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I've had an spontaneous pneumothorax when I was a teenager. Had to undergo emergency surgery with only local anesthesia. The surgeon while cutting my chest asked: "You're sure it is this side, right?", which I confirmed. He then said: "Ok, if you're wrong I'm not going to jail alone."
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How does one do that after having a hole cut in one’s chest? Pain-wise.
A guess, but a good belt of whisky, some asprin, and happiness at not being dead?
They did use a good belt of ("5 star") brandy, but for equipment sterilisation rather than pain control.
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Eight hours! It's hard to believe the woman's condition was critical enough to require invasive surgery with these makeshift tools mid-flight, but so stable post-op that the doctors did not recommend an emergency landing. I understand they recommended against landing pre-op because of worries about cabin pressure, but why not after the surgery? She's going to have to come down at some point.
Maybe she didn't have any kind of health insurance in any country except the one she was traveling to. So when the doctors told her she could endure the rest of the flight, she chose to do so instead of going bankrupt by the medical fees. It would be also insteresting to know if she hid her injuries before boarding for the same reason.
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How does one do that after having a hole cut in one’s chest? Pain-wise.
Presumably the patient had quite a high pain threshold, since she was already ignoring a broken arm and ribs in addition to the pneumothorax in order to make her flight.
And the broken arm depends on the type of break. I split my humorous bone length ways. Initially because of adrenaline, it was absolutely painless, after an hour the pain kicked in. If I didn't move my arm it was fine but if I moved it, wow, 2nd most painful experience in my life.
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When you just did surgery with a knife and fork seems like an urgent enough situation to land?
Maybe not if the surgery was successful. As long as the condition is stable, it might not matter where they land. Might as well land close to wherever she needs to be, instead of in a completely different country.
And sure, fly another 1-2 hr to get to the final destination, but they flew 8+ hours.
It kinda makes no sense.
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Presumably the patient had quite a high pain threshold, since she was already ignoring a broken arm and ribs in addition to the pneumothorax in order to make her flight.
There isn't much you can do about broken ribs afaik? And the broken arm depends on the type of break. I split my humorous bone length ways. Initially because of adrenaline, it was absolutely painless, after an hour the pain kicked in. If I didn't move my arm it was fine but if I moved it, wow, 2nd most painful experience in my life.
Yeah it's interesting how this works.
I once broke my collar bone (I tried jumping up a curb on my bike, the handle bars fell off and I went collar bone first into the edge of the curb). I ended up carrying my bike home in pieces for half a mile and remember it not being too bad. As long as I kept my arm at my side it didn't feel any different than normal but when I lifted up my arm it was one of the sharpest pains I've ever experienced. I only ended up having a hairline fracture too.
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I really hope that doctors don't provide medical advice based on idiocy(or lack of) of ones actions. If she had to undergo emergency surgery in-flight with a coat hanger, I'm really surprised an emergency landing wasn't recommended by the doctor. The origin of her injury should have had zero bearing on it.
If only we would leave more of these decisions to arm-chair bien-pensants, second guessing two seemingly highly competent medical professionals. I am sure the woman in question would also really have appreciated being settled with the likely ruinous debts resulting from a medically needless emergency landing.
The typical way to handle a pneumothorax (without an existing hole in the chest) in pre-hospital care is with a chest decompression needle, which is often a part of a paramedic’s kit: https://www.narescue.com/ars-for-needle-decompression-3-25-i... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoracentesis Would have been much easier than using a coat hanger and silverware if they had it on board, already pre-sterilized…
Thats the typical way to handle a tension pneumo, which is slightly different but highly emergent. It's unlikely the case described was a tension pneumo because of the time period, but it very well could have developed that way, and regardless the treatment should be as useful - however one of the benefits of a needle decompression is that, because the lung has compressed so significantly, you don't have to be too co…
'the doctors successfully released the trapped air from the patient's chest, and she spent the rest of the flight uneventfully eating and watching in-flight movies'
How does one do that after having a hole cut in one’s chest? Pain-wise.
'the doctors successfully released the trapped air from the patient's chest, and she spent the rest of the flight uneventfully eating and watching in-flight movies'
How does one do that after having a hole cut in one’s chest? Pain-wise.