Up and Coming

Hello Redwood's Fans!

How was your Thanksgiving celebration? Hopefully good.

What's your favorite Thanksgiving food?

Mine is my mother's homemade stuffing with turkey gravy. As I'm writing this, I haven't had it yet and am looking forward to it . . . on Saturday as this is where I'll be on Thanksgiving Day:

I know, jealous, right?

For you this week:

Monday: JoAnn Spears continues her series on Ann Boleyn and the mysterious sweating sickness. Fascinating posts!

Wednesday: What's it like for a doctor to get sued? Dr. Kate O'Reilly shares a very personal experience of her legal drama. I think sometimes when doctors get sued, it's the public's perception that something negligent did happen. I'll be the first to say I've known of cases where the bad outcome for the patient wasn't the result of any medical negligence and the family still sued. What do you think about that?

Friday: Author question . . . you know I LOVE these. This one deals with post-mortem injuries.

Have a great week. Did anyone venture out for Black Friday shopping?

Jordyn

The Death of Dr. Mark Sloan

Ahhh... Grey's Anatomy Fans.

I need your help . . .

This may seem funny coming from a medical expert like myself but . . .

I. Have. No. Idea. What. Mark. Sloan. Died. Of?

Anyone know?

The tumultuous end of last season-- the plane crash with almost every major character on the plane left us in doubt as to who survived and who didn't.

At the beginning of the current season, it's assumed Mark Sloan is dead. But then, he's not. But then, he is.

From a medical standpoint, I do give Grey's credit for showing some true aftermath of the crash. A renowned neurosurgeon who no longer has full function of his dominant hand and can no longer do surgery. Kudos. The post-traumatic stress aspects that had one character going through some fairly severe post-traumatic stress. Honestly, how Christina is still walking upright . . . you know after the whole gun situation too when she had to operate on Derick with a weapon to her head.

Really...

The confusing thing about Mark Sloan's death was the ACTUAL cause of death was never mentioned. He had a major chest injury. We know that. He was coherent and talking after the crash. Good! But then, his happiness at Seattle Grace is noted to be "the surge"-- which I guess is to equate with a real thing that can happen when a terminal patient has a period of lucidity in order to say good-bye.

But what would have been terminal for this doctor? His heart was too weakened by the crash he wouldn't live? Hmm... how about a heart transplant? Vasoactive drips? An LVAD device?

To confuse matters more-- he signs a 30-day DNR order where if he hasn't fully recovered, they are to discontinue life support.

But, he still has the breathing tube in his mouth at the end of 30 days.

And here is my teaching point at the end of all my musings. Generally, a ventilator dependent patient (or one who isn't recovering quickly) is typically taken to surgery and a trach is placed somewhere between 7-14 days (sometimes sooner.) A trach is easier to take of and a more secure airway. Having an endotracheal tube in the mouth and through the vocal cords for that long can cause damage.

So keep this time frame in mind fellow fiction authors.

And please . . . someone tell me . . . what did Mark Sloan die from?

I'm Thankful . . . For You!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just a quick note to all my readers...

Thank you.

For reading this blog.

For leaving comments.

For participating in discussion.

You make it worth every minute.

Enjoy your day.

Top Three Medically Inaccurate Shows: IMHO

Let me say first, television shows are not a good resource for medical research. Scratch that-- reality shows where they actually film a medical team in action are good for sights, sounds, etc.

However, those fictionalized series written by writers are likely not. Here are my top three offenders as far as medical inaccuracy goes. This is not to say that I don't love watching these shows-- how else would I know they were so horrible for medical inaccuracy?

#3  Dexter: The reason I include Dexter on this list is that it perpetuated one of the leading medical myths. . . that you must keep the head injured patient awake. This is not true and doesn't prevent a serious medical outcome. You can read here about this medical myth.

 

#2  FlashPoint: From giving a patient (my favorite character) too much Morphine that would have likely killed him to my favorite sentence, "I can't detect a heartbeat. His blood pressure is low." For one, if you are listening to the patient's chest and can't hear a heartbeat, then your patient is dead and therefore has no blood pressure and should receive CPR post haste!

#1  Grey's Anatomy: I'm not even a surgeon and I know that watching Grey's likely causes surgeons across the country to go into lethal arrhythmias. Two of my favorite instances of medical inaccuracy. One was a patient who needed major neck surgery-- twice. After the first neck surgery, he's placed in a C-collar to prevent movement. But then, it becomes medically necessary to do plastic surgery on his ear (not life saving by any means). In that shot, the patient's head was turned all the way to the side so they could reach it. Guess his neck was stable after a mere few hours. Then he goes back for a second neck surgery and after that, isn't even in a C-collar. That is some rapid healing-- let me say.

My next favorite Grey's inaccuracy was the chief resident having control over the nurses' schedule. People, let me tell, physicians do not have anything to do with staffing nurses. Never. Especially to put them closer to a physician they are pining over.

What medical shows would you add to my list?