According to statistics, more than 130 million people visit the emergency room in the U.S. every year. The reasons for visits differ from person to person, of course: a flu is nowhere near as urgent as a cut off finger or an ongoing heart attack. While only 14% of ER visits result in hospitalization, the most frequent reasons for going to ER include digestive symptoms, chest pain, muscoskeletal injuries, and skin cuts.
However, some folks go to the ER for much less. As a fellow hypochondriac, I feel for them: it's not hard to convince yourself that a simple headache might actually mean you might have bacterial meningitis. But the comment section online where one content creator asked, "What's the dumbest reason you went to the ER?" had heaps of entertaining stories of folks panicking and going to the ER for the dumbest thing. Scroll down to see the real power of self-persuasion.
