History Main / AnnoyingPatient

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

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Bart fakes a serious illness to get out of taking a test - while "recovering" his parents do everything from getting every variety of ice cream he desires to hauling the big screen TV upstairs so he can watch it.

[[quoteright:330:[[ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/annoying-patient3_calvin-and-hobbes_1478.png]]]]

* 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.

Sometimes the sick person may get ''more'' sick and make it a serious episode, but generally the one tending to them gets sick, and karmic payback kicks in.

* Dr John Series/{{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.

* In the ''Series/CurbYourEnthusiasm'' episode "Interior Decorator", chronic malcontent Larry David, throws a tantrum at his doctor's office over their waiting list policy, culminating in Larry tackling another patient.

* Everyone's very sympathetic about Series/{{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.

* On ''Series/{{Frasier}}'', the title character makes Daphne's life hell when she tends to him in "Frasier Crane's Day's Off." She gets her revenge when he becomes crazed from fever and medication and makes an ass of himself on the air.

* An episode of ''StrawberryShortcake'' has one of the characters (a pony) break her leg and have to recover in the titular character's house. She suddenly started whining and making all kinds of unreasonable demands. But this was dismissed by the main character as being nothing more than boredom, even when the pony rejected all forms of entertainment. Eventually, she stopped being such a whiner and her leg got better.

* One episode of ''SagwaTheChineseSiameseCat'' has this. After his sprained paw heals, Dongwa feigns continued agony in order to get out of chores. His mother has him make up for it, though.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/CareBearsAdventuresInCareALot'', Grumpy takes advantage of Wingnut's willingness to help when his foot is hurt, even faking it still being hurt after it heals.

* There was an episode of ''{{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 pay-back is rather amusing.

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

* An arc in ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' focuses on Calvin's sickness, climaxing when he hollers '''''"ROOM SERVICE!"'''''

* ''AngryBeavers'', "Fakin' It": Norbert feigns illness in order to get out of repairing the house, and Dagget works so hard catering to his brother's every whim that he gets sick for real... but in the end, it turns out that Dag had gotten wise and was also faking it.

* In the ''TazMania'' episode "Nursemaid Taz", Digeri Dingo fakes a broken leg so he can get Taz's family to wait on him. They soon start killing him with kindness, force-feeding him soup and piling pillows on him till he nearly goes insane.

* In one episode of ''[[CareBears Adventures in Care-a-Lot]]'', Grumpy takes advantage of Wingnut's willingness to help when his foot is hurt, even faking it still being hurt after it heals.

* In an episode of ''HeyArnold'', Helga bosses Phoebe around just a bit too much, and Phoebe ends up being hit by a truck trying to do what Helga wanted, resulting in a broken leg. Helga feels horribly guilty and pledges to take care of her friend. Phoebe resists at first, but then she discovers that she enjoys being taken care of by Helga for once, instead of the other way around, and still fakes her broken leg after it healed, demanding more and more of Helga, who gladly does whatever Phoebe asks. Finally, Helga's put in the same situation that Phoebe is in the beginning, scrambling around to do her friend's bidding, and is also hit by a truck, suffering a broken leg. Phoebe feels terrible and they return to the status quo of Phoebe performing tasks for Helga.

* In the ''CurbYourEnthusiasm'' episode "Interior Decorator", chronic malcontent Larry David, throws a tantrum at his doctor's office over their waiting list policy, culminating in Larry tackling another patient.

* Perhaps the quintessential example is Elaine Benes of ''{{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.

* 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.

* Dick Solomon of ''[[ThirdRockFromTheSun 3rd Rock from the Sun]]'' 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.

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

* In an episode of {{Matlock}}, Matlock himself is one of these, until his nurse gives him some medicine for a headache, leading to an epiphany, and a change of attitude towards the nurse.

* In an episode of ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'' April gets the flu and goes to the hospital, using the opportunity to give this treatment to Anne, who she's holding a grudge against. Anne 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?!"

* The Colonel in ''Film/CarryOn Nurse'' infuriates the nurses with his incessant demands on their time. Similar characters appear in the other medically-themed ''Carry On'' films.

* Akihiko Sanada makes a lousy patient after being injured at the beginning of ''{{Persona 3}}'', due to his [[ICanStillFight eagerness to return to fighting]]. As Mitsuru is the one looking after him, the main character only sees occasional hints of this when he expresses boredom and frustration, or schemes to rejoin the fight behind Mitsuru's back. Later in the game, however, the main character becomes ill following a minor event. Afterwards, Mitsuru specifically requests that s/he rest quietly until well again and NOT subject her to a repeat performance of what she went through with Akihiko, indicating she really had her hands full during that time.
* Another ShinMegamiTensei example: Late into the main story of ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' [[spoiler: Ryotaro Dojima]] winds up in the hospital after a car accident, but keeps sneaking out of his room [[spoiler: because of doubts regarding his current case]]. As you can expect, the hospital staff are rather irked at this.

* The "doctor as annoying patient" angle (specifically regarding the InformedSelfDiagnosis trope) is lampshaded in an episode of ''{{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.

* ''{{Rugrats}}'' - Angelica fakes a broken leg, almost causing Aunt Didi and Uncle Stu to have a nervous breakdown. She even made Stu [[MemeticMutation make her pudding at 4 in the morning]]. In the end, Angelica's mom Charlotte comes home with a ''real'' broken leg, and is just as demanding to Angelica and her dad as Angelica was.

* ''{{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 an episode of ''ParksAndRecreation'' April gets the flu and goes to the hospital, using the opportunity to give this treatment to Anne, who she's holding a grudge against. Anne 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?!"

* On ''{{Frasier}}'', the title character makes Daphne's life hell when she tends to him in "Frasier Crane's Day's Off." She gets her revenge when he becomes crazed from fever and medication and makes an ass of himself on the air.

* ''TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'' - STOP WITH THE DAMN BELL!
* ''{{Monk}}'' becomes even more irritating when ill.

* ''VideoGame/LifesignsSurgicalUnit'' has a few of these, most notably Kagayaki.

* ''LifesignsSurgicalUnit'' has a few of these, most notably Kagayaki.

* In ''With A Bullet'', the third book of the ''WebOriginal/ShadowOfTheTemplar'' webseries, Simon goes through a long and grueling recovery after being shot by a madman. Jeremy, tasked with looking after him, gets a great deal of verbal abuse heaped upon him, though it's less "Get me this and that, stat!" and more "I'm a ''man'' and I don't need to be babied, so fuck off!"