Annoyed, hospitalized teen unplugs neighbor's life support

It should probably go without saying that anything connected to a power source within the confines of a hospital has a fair shot at being pertinent to the livelihood of at least one individual, but obviously a 17-year old teenager in Germany needed the memo. After the perpetual noise of what would prove to be his neighbor's life support machine "got on his nerves," he proceeded to simply unplug the device without precaution in order to ensure that "he got his peace and quiet." Of course, we can only assume that the sirens and squeals that were emitted due to his misreckoning were immensely louder than the prior hum, but some folks just love to learn the hard way. Thankfully, medical personnel stepped in and saved the man from perishing, but the teen at fault lost a lot more sleep after that whilst being questioned by police.

[Via El Reg, image courtesy of NAIAD]

[JP @ Jun 20th 2007 10:27PM]

Darwin Awards Nominee for 2007!

[Deluxe @ Jun 20th 2007 10:44PM]

Do you even understand the concept of darwin awards?

[linuxamp @ Jun 21st 2007 12:14AM]

This would be a great candidate for the darwin awards if he got annoyed by the sound of HIS OWN life support machine and unplugged it.

[Terry @ Jun 21st 2007 3:32AM]

It's obvious, but just in case here is a link to view and submit a Nominee for the Darwin Awards: http://www.darwinawards.com/

And for those that stick up for the 17 year old idiot, being a teenager is NO EXCUSE and being on drugs is NO EXCUSE. Losing control of your yourself is NO EXCUSE, and this guy should be prosecuted.

[Jesse S @ Jun 20th 2007 10:28PM]

Did he know what it was? If not, I can't blame him. He was probably drugged up to hell, not really knowing what was happening, and just wanted to sleep.

[John Doe @ Jun 20th 2007 11:49PM]

Umm you don't need to be a fracking surgeon to know that a big machine next to person who's unconscious is probably important. I mean we are talking pretty basic critical thinking skills here. Granted most 17 year olds I know are pretty brain dead but still. Its on the same level as Fire bad, tree pretty.

[Jesse S @ Jun 20th 2007 11:52PM]

Have you been on painkillers and shit after these kinds of injuries?

Trust me, you have NO IDEA what the fuck is going on around you, you get easily annoyed, you get easily confused, and things just plain out bother you.

[Tom @ Jun 21st 2007 12:04AM]

some of these drugs can really mess you up. from personal experience after an operation, i was conscious, but could not think straight at all, had no motor control of my legs, and i was in a fog the next 2 days. i found out after i woke up the next day i set up my mom's audio system in her new apartment while i couldn't even walk.

if this kid didn't know what he was doing because he was loopy off the funny gasses, i feel sorry for him, because i doubt anybody would be so selfish unplugging somebody's life support to catch some ZzZz's.

[Nando @ Jun 20th 2007 10:34PM]

Wow...that kid should get butt-raped for being such an idiot!

[suntiger @ Jun 21st 2007 5:20AM]

You should try buttsex sometime. It's actually rather pleasant.

Rape, on the other hand, sucks, butt or otherwise, and is never deserved. Even in cases of extreme stupidity.

[BLee @ Jun 20th 2007 10:37PM]

imagine the victim's family?.. jesus f christ.. if that happened to one of my family or friend members.. that kid would have to prolong his stay at that hospital.

[Jason @ Jun 20th 2007 10:37PM]

Just proves once again why GERMANS LOVE DAVID HASSELHOFF.

[John Doe @ Jun 20th 2007 11:50PM]

Yah well Americans love Surviver so it pretty much proves that every culture has its hangups.

[Deluxe @ Jun 20th 2007 10:44PM]

What a retard. Who just unplugs something making noise in a hospital? The fact that it's making noise at all probably means its DOING something.

[Matt @ Jun 20th 2007 10:47PM]

Sometimes I feel like a nice cup of espresso can bring me back to life, but espresso machine = life support?

[LordFarkward @ Jun 21st 2007 5:14AM]

you clearly haven't started work yet... or even studying...

[paul34 @ Jun 20th 2007 10:57PM]

Well, I'm glad to see that the US isn't the only country with citizens with a shocking lack of common sense

or wait, maybe its not a good thing =/

[strider_mt2k @ Jun 20th 2007 11:09PM]

We're all human. ;)

[murky @ Jun 20th 2007 11:27PM]

Yeah, I'm with Matt... why is there a photo of an espresso machine and grinder? That's a 2-group Reneka Viva. WTF?

