No you didn't just waste space. The point you raise is very important indeed, I think. People in distress can thrash about wildly without really realizing what they're doing or who they're hurting. None of us can take that personally. Here's an example in which I was the one doing the thrashing:

Ten years ago or so I had very bad urinary tract problems that ultimately led to an operation. But before it got fixed, I was hauled many times by ambulance to the ER unable to urinate and with an overful bladder. I don't know if it's happened to you but this is an incredibly painful situation.

One time, on a stretcher going into the ER, it hurt so badly I was indeed flailing about. And one of my arms hit one of the nurses trying to help me. She thought I'd actually, wilfully hit her, which of course I hadn't, but we weren't able to straighten that out until they'd put a catheter in me and things had calmed down.

In a sense, that happens with people coming to PC, and we just shouldn't let our feelings get hurt because some of these miserable folks, overwhelmed by their misery, react in some hurtful way to our attempts to help. They don't really mean it, I think.

Take care!