To be surprised nobody helped me?

This. For the few passersby. People aren't going to be looking out of their living room windows at night when their curtains are closed. Not safe for cars to stop late at nignt either - I wouldn't.

My friend and I came across a young woman lying in the pavement a year ago and she said she couldn’t get up, she had been ill and suddenly couldn’t feel or move her legs, it was raining and we called an ambulance and waited with her holding coats over her for 90mins and when the ambulance arrived she got up and climbed in. It turned out she did it regularly and lived near the hospital and used the ambulance as a taxi service, which is probably why they didn’t rush. The ambulance crew knew her very well.
I am much more sceptical now, we got absolutely soaked and missed our lunch. I like to think I would stop again, but I partly wish we had walked by like other people instead of being taken in by her.

I’d have stopped 100%. I have stopped strangers in the street before and checked they are ok. Walked past a lady crying in a hospital, stop to check they are ok. That’s just me. I couldn’t walk past a person in clear need. Sounds so scary.

I always stop and ask if someone needs help, have called ambulances, given rudimentary first aid. Appalled that others don't. I met a young stroke victim who said she collapsed in the street and lay there ignored for ages though she WAS crying for help. Eventually it was a homeless man who helped her and stayed with her until the ambulance arrived.

I’m so very sorry.
That must’ve been scary and isolating and oh the thoughts you must have had!

It’s 2025 - when people don’t know why a person is in trouble or even if they’re in trouble at all. Could it be a trap to rob someone? Not out of the question. Could the person have overdosed on some bad drugs? Not out of the question, either.
Could it be medical? Of course? But lots of people just won’t take the chance - sad.
People hesitate now like they never did in years past.
It could be medical and it could be drugs and it could be psychological - and people worry about their own safety too.

It’s a sad state of affairs, all the way around, @Mintybreath— I hope you’re all well today and your recovery has been swift and smooth.
Sending love from faraway ❤️

This is sad that you were struggling on your own. I guess it’s just like everyone said people are frightened these days of approaching people, getting it wrong etc. which is totally understandable but I do think I would have asked if you were ok. When I was pregnant I vomited on a very busy street and was trying to be discreet (it came on very suddenly after having not had any vomiting for weeks so was not prepared) and one nice person came up with a tissue and gave it to me and asked was I ok. I babbled at them thank you just so you know I’m pregnant not drunk! It really meant so much to me that they did that. Hope you feel better now.

Ventricular tachycardia

They might not have seen you. I once had a tonic clonic seizure on my mum’s street in the dark, woke up, and walked to hers. No-one had found me! Highly bizarre really but it happens 🤷‍♀️

@Mintybreath what is vtach?

I think this. DD felt faint at a bus stop in the middle of the day. A young man went and bought a bottle of water for her and someone else waited until DH got there to collect her. Sometimes people are kind.

No,they won't walk round. I once got very faint on a tube at rush hour - no seats, so I sat on the floor to avoid falling on to anyone, and people just stepped over me. No one asked if I was okay.

My living room is by the street. If it's dark, I'll have usually closed my curtains, but if I haven't, I can't see much outside, especially in poor weather.

I probably would stop if I saw, and have stopped in the past. I'm a first aider at work, and my main reason for doing that is because I would hate to find someone in the street and have no idea what to do. Yes, they might be drunk or high, but they might be diabetic or it be something else. I have stopped for drunk people too. I once was out with friends and there was a guy with his very drunk friend who was lying down in the middle of the road. I helped his mate get him up and to a safer place - at which point, I said, "Good luck," and left them to it. I suspect if my male friend had tried , the drunk guy might have taken a swing at him,but I was at less risk of that as a woman.

But I can also be incredibly unobservant at times, if I'm thinking about something, and it's quite possible I just wouldn't notice then.

Dd went back to university on the train just after her 21st. I'd had a violent horrid bug but she swore she was fine. Was suddenly violently ill on the way up from London to her Northern city with the biggest suitcase ever. Informed train staff but they assumed she was drunk/drugged. I was on the phone to her. It was awful. She ended up lying crying on the floor of a disabled toilet in Liverpool Lime Street. I called the station. The woman who went to deal with her told her to get a taxi. Her lovely friend eventually got there and phoned 111. She ended up with an ambulance and on a drip. It was awful for her.

She missed the exam she'd gone up for and as the hospital hadn't sent her info to her gp that took her another few hours of rubbish to sort so she could retake. Young people are treated awfully in this situation.

If ever that's happened again. You shout help me, please call me an ambulance.

I wonder if once one person helps others decided to join in? Waiting for someone to take charge kind of thing.