[Greg Sutton @ Jun 20th 2007 11:28PM]

Well, a few years back the cleaning lady reached under my desk and unplugged the sun workstation I was using. All my programs died.

[Jon @ Jun 20th 2007 11:31PM]

Reminds me of a coworker, who after 1 week of work complained that there were too many phones ringing in the area he was working. My manager had trouble keeping a straight face, while telling him that it was expected, especially in working in the telecommunications industry, more specifically unit and system test prior to shipment.
I mean honestly, what were you thinking? The world does not revolve around you!

[hobgoblin @ Jun 20th 2007 11:50PM]

for some it does, at least in their mind...

[Sy @ Jun 21st 2007 12:20AM]

Sounds like something Homer Simpson would do.

[linuxamp @ Jun 21st 2007 12:23AM]

I always unplug the UPS in the server room when it's beeping noisily but the beeping doesn't stop!!

[Rytard @ Jun 21st 2007 12:35AM]

"Yeah....did you get that memo?"

[Tavis Veighey @ Jun 21st 2007 1:05AM]

Attempted Murder charges anyone?

If something bothers you, and it is not YOUR property, then you should ask someone else to take care of it!!! Some people are soo self centered that they will KILL someone because of an annoying sound.

[Doxxic @ Jun 21st 2007 4:08AM]

Don't be too harsh on the guy.

People staying in hospitals have good reasons to be more self-centered than they usually are - if they're patients, that is.

The guy might easily have been really stressed. Or under medicines.

[paulw @ Jun 21st 2007 2:27AM]

hahahahaha

:)

[Doxxic @ Jun 21st 2007 4:08AM]

Brilliant illustration!

[KeithC @ Jun 21st 2007 5:00AM]

Sure what difference does it make, the Life support machines have battery backup and a big freakin alarm goes off. I reckon this has happened more than once! We have no idea what was wrong with him, he could have had head trauma and a serious migraine. Have you ever tried to sleep with a neighbor's house alarm going off ? No sleep will drive you insane !

[Superevil @ Jun 21st 2007 5:17PM]

as someone who has to setup and maintain those life support machines you can't always rely on their battery as backup. a lot of the machines don't charge the battery when they're plugged in and running, they actually have to be in standby mode for the battery to charge.

[tchiseen @ Jun 21st 2007 5:11AM]

those crazy germans...

[BloodyGerman @ Jun 21st 2007 6:24AM]

Very well investigated ;)

Probably the original german article:
http://www.welt.de/vermischtes/article954980/Patient_versuchte_Bettennachbarn_zu_toeten.html

In short, 17 year old was from a psychiatric clinic and was send to this hospital because of anorexia. He cut off the life support and locked the door when the physicians wanted to enter. It is not mentioned that the noise annoyed him, it was the patient. In the end he was send back to the psychiatric clinic and police investigates if they will charge him with attempted murder.

So this is not a story about someone stupid. It is a story about a mentally ill teenager.

[ethana2 @ Jun 21st 2007 7:18AM]

That sucks. I bet they had him on antidepressants or something. If you've been forced by your parents and doctors to use those, then you know they only make the situation ten times worse. They pull your face into a smile and make you feel like crap. I'd be interested to see if this was involved in the case of this kid.

[MrGam3r @ Jun 21st 2007 7:43AM]

Yes I believe this is the ENGLISH engadget site............

Oh and they need to transfer that guy from whatever area he was in to the mental rehab area.

[eric @ Jun 21st 2007 9:18AM]

Nurse: Sir, the administrator's here.

Doctor: ulp! Switch everything on!

(Grand entrance music swells) Enter Administrator.

Administrator: So what are we doing here today?

Doctor: This is called a "birth." It is when you take a baby out of a woman's tummy.

Administrator: Amazing what can be done these days. Is that the machine that goes "ping?"

Doctor: Why yes, it is. (switches machine on. It does indeed ping)

Administrator: Very good, very good. We lease that machine back from the manufacturer, so that way it shows up on the operating budget, and not the capital expense report.

(everyone in room breaks out into polite applause)

[lejupp @ Jun 21st 2007 9:44AM]

That is, of course, IF you can afford the ICU treatment. If not, you just die on the street.

[suntiger @ Jun 21st 2007 10:51AM]

You friggin' win. Perfectly topical. You are the king of memes, sir, and I bow to your expertise. *grins*

[Doc Lucas @ Jun 21st 2007 11:01AM]

Das ist nicht deutchen, das ist swinendeutchen.

[drtekger @ Jun 21st 2007 8:47PM]

Its neither German nor English, it's LEGENDARY!

See here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blinkenlights