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In-flight surgery with a coat-hanger and silverware

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81–90 of 217 posts

Re: In-flight surgery with a coat-hanger and silverware

#81
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spontaneously! My lung simply ruptured. I was lying in my bed when it happened the first time.

Wait, there were more times it happened to you?

See my other comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30710381

Sometimes it feels like a time bomb. I've been living with it for so long I just don't care anymore, it actually makes no difference in my life or plans. It prevented me from becoming a military pilot though.

Re: In-flight surgery with a coat-hanger and silverware

#82
post #59

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."

While the surgeon was pointing to the left side of OP, they just answered “it’s the right side” meaning that the right side was the right side … Guess what the surgeon did.

This is why I say “correct” instead of saying “right.”

Re: In-flight surgery with a coat-hanger and silverware

#83
post #56
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So i'm not an anaesthetist and therefore I claim no high ground with regard to this rusty attempt at respiratory and gas physiology - When I read it initially I thought - that makes sense, but I just did the equations, and basically the thing you're worried about is that the pocket of air that is outside the lung is going to change volume significantly and lead to the worst case outcome, a tension pneumo. But the vol…

How I imagine you: cracks knuckles "time to open up west's respiratory physiology again"

That’s pretty damn funny. Seriously that textbook is amazing

Re: In-flight surgery with a coat-hanger and silverware

#84
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

„emergent“ means the prevalence is increasing? Why?

From your name and punctuation I assume you’re German. Thats actually not the use here but that meaning is common. “Emerge” is simply Frenchified Latin for ausgehen. In this case however it appears to be medical (perhaps ER) slang for “rapidly becoming an emergency”

I’ve never thought of it as slang but rather a descriptive term for patient condition but you’re bang on

Re: In-flight surgery with a coat-hanger and silverware

#85
post #33
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It’s not her decision, it’s the pilot’s decision to divert or not.

The pilot would make that decision based on a third party assessment of the situation relayed to them.

Re: In-flight surgery with a coat-hanger and silverware

#86
post #59

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."

While the surgeon was pointing to the left side of OP, they just answered “it’s the right side” meaning that the right side was the right side … Guess what the surgeon did.

English... what a language! The right side was actually the left side. Fortunately the talk was in Portuguese.

Re: In-flight surgery with a coat-hanger and silverware

#87
post #35
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

How is surgery “successful” when they used a coat hanger? Can you imagine the infection risk? And sure, fly another 1-2 hr to get to the final destination, but they flew 8+ hours. It kinda makes no sense.

I would define a surgery's success by the success of the outcome, not by the tools that go into it. How would you define a "successful" surgery?

An in-flight surgery that stabilizes the patient indefinitely is more successful IMO than one with all the best tooling that gets the patient killed.

Re: In-flight surgery with a coat-hanger and silverware

#88
post #71
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Doubtful. Do people go bankrupt by medical debt in other countries? Seems unlikely to get judgment and collect.

I think it’s simply unlikely because debt is always preferable to a life threatening emergency.

That being said, from a global perspective, “bankruptcy” is not a good measure of economic burden. There are worse debt outcomes than bankruptcy.

Re: In-flight surgery with a coat-hanger and silverware

#89
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> 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 i…

> As long as I kept my arm at my side it didn't feel any different

As someone who watches bike racing, it is often immediately apparent when someone has broken their collarbone by the way they keep their arm.

Re: In-flight surgery with a coat-hanger and silverware

#90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similar to what happened to a doctor in Antarctica: https://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-antarctica/people-in-ant...

I know a guy who went there (McMurdo in Antartica) the year after this happened (so similar situation - there is only one doctor that needs to do everything for everyone). Again, you're there for a long time and there is no help coming if you have a problem in the middle of winter. Before you go, they do as much as possible to ensure you won't have medical issues once you get there. One of the things is that they str…

You know, in normal circumstances that quote would be terrifying but I think I would have some minor relief if my only option for my issue has at least some experience!
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