the ER edit

Women trusted Yolande Maritz Fouchee with their pregnancies and births. The case that followed involved medication given without informed consent, missed complications, delayed hospital transfers, an unqualified teenage daughter assisting with care, serious birth injuries, and the death of nine day old Noah von Kloeg. This week we’re looking at the case through an ER nurse lens and talking about p...

Not every hospital horror story involves a medical chart. This Halloween, we're reading ghost stories from nurses and first responders, including mysterious patient labels, kids seeing people nobody else can, eerie ICU moments, and a nurse named Sylvia who may not have been there at all. We also get into why some deaths stay with us, why certain rooms feel off, and the ER moments that are some...

Garnett Spears entered the hospital with a normal sodium level. During that admission, it climbed to 182, and days later the five year old was dead. This week we’re breaking down the Garnett Spears case, the years of unexplained illness and medical care that came before it, and the evidence that eventually turned a medical mystery into a criminal investigation. We also get into factitious disorder...

Christa Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital during Tennessee's September 30, 2026 execution attempt. We go through the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer, the sentences that followed, and the questions the case raises about childhood trauma and the death penalty. Then we get into the ER nurse side of it: IV access, possible infiltration, execution protocols, and the ethical mess of caring for...

“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 s...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Recorded as the Lindsay Clancy jury began deliberating, we break down the final days of the trial and the question at the center of everything: criminal responsibility. We get into the defense experts, the claimed command voice, postpartum psychosis, the prosecution rebuttal, the chaplain testimony, questions about the investigation, and closing arguments from both sides. We started this trial loo...

We’re revisiting some of the ER stories we still cannot believe actually happened. A toe in a sock, a full urinal to the body, nurse intuition that proved right, career ending mistakes that thankfully were not career ending, bizarre injuries, hospital hookups, and one Christmas Eve code we will never forget. Basically, nursing in all its chaotic, gross, funny, and occasionally terrifying glory. LI...

We’re breaking down the Lindsay Clancy trial through the lens we actually know: ER nursing, trauma care, and mental health. We get into the GCS of three, 82 degree core temperature, spinal cord injury, reported thyroid crush injury, medication history, witness testimony, postpartum psychosis, continuity of care, and the medical questions that kept stopping us in our tracks. This case is ultimately...

This week, the Whisper Line takes over the entire episode. We read your anonymous submissions cold, including a hospital parking lot affair, a necrotic foot that fell off inside a shoe, a baby nurse’s terrifying first code, pediatric emergencies, hospice confusion, preventable medical errors, unsafe staffing, and a clinical instructor who allegedly made two medication errors in one shift. Some sto...

We go deep into two healthcare true crime cases that raise completely different questions about trust, evidence, and the systems surrounding patient care. First, Caitlin breaks down Michael Swango, the physician linked to as many as 60 deaths who repeatedly returned to medicine through forged records and new identities. Then Karlie revisits the Lucy Letby conviction from a nurse’s perspective, inc...

An 18 month old boy was pronounced dead after a drowning and reportedly found breathing in the hospital morgue nearly five and a half hours later. We break down what pediatric codes, agonal breathing, time of death decisions, morgue procedures, and nurse advocacy actually look like in the ER, while also confronting the grief, anger, pool safety concerns, and unanswered questions surrounding this c...

Nurse intuition is real, and this week we are talking about the gut feeling nurses get when something is wrong before the numbers catch up. We get into rapid responses, triage, patient advocacy, home health stories, pediatric cardiac ICU, charting, shift superstitions, and the moments that teach you to trust yourself at the bedside. LISTEN, WATCH, FOLLOW, AND SEND US YOUR STORIES https://theeredit...

Do nurses really eat their young? This week we are talking about nurse bullying, new grad anxiety, preceptors, ER orientation, and the difference between being challenged because someone wants you to grow and being humiliated because someone wants to feel powerful. We get into real stories, ER culture, burnout, toxic workplace dynamics, and why asking questions should never make a nurse feel unsaf...

We’re breaking down the Taylor Parker case and Maternal Instinct from the ER nurse side of the story. We talk fake pregnancy, the hospital exam that changed everything, HIPAA, Code Pink, body cam footage, nurse intuition, and the awful reality of trying to do your job while a true crime case is unfolding in real time. LISTEN, WATCH, FOLLOW, AND SEND US YOUR STORIES https://theeredit.com Find The E...

This week, we’re talking medical malpractice lawsuits, nurse depositions, charting, and the legal fear that lives in the back of every nurse’s brain. Caitlin Armstrong and Karlie Tooley go through reported malpractice cases involving misdiagnosis, surgical complications, pediatric emergencies, medication questions, and hospital systems trying to protect themselves. Then we bring it back to the flo...

This week, we are getting into medical true crime and the cases that make nurses ask a thousand follow up questions. Caitlin Armstrong and Karlie Tooley talk through Lucy Letby, Charles Cullen, Harold Shipman, a German nurse who triggered cardiac arrests to look heroic, and Linda Hazzard, all through the lens of ER nurses who cannot stop thinking about access, medications, charting, leadership, an...

This week on The ER Edit, Caitlin and Karlie talk about the sex injuries that end up in the emergency room, from cock rings and foreign objects to retained tampons, penile fractures, priapism, and the ER stories patients are usually way too embarrassed to explain. It is chaotic, uncomfortable, very nurse coded, and somehow still practical. If there is one message underneath all the horror and laug...

This episode is all about the hospital superstitions and spooky ER stories nurses swear are real. We talk full moons, never saying quiet, deaths and traumas coming in threes, haunted hospital rooms, weird call lights, near death experiences, and the nurse gut feelings that make you stop and pay attention. It gets funny, creepy, and a little heavy in the way only ER conversations can. Caitlin Armst...

This week we are breaking down the ER myths that make nurses twitch: ambulances do not automatically get you seen first, chest pain does not always mean a bed, normal labs do not always tell the whole story, and the waiting room is absolutely not the DMV. Caitlin and Karlie walk through triage, EMS wall time, imaging expectations, pain protocols, fevers, head injuries, and the nurse anxiety that c...

This episode is heavy. We talk about the death of Ada Doss, a nurse who was killed walking to her car after work, and the bigger conversation it brings up about nurse safety, hospital security, workplace violence, and the way healthcare workers are expected to keep showing up after terrifying things happen. We also get into the behind the scenes reality of ER codes, caring for one of your own, DNR...

We recorded live at NurseCon 2026, and this episode went exactly where you would expect: medication errors, ER nurse chaos, wild audience stories, burnout, nurse ratios, and one very unfortunate cruise laxative situation. We react to shocking med error stories, including insulin mistaken for Lasix, Lantus pushed IV, mannitol into a lumbar drain, cough syrup through an IV, and the kinds of medical...