Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Share Simple Mistakes That Have Actually Ended Lives

Reddit user SuffocatedByThighs asked: 'What simple mistake has ended lives?'

Not to startle any of you, but death stalks us.

We all have nightmares about diseases and murderers.


But what if, in the end, we just choke on a pickle we inhaled too fast?

Maybe instead of a pickle, a little coleslaw would have been the wiser choice.

We'll never know.

The most minute things can send us packing.

Redditor SuffocatedByThighs wanted to discuss the things that can extinguish our lives in the most basic ways, so they asked:

"What simple mistake has ended lives?"

Tripping over untied shoelaces.

It can break your neck.

TIE YOUR SHOES!!!

Off the Rocks

On No Falling GIF by Outside TVGiphy

"There have been too many instances of rock climbers rappelling off of the ends of their ropes, which could have been easily avoided by tying stopper knots at the ends of their ropes."

LZRDLZRD

Seconds

"I worked at a tire place for a summer and the first thing they told me was 'See that torque wrench? One mistake with this and you can kill a whole family in a matter of seconds.' I thought well, better take this thing seriously."

FrenchMicrowave

"Man for a second I was thinking 'F**k you'd have to swing that thing around fast to take out an entire family' and just bluescreened on the idea of changing a tire."

lurking_my_a**_off

How Vexing...

"THERAC-25. The world’s deadliest software error. Cost several radiation patients their lives by administering lethal amounts of radiation, and for a while, the doctors didn’t even know."

Longjumping_Event_59

"THERAC-25 suffered a particularly vexing sort of error known as a race condition. Essentially, the circuit required multiple inputs in a particular sequence, but sometimes the timing of that sequence could get thrown out of whack and it would lead to all sorts of nonsensical output."

"This is less than ideal when all you're doing is manipulating pixels, but when your software is handling radiation beams you really don't want this to happen."

"Even more vexing is that race conditions are frequently heisenbugs, which can vanish altogether when one attempts to study them. If you don't have a good idea of what's causing the error, you may never cotton on to what sort of bad input is required to test it. Under those circumstances, it's easy to write them off as imaginary, only to then find."

dancingmadkoschei

Heavy Drifting

"Leaving the stranded vehicle on the road in winter and trying to walk to get help. It happens in rural parts of our province once or twice a year and they find the body a few days later. They get disoriented and freeze."

Regina_Runner

"I got blown off a road in high winds. Heavy drifting. Less than a mile from a friend's house after I had turned around. Drifts made it impossible to complete the trip. Trying to run a mile in full blizzard conditions was a fight for my life as an in-shape 24-year-old male athlete.

"rotyag

Simple Slips

Uh Oh Omg GIF by BounceGiphy

"Almost any simple mistake can end a life if you're an anesthesiologist, that's how my grandpa died in his early 60s."

dwserps

Any second. Any moment.

Stay vigilant people.

Celibacy could be better...

Oh My Wow GIFGiphy

"Not being honest with doctors about Viagra. It has many dangerous drug interactions and can cause a lot of problems from what I’ve heard. Trust me the doctor ain’t gonna judge you guys, they have seen many more embarrassing things. And it would suck to die because you wanted to hide something just for it to be later stated in your death certificate."

The_upsetti_spagetti

Check the Numbers

"As a healthcare worker, giving the wrong amount of insulin."

UzumakiHorror

"During the first shift of my first clinical rotation in nursing school, I watched a nurse draw up insulin out of an auto-injector pen that was CLEARLY marked to specifically not do that AND she was drastically wrong about the dosage and almost killed a guy by giving him essentially like a hundred times the intended dose."

someguynamedg

Stay In

"Pulling the knife out of someone."

rcadephantom

"Yeah, I did that but it was a broken tree branch that had impaled my leg. Without even thinking I pulled it out. Blood started gushing so I pulled off my shirt and tied it into a pressure bandage. I was lucky I didn’t bleed to death."

Olddog_Newtricks2001

"Shock is an IQ reducer. I once sliced a bit off the side of my hand with a broken glass, and sort of dazedly picked off the piece of me and tried to stick it back on. It did not work."

UncannyTarotSpread

Stay Dirty

"Mixing cleaning ingredients."

Jonnysource

"My dad was trying to unclog his kitchen drain and mixed drain cleaners by adding one then adding another a few minutes later. It started bubbling and he began coughing intensely. I heard him coughing from the other room, saw what happened, and opened the nearby window to get rid of the chlorine gas he just produced."

"I forgot there was a large hive of wasps that had moved into that window and they did not appreciate this unexpected interruption. I took him to the emergency room for the gas exposure and it was tough explaining that the wasp stings were not why we were there."

CharmingTuber

Dear God

Jeff Goldblum What GIF by The Late Late Show with James CordenGiphy

"A friend’s husband locked himself out of their home. He tried to get in through a window that had security bars. While squeezing through his foot slipped and he essentially hung himself on the window sill."

Cokej01

Life is fleeting. Here is proof.

LIVE!! But live smart.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Sabrina Carpenter (left) and Miss Piggy (right) teamed up for the viral tour-closing moment fans can’t stop replaying.
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for AEG; FOX via Getty Images

Sabrina Carpenter Just Ended Her Tour By 'Arresting' Miss Piggy—And Fans Are Obsessed

All tours must come to an end—yes, even Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet Tour—but few finales conclude with a famous Muppet sitting pretty in the front row.

It all went down Sunday night at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena, where the "Please Please Please" singer wrapped her last show by “arresting” the most confident pig in show business: Miss Piggy.

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Glover
Katie Flores/Billboard/Getty Images

Donald Glover Reveals Doctors Found 'Hole In My Heart' After He Suffered Stroke During Childish Gambino Tour

The most human truth that we all know and share is the fact that tomorrow is not guaranteed.

Musician Donald Glover, previously known as "Childish Gambino," was in the middle of his New World Tour when he experienced a terrible headache mid-performance. He decided to continue to show and had "lots of fun," but he also noticed that he couldn't see as well as usual.

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Trump Is Getting Roasted After Wearing A Strangely Un-Trump-Like Outfit Following His Mamdani Meeting

President Donald Trump was widely roasted after he stepped out on Saturday in something other than his usual suit and tie following his bizarrely chummy meeting with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.

Trump isn't the world's snappiest dresser; he's known for wearing ill-fitting suits and his hair is often unkempt (and don't get us started on his orange makeup).

Keep ReadingShow less
Fortnite Just Dropped A Massive 'Bus Load' Of Homer Simpsons In Santa Monica Without Warning
@FNBRintel/X

Fortnite Just Dropped A Massive 'Bus Load' Of Homer Simpsons In Santa Monica Without Warning

Marketing in today's day and age can be tricky. It's never been easy to break through the noise in advertising, but today's marketers are competing with people at the top of their game.

Residents of Santa Monica, California, were met with an unusual sight earlier this week when a bus full of people dressed as Homer Simpson poured into the streets. The visit appeared to be part of a promotional stunt for the newly launched “Fortnite x Simpsons” season of the popular online game, whose recent update introduced a Springfield-themed island.

Keep ReadingShow less
A close up of MIllie Bobby Brown and another close up of Millie Bobby Brown holding a cat.
BuzzFeed Celeb/YouTube

Fans Defend Millie Bobby Brown After People Rush To Judgment Because Her Baby Cried During Video Shoot

It's easy to rush to judgment when we witness someone behaving a certain way or making a decision that's different from what we would do.

It's arguably even easier to rush to judgment about celebrities, whether or not this was something done consciously in front of fans or viewers on television or social media, or in a candid moment when they didn't know they were being watched or recorded.

Keep ReadingShow less