Are you ready for a story from Reddit’s “Malicious Compliance” page that will make you laugh?

Well, this is a good one!

The person who wrote it explained that their dad was in a hospital to have a surgery when things went sideways…

“If you leave the ward, we will discharge you”

“This is a story from over a decade ago which has always stuck with me, and that I was reminded of by another post here.

In 2011, my darling daddy had to have surgery to remove one of his kidneys due to a large cyst.

He didn’t feel well after his surgery.

Two days after his surgery, while he was on the ward recovering, he began to feel unwell, but thankfully it was something he was used to that could be resolved easily – heart palpitations.

Now dad has been having heart palpitations since the mid-90s and while it was scary in the early days, by 2011 it was a really simple routine… go to A&E and get an injection from the cardiac team at the hospital. Sometimes he would have a normal sinus rhythm, but would be having palpitations nonetheless, identified by the feeling in his body.

The doctor wouldn’t listen to him.

The doctor on shift took an ECG and promptly informed him that he was NOT having a heart palpitation, he had a normal sinus rhythm. He tried to explain that he had been having palpitations for 15 years, he knows what a palpitation feels like, and that all she needed to do was call the cardiac team.

This was a semi-regular occurrence, about once a year, and the heart nurses all knew him by name (and loved him – he’s quite a character).

The doctor refused to page the cardiac team, repeating that he wasn’t having palpitations.

For a couple of hours, dad sat there in panic getting more and more distressed – it was outside of visiting times so he was alone.

The doctor said those fateful words…

He told the doctor that he would make his own way to the cardiac team and she told him “if you leave the ward, we will consider you absconded and we will formally discharge you.”

Again, this was 2 days after losing a major organ.

This is where the malicious compliance comes in.

So he took action!

Dad called 999… from his hospital bed!

When they asked for his address he said “that’s an interesting question, normally it’s xx xxxxx xxxxxx, but right now I’m on ward x at xxxx hospital!”

Shocked, the call handler asked what had happened and dad relayed the whole thing to them.

The doctor was about to get hers.

The call handler escalated the call to a manager who asked to speak to dad’s doctor and gave her a MASSIVE dressing down.

Her face greyed as she realised the gravity of what was happening.

She immediately arranged for a porter to take him to A&E (uk emergency room) to be assessed by the cardiac team, and what do you know? He was, in fact, having palpitations and had been for several hours. A quick injection later his heart was back to normal and we were all left stunned by the whole thing.

And it all ended up just fine because of dear old dad!

I was in my 20s at the time, and dad was my superhero, and seeing him crying in a hospital bed, looking so scared and small will never leave me. I will never forget what that doctor did, and I’ll never forgive her. She never even apologised to him, or to us.

Dad could probably have taken the hospital, the doctor and the trust to court, but that’s just not his bag and he just let it go like water off a duck’s back.

12 years later and he’s healthy and happy, but I honestly thought I might lose him because of an arrogant doctor and her stubbornness.”

Check out what Reddit users said.

This person talked about their own ER experience.

Another individual has a wife who is always advocating for them.

This Reddit user shared some important info.

Another reader thought their dad did the right thing.

That made me laugh pretty hard.

What a character!

If you enjoyed that story, read this one about a mom who was forced to bring her three kids with her to apply for government benefits, but ended up getting the job of her dreams.