What is the weirdest/grossest/most disturbing thing seen by emergency room staff? Do you ever find it difficult not to faint?

I'd been a contract guard at a hospital for about three years and I'd seen a lot of awful things. My last day on the job -- I was starting on an ambulance as an EMT the following weekend -- I was congratulating myself for how I'd never lost control of myself. I'd always remained professional, always had everyone's back whenever they needed me, never cried.

About 2 a.m., a paramedic ran in, performing CPR on an infant. SIDS. The little guy didn't make it. Mom and Dad arrived a few minutes later. Kid had been alive long enough for the parents to get used to having a little one in the house, settled into a routine, etc., and now... gone.

The screams of tortured souls in Hell don't measure up to the sound a woman makes when her baby dies.

I cried then, and even though it's been over 25 years, I'm crying now as I type this.

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