It wasn’t until I put all of the details of the accident together along with the mental picture of the little girl lurching forward that I realized I had a surgical emergency on my hands. The little girl was bleeding to death right before my eyes. I opened the IV full blast, told the nurse to call the lab, “Tell them to make the draw stat and call the results to the OR… and tell em to type and cross for 5 units of packed cells (packed red blood cells).” I unlocked the gurney and rolled it out of the ER bay toward the elevators.
I will soon become a paid suscriber to your Substack, although not specifically because of your book - which I am quite certain is an invaluable piece of work - but because you saved that little girl's life - all in a day's work! You're a good man.
My mother was taking care of skinny Dutch freckled boy of about twenty-one. He went on a trip with some friends. and two days later my mother got a call from a doctor in some small town who said that Adrian has severe Type I diabetes and takes no medicine. He talked to the boy and the boy wanted to talk to his minister. He was convinced that his minister will pray and cure him. My mother tried to call his parents, but no one answered. She called the doctor who apologized and told my mother that the boy went into a comma and the doctor had no choice but to give him insulin and prescribe a strict diet. Some days later, my mother got hold of Adrian's parents. They had no problem with what the doctor did. When Adrian was a baby, he developed some serious condition and only prayers by a Christian Scientist minister saved Adrian. Andrian parents traveled to meet this brave doctor and thanked him sincerely. Nevertheless, Adrian sadly passed away in his forties.
She was lucky you were working the ER that day. This story reminds me of a book I read in high school that I enjoyed immensely. Confessions of a Knife by a local surgeon here, Richard Seltzer.
Riveting story on many levels. Like millions of others, I had faith in modern medicine until the last couple of years. Now I'm pretty much terrified of it. I'm afraid they're going to forcibly jab me with the experimental va$$ine or give me tainted blood. I've always been a pretty careful driver, but now I'm even moreso.
The answer to the story of the little six year old girl...
Hello Dr Sheftall,
I've translated this two-part article into French to serve as the bulk of one of mine on my blog : http://skidmark.blog/2023/01/09/mourir-aux-urgences/
Assuming you would not mind...
I will soon become a paid suscriber to your Substack, although not specifically because of your book - which I am quite certain is an invaluable piece of work - but because you saved that little girl's life - all in a day's work! You're a good man.
What a story, Reid! Thanks.
My mother was taking care of skinny Dutch freckled boy of about twenty-one. He went on a trip with some friends. and two days later my mother got a call from a doctor in some small town who said that Adrian has severe Type I diabetes and takes no medicine. He talked to the boy and the boy wanted to talk to his minister. He was convinced that his minister will pray and cure him. My mother tried to call his parents, but no one answered. She called the doctor who apologized and told my mother that the boy went into a comma and the doctor had no choice but to give him insulin and prescribe a strict diet. Some days later, my mother got hold of Adrian's parents. They had no problem with what the doctor did. When Adrian was a baby, he developed some serious condition and only prayers by a Christian Scientist minister saved Adrian. Andrian parents traveled to meet this brave doctor and thanked him sincerely. Nevertheless, Adrian sadly passed away in his forties.
She was lucky you were working the ER that day. This story reminds me of a book I read in high school that I enjoyed immensely. Confessions of a Knife by a local surgeon here, Richard Seltzer.
Riveting story on many levels. Like millions of others, I had faith in modern medicine until the last couple of years. Now I'm pretty much terrified of it. I'm afraid they're going to forcibly jab me with the experimental va$$ine or give me tainted blood. I've always been a pretty careful driver, but now I'm even moreso.