History Main / AnnoyingPatient

* The entire premise of ''Theatre/TheManWhoCameToDinner''--famous and acerbically witty critic Sheridan Whiteside breaks his leg on a family's doorstep and proceeds to make their life hell. The very first thing heard in the play is him howling abuse at his nurse offstage. He later finds it advantageous to pretend he hasn't recovered yet. The current trope quote is Sheridan's nurse telling him off the moment she's had enough and exposing that she's been MaddenedIntoMisanthropy before storming off the house.

* An arc in ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' focuses on Calvin's sickness, climaxing when he hollers '''''"ROOM SERVICE!!"''''' On the flip side, his doctor commented that the flu he had made Calvin a much more agreeable patient.

--->'''Doctor''': Kid, do you want me to recant the Hippocratic Oath?

* ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir''. STOP WITH THE DAMN BELL!

* ''Series/{{ER}}'' trotted out a ton of these in its 15-year run. One of the best examples is from the first season, where a psychologist would deliberately ask the staff questions meant to irritate them. A fed-up Carol put him in a room with a recently injured boxer. Within minutes, the staff was treated to the sight and sound of the shrink getting his lights punched out.

** In another episode, Niles' wife Maris is admitted to the hospital for a cosmetic procedure, Niles is seen on the phone assuring her that the IV fluid is "low-calorie". He's later seen buying gifts for the hospital staff as an apology for having to deal with her. When one nurse tells him "I worked the night shift", he immediately hands her a second box with a nice watch.

* Squidward in the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Can You Spare A Dime?" isn't sick, but had been living on the streets for an undisclosed amount of time after getting fired from The Krusty Krab. Even once [=SpongeBob=] nurses him back to health, Squidward continues to take advantage of his kindness instead of seeking a job, so [=SpongeBob=] is forced to beg for his old one back.

* Mrs. Wilkins from ''Film/DoctorAtLarge'', who demands wind medicine that she doesn't need and gets her husband to threaten Dr. Sparrow with legal action:
-->'''Mrs. Wilkins''': I want me medicine!

* ''Series/FraggleRock'': In "Pebble Pox Blues," while Boober and Wembley set out to FindTheCure for Gobo's pebble pox, Red acts as Gobo's nursemaid. He drives her crazy with his moaning and groaning and nonstop demands.

* Perhaps the quintessential example is Elaine Benes of ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', who is blacklisted by the American Medical Association. When in desperation she books an appointment with a vet, his office receives a call just moments before she sees him. The AMA sends over her medical records, including the blacklisting.
** The worst part is that she ''wasn't'' this, just branded as such because [[DisproportionateRetribution she didn't want to put on a hospital gown]].
* ''Series/{{House}}'':
** Everyone's very sympathetic about House's [[spoiler:brain cancer]] until it turns out he was faking it [[spoiler: to get into an experimental drug trial]]. In something of a subversion of the trope, what House is annoying about is insisting that he doesn't want anyone's help or sympathy for his supposed illness; he didn't even want any of his associates to find out, and when they do, by accident, he's very annoyed.
** Played straight in the aptly named episode "The Jerk," where the patient is an insufferable teenage chess prodigy who has an almost supernatural ability to turn everybody against him (even his mother). The equally insufferable House is the only one who can stand him long enough to cure him, and in the end, even House hates the kid's guts.
* [[spoiler:Dr. Glassman]] becomes an example of this in season 2 of ''Series/TheGoodDoctor'', doing everything he can to antagonize Dr. Blaize (and, to a lesser extent, Shaun) during treatment for [[spoiler:his brain cancer]].
* On ''Series/{{NCIS}}'', Tony can get like this... when minorly and/or humorously injured. When ''seriously'' injured, he suddenly becomes stoic and all "I'm fine, just let me work."
* ''Series/{{Becker}}'': Dr. John Becker constantly suffered from Annoying Patients. After accidentally being shot, ''he'' was an Annoying Patient to his doctor at the hospital due to him constantly disagreeing with her diagnosis.
* Sheldon in ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' suffers from severe social ineptitude, as well as mild hypochondria, making him an absolutely awful person to have around when he becomes sick in one episode. Specifically, he continuously infuriates his neighbor, as his roommate and friends have long since learned to avoid him in this state.
* ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun'': In "Guilty as Dick", Dick Solomon does this after spraining his foot. Once his foot gets better, he starts faking it to keep the treatment going. His family and Mary wreak vengeance on him when they find out, injuring him much ''more'' in the process.

