Some Dumb Things to Not Do

Here are a couple of fun activities I heard about by taking care of patients with less than good judgment. If you are bored and looking for something fun to do, you might try one of these creative activities.

Dry Ice Russian Roulette

A 13-year-old boy came in who had multiple lacerations and pieces of glass under his skin, which he suffered while playing a game. He and his friends put water and dry ice in a bottle then quickly closed the lid tightly. They then passed the bottle quickly around like a hot potato until it exploded. My patient was unlucky enough to have been holding the bottle when it exploded.

Try These Pills

Two twelve-year-old boys came in from a group home. One of them had run away from the home and while away, met a girl with a bag of unidentified pills she claimed to have found in a garbage can. He took the pills from the girl and snuck them into the home when he came back. He then shared them with his buddy in crime. They swallowed some of the pills. Others they crushed and snorted into their noses.

Somehow, the people at the home found out and dragged them in to make sure they were not going to be poisoned by their ingestions. After listening to the recent runaway tell his story, I asked him if he was embarrassed telling me what he had done.

He said, “No, because it’s true.” I listened in amazement. He took unidentifiable pills from someone he didn’t know who said she found them in the garbage. He then swallowed and snorted them and he couldn’t see why the doctor might think he was an idiot.