Bedtime Reading - 1

One of my favorite bedtime books is Avoiding Common Surgical Errors by Lisa Marcucci MD, Michael J. Moritz MD, and Herbert Chen MD. There are many interesting chapters.

28: COMPLETELY UNDRESS A PATEINT WHEN EXAMINING THEM FOR TRAUMATIC INJURY

Dr. Moritz is summoned to the emergency room to examine a patient who was admitted for being shot in the head. Patient had normal pulse, blood pressure, and agonal respirations, but was also unresponsive. Dr. Moritz intubated the patient and checked several times for an injury but could not find one. Finally, he opened the patient’s eyelids and “barely” noted the entry wound of a small caliber bullet through the cornea. The lesson here is to examine every centimeter of the body including unlikely places and leave no stone unturned. Such places include the palate of the mouth, beneath the tongue, inside the nose and inside the ears, since these areas “often attract the attention of the gun muzzle or knife.” Every other orifice must also be checked as well since they “can be the target in a lovers’ triangle.”

- Just a peasant

Photo, by Jock Anderson, of a penetrating eye injury with prolapse of the iris (the iris is exiting through the entrance wound to the right of the picture).