This is known as the "bystander effect" whereby people are less likely to offer help as the number of bystanders increases. This effect can also operate in busy places like streets, shops, stations and so on. Social responsibility is diffused among all those present in such areas. This makes individuals less likely to help, which is a personal duty. Other factors include fear of judgement (interfearing) and not knowing how to help. Each person feels less personally accountable and is hoping that someone else will step in and take charge. People also look to others to interpret a situation. If they see passers by ignoring someone who appears to need help they may interpret that as not being an emergency.

People who step up and help may have recieved some special training (firt aider/emergency worker/police officer) whereby their natural response is to take charge. Or they may be the type of person who is comfortable in assuming social responsilility, delegating roles, and so on.

I would and do and have nearly always stopped / asked if people are OK and dealt with all sorts if incidents / accidents / fires on the street. I carry a decent first aid kit including naloxone and a resus mask after doing CPR in the street without one and needing to have Hep tests afterwards. I've stopped to talk to people standing on bridges known to be suicide spots to check they are OK and talked someone down from possibly harming themselves.

However, I am emetophobic and so the one thing I can't deal with is if someone is vomiting, so would've found it very hard to assist someone in your position. I'd hope to be able to at least ask from a distance if you were OK, but the likelihood is I'd end up sick as well, so I'm not sure how much help I would've been to you.

That sounds really scary OP. I'm sorry that happened to you and no one helped.

I think if it was dark and rainy the people in the cars probably didn't notice and the same for the people in the houses.

There are still some kind people about. If anyone had something like that happen in my town or a fall or something, people would definitely stop to help.

There's another thread where someone helped another person (in a different way) and got treated to a load of abuse.

I did find somebody passed out on a grass verge of a street and I called an ambulance. I was very nervous about approaching and I had a small child in the car on the way to an important medical appointment for him. In the end I doubled back (because he could have been sunbathing but I thought then it was an odd place and really not that sunny) and I approached very gingerly - couldn't smell alcohol, he was alive but deeply unconscious. I had to go but luckily some other people arrived who could stay with him till the ambulance arrived. (Not in the UK and there was a good chance an ambulance would arrive relatively quickly.) It was broad daylight and a fairly busy street and I was fairly nervous about approaching. I think there is probably a natural animal instinct to avoid sick animals which is going on with people too but then there is the social contract that we should assist others in trouble. To be honest, I don't think I would intervene when somebody was stumbling down the street vomiting at regular intervals (and that's even though I know the symptoms of concussion can look like that without the person being drunk).

Happened to me at a Bon Jovi concert - everyone assumed I was drunk. I was pregnant. Sorry no-one came to your aid but not surprised.

Sadly like pps I think it’s because people assume drink / drugs is the cause

I was seriously unwell a few years ago with food poisoning and was vomitting outside near a car park (literally was very far from any public toilets and couldn’t stop it) and someone rolled their window down and shouted at me calling me a dirty drunken bitch and other things

hope you made a swift recovery

It's a weird one - often when you pass by it takes a minute or so to register what's happening. By that point you've already passed so it's a case of should I turn back?

I can think of a couple of scenarios recently where I didn't do anything but afterwards I regretted it. Walking back from work a guy in a suit completely barged into me - I was so annoyed. But as I looked at him as he passed he seemed totally disorientated and wasn't walking in a straight line or even aware he had just barged me. Afterwards I realised he was either extremely drunk or very sick. I wondered if I should go after him but didn't.

The other one was a girl completely sobbing - almost distraught. She was on the phone or I would have stopped. I thought of her for a few days after wondering what had happened.

A funny one for you- I once did stop after a drunk girl was crying. She said she had been mugged at the cash point and I was giving her all the sympathy ready to call the police etc. It turned out a guy had said he would do the cash point for her as she was drunk and asked for her pin. Then she was gobsmacked when he withdrew £200 and ran off. I think I waited with her until someone came to collect her.

I wouldn't mind helping someone but if I saw someone that may have looked as you did, I might not have asked because what could I do really. Asking "are you ok" wouldn't be helpful, I'd assume if they are walking along, they could ask for help or call an ambulance if needed.

I haven't been exactly in your situation but I've been sick while out or drunk on occasion and looked worse for wear stumbling down the street, and I just wanted to get home quickly. Wasting time talking to a stranger wouldn't have helped.

I was like that a few years ago except it was broad daylight. If people saw me they'd have thought I was pissed as a fart. I wasn't. I was having a mini stroke and now suffer with vertigo as a result. I always check on people even if it's clear as day they're on something

Sorry that you had that experience OP but I'm afraid it's not a new thing. I suffered from severe migraines in my teens and early 20s and would sometimes get rapidly incapacitated. Nobody ever helped me. I remember once being taken ill at the bus stop just down the road from our house. I totally lost my vision and just had to lie down on the pavement and wait until I could see enough to safely cross the road and stagger home. I was probably lying there about half an hour and I could hear many people walking past but not one stopped to help. I was about 14 and under 5ft/ 7 stone so hardly a threat to anyone. It's depressing how uncaring some people can be.