* ''Series/{{Monk}}'' becomes even more irritating when ill.
* ''Series/Miranda2009'': Miranda's mother is this in one episode.
* There was an episode of ''Series/{{Steptoe and Son}}'' where Steptoe Snr was recovering from a bad back, making Harold do everything for him and constantly calling him lazy. He then discovers he is all better but fakes illness to continue Harold waiting on him hand and foot. He's eventually caught when Harold finds evidence of him making it downstairs. The payback is rather amusing.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': In one episode Deanna Troi loses her empathic powers, seemingly permanently, and takes it extremely badly. Despite being a qualified trauma counsellor in her own right who helps people through this sort of thing for a living she can't entirely stop herself taking it out on Dr Crusher. Justified somewhat by the fact that she has in effect suffered a very serious, life-changing injury equivalent to a regular human going blind or deaf, and that would mess with anybody.
** Trek captains have a tradition of giving their doctors a hard time because they're so eager to get back in action.
* The "doctor as annoying patient" angle (specifically regarding the InformedSelfDiagnosis trope) is lampshaded in an episode of ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' when a doctor who comes to Sacred Heart literally informs the staff of what he diagnosed his problem with, brings along a lackey who agrees with everything he says to legitimize his claims, and demands that they sign off on the treatments he's prescribed for himself immediately if not sooner.
** There was also Harvey Corman, a {{Hypochondria}}c who kept coming to Sacred Heart for attention, which every doctor dreaded.
* In ''Series/OneHundredDeedsForEddieMcdowd'', Justin breaks his leg and has to be taken care of by his parents. However, ''he's'' not the annoying patient; his sister, jealous of all the attention her little brother is getting, fakes a sprained ankle and makes her parents wait on her hand and foot. When Justin chooses to grit his teeth through the pain and bike through town to find Eddie, she actually tells their parents that ''he'' must be the faker. Her masquerade is destroyed a moment later when her mother accidentally(?) spills iced tea on her leg, causing her to jump up. By the end, Justin has made his leg worse by biking and has to be waited on ''again,'' this time by his sister as her punishment.

* On an episode of ''Series/{{Wings}}'' the recurring character Carlton takes a fall down Helen's stairs, forcing her to take care of him with the threat of his "big lawyer son" who wants to sue. When Helen finally catches him dancing in front of the TV, he gives up the deception, and for good measure, brings the annoying to a head (typical for Carlton):
-->'''Carlton:''' I may have exaggerated about my son.\\
'''Helen:''' Oh, he's not really a big-shot lawyer, is he?\\
'''Carlton:''' I don't have a son.

* ''Series/{{ER}}'' trotted out a ton of these in its 15-year run. One of the best examples is from the first season, where a psychologist would deliberately ask the staff questions meant to irritate them. A fed-up Carol put him in a room with a recently injured boxer. Within minutes, the staff was treated to the sight and sound of the shrink getting his lights punched out.
* In the ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'' episode "Flu Season", April gets the flu and has to stay in the hospital, using the opportunity to give this treatment to Ann, who she's holding a grudge against for kissing her love interest Andy. Ann takes it all like a true professional until the very ''second'' her shift ends, at which point she shouts, "What the ''fuck'' is wrong with you?!" and calls April out on her pettiness.
* Both PlayedForLaughs and PlayedForDrama, Hank became a stay at home one to Marie in ''Series/BreakingBad'' after Hank is in recovery from his encounter with the twins. The argument between rocks and minerals was played for laughs but soon became a MoodWhiplash when Marie's patience wears so thin she starts stealing again.

* In ''Series/TheLucyShow'', Vivian trips over a toy that Lucy's son Jerry had left out, and sprains her ankle. Taking full advantage of Lucy's remorse, she exaggerates her injury, stays in bed far longer than necessary, runs Lucy ragged with constant demands, and threatens to call her attorney every time Lucy hesitates.
-->''[Lucy brings Vivian her supper in bed]''\\
'''Vivian:''' Cut my meat!\\
'''Lucy:''' Viv, it's your ankle that's sprained, not your hands.\\
''[Vivian picks up telephone, starts to dial]''\\
''[Lucy cuts the meat]''

* In the ''Series/AdventuresInWonderland'' episode "The Hatter Who Came to Dinner," the Hatter becomes an annoying patient to the Queen and the White Rabbit after he hurts his back while trimming the Queen's hedges and has to stay at the palace until it's better.
* ''Series/{{Amen}}''. Both Ernie and Reuben were this whenever they became sick or injured. In particular, Thelma goes from hoping that the FlorenceNightingaleEffect will endear her to Reuben and finally make him propose to being so irritated that she practically throws him out when he recovers.

