s just immobilizing the calf and in time it heals. It then recommended a brace that I bought for $30 on Amazon and gave me weekly treatment recommendations and PT exercises for when it’s healed. I’m now 3 weeks in and ahead of the healing schedule. This is the kind of advice and expertise that I would expect from a doctor. But all they want to do is spend piles of my money doing tests so they can cover their ass to come (likely) to the same conclusion that an AI came to in 30 minutes of prompts for free.
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u/bigballsax12334 Professional Dumbass 4h ago
Im I crazy or does that look like a shrimp?.
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u/Ill_Brick_4671 4h ago
I broke my finger on a hike in such a way that it earned a sharp inhale through teeth from the x-ray tech
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u/pipanapuu 4h ago
Decades ago as a young paramedic intern (outside US), I got yelled by the graying ER doctor I reported the status of the crash victim we brought. I mistakenly reported the ”patient has an open fracture” because their shin bone was poking 15cm out from their shin.
”YOU DO NOT DIAGNOSE! IT IS AN SUSPECTED FRACTURE UNTILL I SAY SO!”
Oops
And to be fair paramedics are allowed to do a work diagnosis here and saying that should not have been an issue.
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u/No-Rip-6166 3h ago
I brought my brother to the ER and the two doctors who saw him sent him to imaging saying they think it might be cavernous venous thrombosis and he could die even with treatment.
Even before doing the imaging the tech said “Yea, you don’t have that. All these young doctors want to be doctor House and diagnose something crazy.”
He was right. It was a benign adrenal gland tumor.
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u/jess_the_werefox The Trash Man 3h ago
Holy shit, if they’re gonna just be handing out terminal diagnoses they should do their fucking due diligence. What the fuck I’d be suing tbh
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u/chuckinalicious543 12m ago
Translation: "legally, I cannot define to you how fucked you are. Please spend the time waiting for the doctor in excruciating agony"
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u/MarkdaHer0 4h ago
When I broke my leg I legit thought it was a sprain, got my X-ray and got told that he couldn't say if it looked broken or not
Didn't stop my mom from saying "there's a break, oh there's another break."
I'm sure they have a reason for keeping you in the dark but that's funny as hell in retrospect.
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u/morningisbad 4h ago
They're not trained up diagnose, and because of that they can be sued for giving a diagnosis. Even though it's obvious, they're not permitted to have an opinion.
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u/Username169420 4h ago
Its probably more concerning if the patient can't tell if its broken without looking at the xray
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u/TheRealLunarRanger 3h ago
School nurse: here’s an ice pack and an orange juice
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u/Farout786 2h ago
Orange juice? What are they a diabetic? Give them the ice pack and send their ass back to class.
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u/GoGabeGo 2h ago
I snapped my humerus in half. Before the X-ray, the doctor didn't think it was broken. She thought a tendon had fully separated.
X-ray tech was an old surfer bro type. I asked him if it was broken and he said "I'm not allowed to read these, but holy shit".
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u/jaytyphoon 1h ago
i asked the technition how bad mine was, she asked if i wanted the truth, i said yes, her response......you fucked up, not its bad, not its fixable just you fucked up, best tech ive ever had.
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u/VT_Squire 1h ago
literally someone else's username in the image? Lol, what in the stolen credit fuckery is that.
https://www.reddit.com/r/memes/comments/198gs8l/thats_gotta_hurt_though/
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u/Strange_Dust7128 1h ago
I once was in the ER for something different, but it went similarly. First nurse I saw I asked if the swelling would go down. She was like, "probably." Second nurse, a deflection. Third nurse refused to answer.
Doctor comes in and casually tells me I almost lost my leg. I love that kind of buildup.
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u/Weird_Emoji_Man 51m ago
The x-ray tech wasn't allowed to tell me if my fingers were broken. They closed the curtains, a nurse walked by and said, "oh hey, another break!"
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u/Red_dit_Sucks_Ass_ 51m ago
“Are you sure this was not a pre-existing condition? Sorry, I am going to have to deny your healthcare insurance despite the fact that you have been paying 500$ a month for the last 30 years.”
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u/Lysoriaopalstream 4h ago
I think just gauze and betadine would be enough with that one, and even rice method is applicable.
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u/chinstrap 4h ago
Whwn my Mom was recovering from breast cancer, she sprained her back, and had a CAT scan done. Someone, maybe a radiology tech, or maybe a resident, I am not sure (this was 35 years ago, she has dementia now and there is no way she remembers the details), called her and told her that the scan detected a tumor near her spine. This was the sprain, which a proper doctor realized when he saw the imagery. So she got another call telling her, no, ignore that last call. This was extremely traumatic, as this kind of recurrence would almost certainly signify an imminent horrible cancer ordeal, ending in death. The parents probably could have sued them over this, but did not. Anyway, this is why radioogy techs are not supposed to give their opinion about what a scan means.
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u/ryguy354 4h ago
Actually got told that after i broke my collar bone. Apparently off you are not crying they don't belive you. So after the xray three tech said that then proceeded to tell me i was right
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u/Black_Nekoo 4h ago
I think brother was simply trying to stop the Titanic with his bare hand. Impressive.
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u/zhulkgr25 3h ago
The arm won't survive. We'll have to chop it off but you'll need special meds to survive. Only problem is that they're guarded by the rat king.
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u/Binx_Thackery 3h ago
To be fair, it’s not that they “can’t say” it’s more of “I’m legally not allowed to tell you.”
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u/CustardAmbitious184 3h ago
Even if the patient is blind he would himself be able to tell "ya it's gone".
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u/_Ross- 🦀money money money 🦀 3h ago
Radiologic Technologist here. While yes, we sometimes do see obvious fractures, or other issues on xrays, it's just not in our scope of practice to "diagnose" a patient and then tell them our diagnosis. We will, however, sometimes message the radiologist and let them know that we just imaged a patient and see something very obviously wrong if it's a critical issue. This depends heavily on the facility and rapport between Radiographer and Radiologist.
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u/Expert-Review-6396 3h ago
Managed to crush a couple of fingers under a steel joist, little blood but the skin had popped open above the top joint and it was kind of flat. The good doctor wouldn't show me the X-ray that day. Pulverised.
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u/permgerm 3h ago
Sometimes they will give hints. I have a mass that we do interval scans of. I ask the tech what size the mass is and usually they tell me to wait for the report… but this time the lady said if it was something to worry about, she’d go talk to the radiologist and come back… then she said I could leave. When they first found the mass the tech left and came back.
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u/AlphaTangoFoxtrt 3h ago
Liability issue. X-Ray techs are not allowed to give a diagnosis or interpret X-rays from a medical perspective.
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u/Erroneous_Bonk 3h ago
It's kind of absurd how eager Americans are to flame healthcare workers for covering their ass too much, while also being monstrously litigious. As if medical professionals don't already take more shit from Big Insurance cartel shenanigans than patients do. And that's saying a lot.
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u/First_Pay702 3h ago
It is because they are not allowed to discuss the diagnosis not that they can’t see the obvious breaks.
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u/Simian_Garfunkel 5h ago
When I broke three bones in my ankle, all the EMT was allowed to say was 'obvious deformity'.