I have patients all the time who go on and on about how this or that plastic or adhesive or plastic we have in supply smells bad or irritates their skin. I had raised itchy bumps in the exact shape of the EKG electrode pads for over a week after my ED visit for a panic attack with severe chest pain and shortness of breath and the main thing I regret about that visit is the bill.

If I’m putting EKG leads or a tegaderm on you you’ve got way bigger problems than a rash my dude. And if your problem actually is unserious or alternately terminal enough that it’s more comfortable for you to just suffer in the comfort of your own bed, then just do that. If your problem is benign enough that you can even be worried about a rash more than you are worried about dying painfully from whatever you’re there for, you’re probably lucky enough to have a problem you can handle in the comfort of your own home.

And I’m even talking about serious chronic and terminal disorders. Everybody dies. If you are able to make the decision that you value spending the time given to you on earth in comfort rather than fighting through medical treatments to maybe get more of it then I encourage you to actively choose comfort for yourself. Don’t spend what time you’re given on this earth waffling back and forth between trying to get invasive treatment vs trying to be comfortable and bitching at other people the whole way down trying to make them as miserable as you just because they literally cannot by the physical rules of the universe provide both to you at the same time.

And ffs get a palliative consult. It’s not hospice and you don’t need to be actively on the way out to get it. You can do it at any time. And they’ll make you way more comfortable than you’ll ever get from complaining to a random floor nurse about Band-Aids.

Chris Hansen corrupting evidence has entered the chat. I’m serious having worked with child sex offenders I find most people’s hatred to be either slightly on the performative side or just an excuse to feel better by hating someone lesser (not that they’re wrong) but in a way that prevents the label from being applied accurately and effectively and prevents the actual victims from receiving justice. Interfering with the correct evidence collection processes leads to victims not receiving justice and pushing back against the requirement for that evidence in the first place just allows the accusation to be used politically. And the worse the punishment the less likely their loved ones are to turn them in and the more likely they are to kill the child to cover it up. People should feel confident that their loved one (even evil people have them) will be safely and humanely removed from society when they turn them in. That’s how kids get justice. But it doesn’t FEEL as righteously invigorating, so we don’t.