You know that drunken patient who keeps wandering the halls in his underwear with both legs through the same hole? He looks you straight in the eyes and curses The nurse is calmly guiding him back to his room. Do not get rattled.

I had a guy come in after going over his handlebars. He had a few broken ribs and a pneumothorax. His main frustration was that his racing season had abruptly ended. His comment to me? “You have way too much gel in your hair, dude.”

Let it go. He had a bad day, and I know my hair looked fantastic.

An elderly drunken patient yelled at me continuously while spitting at staff. He had broken his leg due to excessive gravity but demanded to leave. He needed physical and chemical restraints for his (and our) safety. Here is where it became tricky. While we were waiting for pharmaceutical dampening of his insanity, his son arrived and began screaming at everyone. He (son) then demanded his father’s discharge. Psychotic father remained agitated since the medication had just been given.

After we convinced the son that we actually were trying to help, he acquiesced and everything turned out great … everything except the frustration and anger of being yelled at non-stop by two people for doing the right thing.

Let it go.

Do the right thing, and then let it go.

Dr. Brandt is an emergency physician for GREMG in Grand Rapids, Mich. Please send questions/comments to BrandtsRants@gmail.com