[net.med] Puzzled by treatment

wick@ihuxw.UUCP (01/25/84)

[]


Last weekend in Chicago a 4 yr. old boy fell through the ice
of Lake Michigan, and was trapped there for 20 minutes.  When
he was pulled out, he was "dead," but the cold water slowed
his metabolism down to the point he was almost in a state
of suspended animation.  The boy seems to be on the way to
recovery, whether there is any permanent damage is not known
yet, but the treatment of the doctors has me puzzled.

When the boy was brought to the hospital, he was given
barbiturates and put into a coma.  The barbiturate dosage
is now being reduced, so he should start coming out of
the coma on Thursday.

My question: What are the benefits of a barbiturate induced coma?
             This is a little counter intuitive.


-- 

John Wickberg
..!ihnp4!ihuxw!wick

shacklet@ittral.UUCP (Cliff Shackleton) (01/25/84)

I saw on one of these "good morning" shows this morning an interview
with the doctor that treated the little boy. He said that the particular
drug and the coma state produced the side effect of increasing oxygen
in the brain and that the coma state itself was not bad but that it
was the body's way of reorganizing itself after a severe trauma.

By the way the little boy is now out of the coma and is responding to
verbal stimulus, and is able to move his arms and legs etc. It's amazing
when you consider he was under water about twenty minutes.

andrew@inmet.UUCP (01/26/84)

#R:ihuxw:-67500:inmet:11200004:000:195
inmet!andrew    Jan 24 11:22:00 1984

According to an AP article in today's (1/24) Boston Globe, the coma was
induced "to keep pressure in his skull from damaging his brain".  He woke
up yesterday, but is still in serious condition.

walsh@ihuxi.UUCP (B. Walsh) (01/30/84)

What burns me about the treatment of the boy (Johnny) is that the
emergency medical techs (EMTs) worked on him themselves for over an
HOUR, when a hospital was only three minutes away! These EMTs get too
carried away trying to "stabilize" patients, when they should be concerned
with transporting said patients to the hospital. The boy was unconscious
when pulled out of the water (really, he was clinically dead) and they
sat there for an hour in the ambulance. Unbelievable.

Leave medicine to medics!

B. Walsh

ded@aplvax.UUCP (01/31/84)

B. Walsh has stated that the underwater boy was treated for
an hour in the ambulance before being transported to the 
hospital, and wonders why he wasn't transported immediately.
Well, I wonder too.  But, one of the doctors involved said
that the boy was saved due to sophisticated on-site treatment AND
sophisticated hospital treatment.  I wonder if the on-site ambulance
treatment was absolutely necessary to effect the final outcome.
-- 

					Don Davis
					JHU/APL
				...decvax!harpo!seismo!umcp-cs!aplvax!ded
				...rlgvax!cvl!umcp-cs!aplvax!ded