ERDiaries :Festive Casualties

ERDiaries : Day 5 : Festive Casualties : Sankranti 

Monday marks a start of new week . You go happily. The scene outside ER is chilled. Lovely weather . But ER as usual was messed up. There were a couple of people enquiring about the insurance claims . (Basically , people you want to throw out of ER.)

The mess was post a mass casualty where about 8-10 people were badly injured to the level that their limbs had to be amputated. This was a road accident where a minibus turned upside down. The people where probably returning from their vacation and they obviously didn’t see this coming.

8 year old boy who was playing with manjha got a tear extending from angle of his mouth to the middle of his cheek bilaterally. 

25 year old came with a cut on his neck again because of manjha. Poor guy was riding his motorcycle when the manjha came and cut through the skin on his neck . Though not deep , it was definitely not called for as he was not flying kites himself.

Don’t panic . Told my senior in a stern voice. 

I made my mind . I won’t panic . Anti- Panic System activated. Chocolate in the mouth. Serotonin release 1 , 2 , 3 !

I see a lady enter the ER weeping . The manjha cut again . This was deep one . It had slightly missed the great vessel. The paramedic came . Madam , don’t panic .

 I am not panicking !  I said . 

You are ! He retorted . 

This called for some more self affirmations. 

I didn’t panic . That fellow misunderstood . I don’t panic . Chill . Chill. Dayum! Girl you have handled worse than this , this is a ginger candy . Take it easy! 

Another lady comes weeping with a 28yr old man who complains of chest pain And some associated symptoms. Without wasting time , I rush to my senior resident and narrate the history. He smiled and said , you panicked ! 

Introspection hit back . Did I really panic? Or is it my face ? 🤦‍♀️🤔

Fall from the terrace

There are instances where you think you could have counselled the patient better . 

The instance starts with a 40 odd year old man entering the ER confused , lost .

I need MRI . Can you write on this paper and give me?

Sir , sorry but MRI is not working fine for sometime now. 

How about CT?

Well , that too is out of order today . 

I need it for reimbursement .

Sorry , but what’s your disease , like can you tell me what’s gone wrong that you want 

CT/ MRI .

Can you please write the approximate cost of it on this prescription paper? I’ll show it to my boss . He said he will reimburse as much as he can .

But what’s the problem ? You seem fit and fine. We just can’t write investigations like that. We are accountable .

He broke down . 

It’s my son. He fell down from the second floor. Please help me !

Oh. Ah! Where is he? I don’t see him? In the ambulance outside? Where?

I have 3 daughters . He is my only son. He is just 5 year old.

Yeah . But where is he?

-At home.

You should have got him. When did he fall ? I asked concerned .( People turn up 2-3 hours after the accident usually. )

- Yesterday. And he is not responding.

We were shocked . Looked at each other . 

- Why didn’t you take him to hospital ? At least a Government run hospital . We don’t take paediatric cases at this centre anyway. My senior wrote down a list of hospitals near by . Take him there now! 

- I went and enquired . They asked me to come 3 days later . My son will die.

You should go to the Emergency not OP. Take your son along. You just can’t be roaming like this. 

He started weeping. Will he survive? What will be the expense of treatment. He is my only son . Save him. 

We explained him the prognosis and other things cannot be estimated without examining the patient. Explained him the cost difference in Government and private  hospital and how fast he should be in taking the next move. We explained him twice , thrice As much as we could . He finally left . 

Later , I thought , I should’ve tried talking to his wife about it on a call at least to explain what has to be done. I later wondered if the kid was alive or not . Things don’t appear the way they are . The level of panic and injury are rarely proportional in ER . 

There are always many what ifs and but . Things past should either be forgotten or taken note of for future . Anything other than that can derange the wiring of your brain.

Electric shock

A 11 year old boy apparently had caught a electric wire mistaking it for the kite thread thus got electrocuted . First aid was given elsewhere and he was refereed to the hospital as it’s the Burns Centre. The entry site was on his left hand wounding all his digits while the exit was on his right foot wounding the sole . 

The kid was in a state of panic . His ECG showed tachycardia ,  his anxious state being the reason. He feared every electronic device including the ECG machine. Poor one was still in a state of shock that his circulatory and respiratory system had stopped for a while and restarted.

There were no obvious damages except extension deformity of his digits . He was shifted for observation.

So far so much ! Bye!