Speed and Skill Saved Boy

Washington Post ^ | 17 October 2002 | Tamara Jones

[CodeWeasel]

The doors to the Bowie Health Center had just been unlocked, and Tom Lyons was catching up on paperwork before the usual parade of cut fingers, sore throats and headaches began. Mondays have a bad reputation with emergency room doctors, and Lyons knew the small suburban ER he ran would be bustling soon enough. He was savoring one last cup of coffee when he heard someone shout for him in the hallway.

We've got a gunshot wound!

[CodeWeasel]

Fascinating details about the efforts to save the 13-year old survivor of the DC-area shootings.

[aristeides]

WMAL just announced the boy's condition has been upgraded from critical to serious.

[syriacus]

Thanks for posting this. It was very well-written and very informative.

What a heroic job the medical teams did.

[aristeides]

I see that Washington Post story also says the boy's condition is now serious.

The article has a lot to say about the boy's internal injuries from the single shot. I understand the Russian rounds used in AK-74's cause such massive internal injuries. Does a .223?

[dasher]

Can't paste the whole article?

[CodeWeasel]

Sorry, I thought it was forbidden to post anything other than excerpts from the Washington Post and a few other sources. Am I wrong?

[petuniasevan]

No, you did right, CodeWeasel.
On FR's home page:

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[twntaipan]

Fascinating article--the Post rose out of the slime pit to put together a good one.

[antidisestablishment]

Good story. First time I've been to the ComPost in over a year!

[Taliesan]

Operating rooms must be kept warm to facilitate blood clotting

A minor detail, but this is not true.

[CodeWeasel]

Operating rooms must be kept warm to facilitate blood clotting

A minor detail, but this is not true.

I wondered about that myself. I had surgery a couple of years ago and I clearly remember being pretty cold when they wheeled me into the O/R.

[Blood of Tyrants]

A heart rending story.

[fourdeuce82d]

Does a .223?

depends on the actual bullet, and the velocity with which it strikes, but yes, it can.

[Taliesan]

I wondered about that myself. I had surgery a couple of years ago and I clearly remember being pretty cold when they wheeled me into the O/R.

Most OR's are kept cold simply because the staff has several layers on, plus caps on the head and masks on the face, and a certain level of tension sustained for hours. It gets hot.

Plus, if you use x-ray, you wear a lead apron under your sterile gown. I used to be soaked with sweat at the end of a day.

So you put warmed blankets on the patient, or put a warmer under them with temp controlled water citculating through it, and you turn the room thermostat down to the bottom.

Maybe some new insight has appeared in the last 15 years about "blood clotting" and ambient temps, but I doubt it.