4 ms·
The funny thing is, as an orthopedic surgeon in England, Wallace probably hadn't put in a chest tube in years, while the other "junior" doctor training in inte
by ghufran_syed 5y ago
The funny thing is, as an orthopedic surgeon in England, Wallace probably hadn't put in a chest tube in years, while the other "junior" doctor training in internal medicine, Tom Wong, probably did one every week. I have no inside knowledge, but I suspect Dr Wong probably did most of the procedure while the senior doctor Wallace took most of the credit later.
As the senior doctor, Wallace was certainly responsible for the care of the patient, which makes his inadequate examination of the patient while still on the ground, and his failure to recommend the patient be sent to the ER for a full examination a little concerning. If true, advising the plane NOT to divert and land because it might make the pneumothorax worse is also strange - as I understand it, you would expect the gas in a pneumothorax to get smaller as the pressure in the cabin returned to (sea level) atmospheric pressure, unless Boyles Law no longer applies? :)
[Edited to clarify "atmospheric pressure" means sea level pressure in this case]
- bouncycastle 5y agoThat makes sense. Once I took a packet of Doritos on board, and it blew up like a balloon once the plane took off and went to cruising altitude!
- s0rce 5y agoI live at about 5000ft and all our packages are extra poufy. It amuses me every time I go to the store.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- kayodelycaon 5y agoMy first flight on a plane also happened to had a passenger have a medical problem. She had passed out briefly. The pilots had that plane turned around fast and paramedics were waiting at the gate. I'm just stunned they would still take off with a clearly injured passenger. And then not turn around after an hour into the flight!? They didn't want to land in India, but Hong Kong was only an hour away?
- LorenPechtel 5y agoI don't think the ground exam was flawed--rather, she was downplaying the problem because she wanted to fly.
- pmyteh 5y agoThe surgeon noted in the case report that he didn't carry out a full primary survey on the ground, for reasons that seem a bit weak in retrospect.