Darwin 1, MonkeyGirl 1
Last night was cardiac night in my rooms.
First patient was a CPR in progress coming in via EMS.
"54 year old male has been experiencing chest pain and shortness of breath all week. Tonight he decided to get on the treadmill. Family reports he was on it for about 5 minutes when they heard the crash and went in and found him pulseless and apneic on the floor."
Our resuscitation was unsuccessful. Darwin wins that one.
Patient number 2 was a 58 year old man who was told after a positive stress test two months ago that he needed two stents, and was putting it off because it was too expensive. Tonight he comes in with a classic presentation STEMI. Door to balloon time: 75 minutes. At 0300, I'll take it. LAD 100% blocked, RCA almost 100%, both stented, dude's gonna be fine, 'cept for the angina when the bill comes.
His wife leaned over to kiss him goodbye as he went to the cath lab and I heard her whisper, "I told you so."
MonkeyGirl wins that one.
Darwin's up!
4 comments:
I love the I told ya so part. Hilarious!!!!
Wow He;s fortunate. I had 3 vessel with those same two and same numbers and they cracked my Chest. Why didn't I go to your Hospital. I think Stents are definitely the way to go.
Sorry about the earlier arrest. Sounds like the Widowmaker strikes again. I'm so blessed that didn't happen. Hmmmmmmm. wonder why some drop and some make it?
Guess we'll have to ask Darwin when we get wherever.
J
If you ever need to wonder what is wrong with the American health care system this is your answer. A 58 year old who puts off life saving surgery until it is (almost) too late purely because he can't afford it. This has nothing to do with Darwin and everything to do with a system that needs changing. When I very suddenly needed cardiac surgery (a CABG) it was given immediately and with no thought of the bill, I even got 6 months off work with full salary and could have had a further 6 months at half pay.
Yes the NHS has it's problems but access when needed is not one of them.
Hi there, I've been following along for a while now and I thought that this might tickle you: http://incredimazing.com/page/this_tuesday_on_an_all_new_house_md
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