May 9th, 2011 by GruntDoc in News, True Stories
Tags: Ann Arbor, Danger, Emergency Medicine, Gas, Gastroenterology, Hazardous Material, Hazmat, Hematochezia, Hospital, Medical, Michigan, Superwarfarin, Warfarin
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Absent other information, the referred to ‘rodent poison’ is probably a superwarfarin. It’s like regular people-coumadin, but superconcentrated. It kills rodentia by causing them to bleed to death.
Which makes the ‘gas effect’ seem really odd, but possibly explainable.
A patient who apparently ingested rodent poison and is emitting potentially harmful gasses has created a hazardous material situation at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor.
The man is isolated in his room in the medical intensive care unit on the hospital’s sixth floor, 5301 McAuley at East Huron River Drive, hospital spokeswoman Lauren Jones said this afternoon.
via Patient emits potentially harmful gas; hazmat called to Ann Arbor hospital | Detroit Free Press | freep.com.
Two thoughts: 1) I sincerely hope this patient recovers, and 2) if this is just upper GI bleed smell someones’ going to have rotten egg smell on their face.
I looked up superwarfarins, found a couple of interesting case reports, but none that talk about abnormal gases.
(For the uninitiated, the smell of digested blood is amazingly awful. It’ll make experienced, hard ED staff retch). I can understand why the smell would set off alarms, except that it’s not that uncommon, so it shouldn’t be a surprise.
It’ll be interesting to see what come of this.
Lighting matches in the hospital is a nono, by the way.
*This blog post was originally published at GruntDoc*
May 9th, 2011 by Edwin Leap, M.D. in Opinion, True Stories
Tags: Ambulance, Car Accident, Emergency Medicine, EMS, Motor Vehicle Crash, MVC, Public Health, Trauma Center, When The Hospital Is Far Away
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Years ago I had a conversation with a surgeon at our facility. He was unhappy that a seriously injured trauma patient came to our facility after a MVC. ‘These patients shouldn’t come here Ed, they should go to a trauma center!’
Fair enough; we aren’t a trauma center. Not a Level I, not a Level II or III; not even a level 0.5! But we are the only hospital in a large rural county, and the closest, largest facility for portions of a few other counties nearby. The nearest hospital with neurosurgery and thoracic surgery is at least 30 minutes further away.
The problem is, torn blood vessels, crushed spleens, collapsed lungs, swollen brains don’t look at the clock, and cars aren’t designed to wreck only near trauma centers, any more than assailants shoot and stab people only within proximity of appropriate care. (It rather defeats the purpose of attempted murder, you know. )
Recently, my partner had the same conversation with the same surgeon. The patient had been shot twice and was hypotensive. ‘These patients shouldn’t come here!’ We understand, the conditions may not be ideal and trauma is, to be quite honest, fraught with medical and legal peril. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at edwinleap.com*
May 8th, 2011 by Elaine Schattner, M.D. in True Stories
Tags: Blood Draw, Blood Tests, Healthcare Quality, Lab Tests, Medical Errors, Patient Safety, Phlebotomy, Quality of Care, Regulation
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Last week I had some blood tests taken before a doctor’s appointment. I went to a commercial lab facility, one of several dozen centers for collecting specimens have opened up in otherwise-unrented Manhattan office spaces lately.
I have to say I really like getting my blood work done at this place, if and when I need blood tests. And it’s gotten better over the past few years.
First, pretty much all they do in the lab center is draw blood and collect other samples based on a doctor’s orders. So the people who work there are practiced at phlebotomy, because it’s what they do most of the time. The guy who drew my blood last week did the same a year or two ago, and he was good at it back then. He used a butterfly needle and I didn’t feel a thing.
Second, they seem organized and careful about matching specimens to patients. The man who drew my blood didn’t just confirm my name and date of birth, but he had me sign a form, upon my inspecting the labels that he immediately applied to the tubes of blood he drew from my right arm, that those were indeed my samples and that I was the patient named Elaine Schattner with that date of birth and other particulars. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medical Lessons*
May 8th, 2011 by KerriSparling in True Stories
Tags: Baby, Corneal Abrasion, Eye Damage, Fingernail, healthcare, Ophthalmology, Optometry, scratch, Tear
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So on Sunday night, I finished singing BSparl her bedtime song and leaned in to tuck her into her crib. But because she was giggling and reaching for me, I leaned in to give her an extra hug.
NEVER GO IN FOR THE EXTRA HUG.
Or at least that’s what someone should have whispered in my ear.
Because when I leaned it, she happened to reach up at the same time and her thumb met my eye with such force that it knocked me to my knees. Apparently, her thumb nail scraped off a section of my cornea (or, as my eye doctor said, “You know when you eat string cheese and you pull a section of the cheese off?” Thanks, Dr. S. I will never, ever eat string cheese again. Ever.) and severely damaged my eye. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Six Until Me.*
May 8th, 2011 by John Di Saia, M.D. in Health Tips, True Stories
Tags: Bad, Body Contouring, Dents, Laser, Liposuction, Plastic Surgery, Smartlipo, Surgery, Weight Loss
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It frequently amazes me how patients can be wowed by technology and advertising hype. The attraction of newer technology in particular helps part many people from their money at times. The SmartLipo system is one of the laser-assisted liposuction systems on the market. I have blogged on it before having used it quite a bit a few years ago.
The system is being marketed with phrases like “almost anyone can be a good candidate for SmartLipo.” That is simply BS.
I saw an attractive young woman in the office who had had Smartlipo on her lower back. It looked like the Geiko Gecko had done it. Her smooth contour had been made irregular and discolored despite the fact that the surgery had happened quite a while prior. Her ribs had been a bit exposed by the loss of some of the fat that would normally have laid over them. Early lipo results do change, but this wasn’t something that was going to improve over time. I have seen worse but this was so unnecessary.
SmartLipo Led to a Dent
Why did this happen? Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Truth in Cosmetic Surgery*
