Somebody asked emergency responders about ‘the most common dangerous decision people make’ – 21 especially dumb life choices to avoid

’26-year firefighter/paramedic here, with another 20+ years as a paramedic in the ED.

‘The most common dangerous decision people make is… not attempting to pursue emergency care in the first place. It’s ignoring symptoms until it’s too late.

‘It’s convincing themselves the chest pain is just “acid reflux,” that the constant dull back/shoulder blade pain for days is “just a pulled muscle” that sudden weight gain is “no big deal” that having to sleep half upright at night with pillows stuffed behind them is “just the way it is.”

The second most dangerous decision people make is once they finally seek treatment, they completely fail to follow through. They won’t follow up with their primary physician, they won’t take their meds as directed, etc.

‘It’s so common that when I find out our STEMI patient from the other day who walked out of the cath lab feeling great, suddenly died last night because he wouldn’t take his anticoagulants and his stent clogged, I think “Yup. Happens all the time. Oh well.”‘
–xts2500

‘ I’ll toss in not wearing a seat belt. Modern cars are really good at keeping you safe in most accidents. Not wearing a seat belt makes those safety features useless. You’re now a 200lb bowling ball being thrown around the car at 50+mph. The body does not like this

‘Wear your seat belt.’
–Intrepid_Advice4411

‘Ladders. I know a lot of EMTs and a few ED doctors and they all say that by and far the most dangerous tool in the world is a ladder. Second most dangerous is a chainsaw. And like 75% of chainsaw injuries involve a ladder…’
–whaletacochamp

‘Near decade as a 911 operator – Driving.

‘There’s a lot of “expected” death scenarios… Like a 70 year old fat guy has a heart attack… that doesn’t downplay the tragedy, but it’s still not unexpected. Same for strokes or seizures or any number of other things. But nobody expects to be in a car accident.

‘A hundred times a year in my jurisdiction someone will leave for work, or go to a movie, or a visit with family or anything else, and then not come home because of a car accident.

‘Drive safe. Drive defensively. Don’t get suckered into road rage for minor inconveniences. You and your car are not invincible. The graveyard is full of people who had the right of way. Stick to ~5mph over the speed limit, not 20.’
–Razvee

‘My friend who’s a paramedic said drunk people’s urge to climb stuff was always a problem. As were drunk people doing stupid shit in general.’
–therealhairykrishna

‘Unattended cooking. Sticking something in the oven and then going out running a few errands.’
–TappanZee9885

‘Not me – but a family member is an EMT.

‘Home accidents – falls, using equipment incorrectly/dangerously, working beyond their skill/safety knowledge level.

‘Drugs – taking drugs, not taking prescribed drugs correctly, drug interactions.’
–FaitAccompli73

‘I’ll say alcohol. The amount of dumb and preventable way people injure themselves when alcohol is involved is wild. Heck, the number of 70+ yo women that drink too much and get injured is wild.

‘And I’m not talking about little bit of wine, no I’m talking granny went beer for beer with the young guns and took a shot of fireball every time their team scored. Granny fell, hit her head, and now might have a brain bleed.’
–JMTann08

‘Stop texting and driving, dumbasses.’
–GermanMuffin

‘Drunk tandem riding e-scooters. My fucking god y’all please stop doing this. Stop convincing your friend it’ll save you money because it won’t you’ll be spending it on your medical bills when you both biff it off the scooter unhelmeted on the sidewalk (illegal technically in my city) or on the street.

‘It is such a preventable thing by just fucking not doing it and taking an Uber home.

‘Also tandem riding those scooters in general just a dumb idea pls stop. I hate hearing y’all blame each other for the injuries in the luckier scenarios. In the worse ones…ugh no just pls stop.’
–No-Big-8160

‘My husband’s aunt (who is our age) is a pediatric physical therapist and she said she will never allow her son to play football or ride an e-bike. Non-negotiables. She said a vast majority of her patients have injuries with long term effects from football and e-bikes.’
–butpretzelday

‘Not realizing when things have changed and it’s time to reconsider what you’re doing. Especially relevant in outdoor recreation. Is the weather different from your expectations?

‘Have conditions changed dramatically? Are you prepared for that? No? The FIRST thing to go kinda wrong is the time when you should reconsider what you’re doing, not two hours later when you’re now not only wet and cold and unprepared but also out of food and also the sun is setting.

‘Basically people have a hard time realizing when things are becoming serious… they’re more likely to realize things are serious when they’re very very serious. It’s the “Swiss cheese model” basically —really bad things happen when multiple bad decisions align.

‘So not only do you get unexpected weather but you also keep forging on and you’re also no prepared and you’re also losing daylight and maybe an injury occurs or something makes it even more catastrophic.’
–amoneh