Truth (Part 2) - Halloween Edition (Part 1)
Be Honest With Yourself
Welcome to the Halloween edition of NBTS told in 2 parts! Part 2 will drop later this week. Today’s story illustrations are created by AI (more on this in Part 2). The captions show the text instructions I provided to the AI for creating the image. Also, if you want to read more chilling medical stories, check out the previous article, “Truth (Part 1).”
People often ask me to share gory medical stories. Sometimes I deflect. Sometimes I genuinely can’t remember. It is a marvel of the human mind how we deal with trauma. Sometimes we consciously or subconsciously archive our experiences deep down to a place not readily accessible. Other times we see something that we can’t forget no matter how hard we try. The story of Joseph (fictional name) was one of those times…
In the fall of 2010 on a Halloween eve, I was working as an EMT in the emergency department at University of Utah, which is a Trauma 1 center. This means the worst injuries from all around the region go there. Motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) were/are the most common type of trauma seen. There was nothing particularly special about Joseph’s story in this regard, however the way in which he presented has stuck in my mind ever since.
Joseph was a young man roughly 18 years old. His car was his most prized possession. It was his passion, his tool for freedom and adventures. It was tied into his identity. He had great faith in his driving skills. He would drive his buddies around town and get them home safely from parties. Like many 18-year-olds, he was certain nothing bad would ever happen to him.
On that night while driving his best friend home, he lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a telephone pole. They were both unrestrained. Neither got home safely that night.
They were both ejected from the vehicle through the windshield. Joseph’s friend’s prompt exit was stopped short by the telephone pole. He did not survive.
Joseph cleared the vehicle and pole. He landed on soft ground. He had a broken femur and some cuts on his face but otherwise arrived in the ER largely unscathed except for his left arm.
The left arm must have gotten caught on a sharp edge of glass or metal as he exited the vehicle. The sharp edge in combination with the speed of his exit stripped all soft tissue from the bone below the shoulder. This is known as an avulsion injury. The large bone of the upper arm called the humerus remained attached at the shoulder but separated at the elbow from his lower arm. The left humerus bone remained perfectly intact and totally exposed with nothing attached.
I still remember the screams as that skeleton arm flailed about on the gurney as if it were yesterday. I couldn’t take my eyes off of the humerus bone gesturing about the room as if it were a necromancer’s wand. It was hard to think or move or act. His arm transfixed me. Time froze. I froze.
After initial assessment, IV access was obtained, he was sedated, and things calmed down some. In the brief time before he was shipped off to the OR to finish the amputation that the car had started, us students gathered round for a living anatomy lesson.
The simple moral to the story is obvious. Wear your seat belt!
The harder lesson goes against our human nature, especially when young, which is to be honest with ourselves about our abilities, about the real-world risks & risk mitigation strategies.
Cars are an amazing technological advancement that have always held the promise of great benefit and risk. Car safety has improved greatly over many years thanks to a combination of education, training, regulation, & technological safety advancements. Human nature, on the other hand, changes little with time. It is at this intersection where new technology can bedevil us. No politician, cop, mother, father, or doctor can ever force a grown man to wear his seat belt.
The best way to be safe is to strive toward not only improving our technological understanding but also toward a better understanding of ourselves.
Happy Halloween!
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