Monday, October 03, 2005

A Doc's Life - Memorable Moments 5

Scenario - Orthopedic Dept of a teaching hospital. Patient is a young gentleman involved in a RTA.

This happened midway through my Orthopedic rotation as an intern. It was early in the morning when this patient was admitted through the A & E department. He was a motorcyclist who had skidded and ran into a roadside barrier.

His right knee had been almost totally amputated, and was literally hanging by a skin tag posteriorly. The tibia/fibula had been avulsed from the femur - we could see the glistening white femoral cartilage of the knee joints. It had been so "cleanly" (for lack of a better word) torn off that not even the meniscii nor the cruciates had been left behind.

The team tried to reattach the limb but unfortunately, by the 3rd POD, it was obvious that the distal limb was not going to survive, and had to be amputated. Understandably, this young man at the prime of his life developed clinical depression and had to be transferred to the psych ward later.

During my Ortho postings as an intern as well as an MO, I saw countless injuries, some mild, some fatal, due to motorcycle accidents. I decided then that no child of mine, nor family members, nor friends would get on a motorbike, if I could help it.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi there,

i think its pretty rare you get comments :) anyway keep up the good work going in this site i must say it is really inspiring for someone like me who wants to get into med school.

None the less i agree with you that motorcycles are nothing but trouble.

Cheers

aliendoc said...

Thanks! Started this blog more as a creative outlet for me...but comments are most welcome!

Chen said...

lots of motorcyclists out there thinks that they are king of the roads..
ride & speed like there's no tomorrow, and never treasure their lives.....
hai.. if they have MVA, we doctors have to suffer to resuscitate them... :(