* Dick Solomon of ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun'' did this after he sprained his foot. Once his foot got better, he started faking it to keep the treatment going. His family and Mary wreaked vengeance on him when they found out, injuring him much ''more'' in the process.

A sick character (usually with the flu) is selflessly tended to by another unless of course the latter also ''caused'' the malady. The sick character will inevitably abuse the situation and be as demanding and obnoxious as possible. In a sitcom, this immediately occurs right after they're given a summoning bell.

Another common variation is to have the sick character ''[[PlayingSick faking]]'' [[PlayingSick the illness in one way or another]], or hiding the fact that they're quickly getting better because they don't want the pampering to end. After their abused caretaker discovers this, the tables are often turned, and they become the servant by the end of the episode.

* ''Series/FraggleRock'': In "Pebble Pox Blues," while Boober and Wembley set out to FindTheCure for Gobo's pebble pox, Gobo drives Red crazy with his moaning and groaning and nonstop demands.

-->'''Mokey:''' Oh, Red, don't be so hard on him. Being sick can be very difficult.\\

* In the ''Series/{{Emergency}}'' fic ''[[http://web.archive.org/web/20051210054935/www.eeyores-efic.com/Lumps.html Taking Your Lumps Like a Man]]'', John is stuck with Chet, who drives him nuts with jokes and TV shows. But in the end, Chet leaves and Brice comes in, making John start using Chet's tactics on Brice.

* In the ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'' episode "Flu Season", April gets the flu and has to stay in the hospital, using the opportunity to give this treatment to Ann, who she's holding a grudge against for kissing her love interest Andy. Ann takes it all like a true professional until the very ''second'' her shift ends, at which point she shouts, "What the ''[[PrecisionFStrike fuck]]'' is wrong with you?!" and calls April out on her pettiness.

* Squidward in the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Can You Spare A Dime?". In this case, it's not illness but unemployment.

* Flip from ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' becomes this in the episode "House Flip" after Lori's reckless driving due to her siblings' misbehavior causes her to injure him, and the siblings are forced to take care of him until he recovers at the risk of their parents finding out and losing their [[TheAllegedCar Vanzilla]] privileges indefinitely. Flip threatened to get the kids in trouble after overhearing what was going on, and the parents eventually do find out the moment he recovers, but Flip suggests [[PetTheDog they go easy on them after all the care they provided for him]]. Realizing they went overboard with their disciplining, the parents decide to only revoke the kids' Vanzilla privileges for a month, but as they return Flip to his store, [[HereWeGoAgain they injure him again by backing into the same structure Lori backed into at the start of the episode, and soon, Flip becomes this again to them]].

* Flip from ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' becomes this in the episode "House Flip" after Lori's reckless driving due to her siblings' misbehavior causes her to injure him, and the siblings are forced to take care of him until he recovers at the risk of their parents finding out and losing their [[TheAllegedCar Vanzilla]] privileges indefinitely. Flip threatened to get the kids in trouble after overhearing what was going on, and the parents eventually do find out the moment he recovers, but Flip suggests [[PetTheDog they go easy on them after all the care they provided for him]]. Realizing they went overboard with their disciplining, the parents decide to only revoke the kids' Vanzilla privileges for a month, but as they return Flip to his store, [[HereWeGoAgain they injure him again by backing into the same structure Lori backed into at the start of the episode, and soon, Flip becomes this again to them]].

Compare DisabilityAsAnExcuseForJerkassery. Contrast NurseWithGoodIntentions.

A sick character (usually the flu) is selflessly tended to by another unless of course the latter also ''caused'' the malady. The sick character will inevitably abuse the situation and be as demanding and obnoxious as possible. In a sitcom, this immediately occurs right after they're given a summoning bell.

* ''Series/{{Miranda}}'''s mother is this in one episode.