Monday, August 17, 2009

Saturday Night Live

Busy summer night in the ED this weekend.

EMS showed up at our door with a young male patient stabbed in the chest.  Quickly intubated, he had a hemothorax that required a chest tube to be placed.  As the resident sliced open the skin between his ribs, a liter of blood spilled out of the patient's chest and onto the stretcher.  After widening the incision, she inserted a clear plastic tube to drain the blood and help re-inflate the lung.

With that procedure still underway, a second patient arrived in the trauma bay after having been shot in the back.  Exam revealed six different GSWs, with several smaller holes apparently from a shot gun.  

He was sent up to surgery just in time for the next victim of the evening, a guy who had been stabbed in the stomach with a screwdriver and hit in the head with a hammer.  Needless to say, he wasn't in great shape, either.

With a gun, knife, and hammer already used, we were wondering if somebody out there was playing a real-life game of Clue.  

Here's hoping that the temperature and people's tempers start cooling off.

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