TM Response: What is the most dangerous thing you have ever done?
I had my fair share of naive foolishness and danger in my younger days, though I've managed to keep myself out of harm's way in the more recent past. Steering clear of danger is not always an easy thing to do when you're an emergency room doctor, and I'm reminded of that fact every now and then. Sometimes more often than I'd like to be.
The most dangerous thing I've ever done was about four and a half years ago. I was working the night shift during a horrible thunderstorm. It was raining profusely and I soon found myself in a place that I did not want to be.
Dr. Gallant--whom I had just been introduced to at the time--was waiting with me in the ambulance bay for a car accident victim. Our plans soon got rerouted when a call came in about a pregnant woman who had been stabbed. The ambulance she was being transported in had overturned and they needed docs on the scene.
What we arrived to was utter chaos. One of the EMTs was trapped inside the rig while Vicky, the patient, was still in the back of the ambulance. While I tried to get to her, lightening struck a pole that was standing very near the accident site. Gallant, in a moment of what appeared to be bravery mixed with stupidity, pushed a paramedic out of the path of the falling pole. Unfortunately, Brody was electrocuted regardless.
By this point I was still no closer to being able to reach Vicky. There was a loose electrical wire swinging back and forth on top of the ambulance, and I risked--we all risked--being electrocuted by getting into the back of the vehicle. But I, in my own moment of bravery and stupidity, jumped in the back of the rig to assess the patient.
By that time, Vicky was in active labor. Outside, another line snapped and soon Gallant was in the ambulance as well. To this day I have no idea what he was thinking. I barely know what I was thinking.
However, I soon realized that Vicky needed an emergency c-section.
A C-section in the back of an ambulance during a massive lightening storm is not the best scenario for a physician who knows very little about the procedure. I was in uncharted territory and Vicky knew it. She was soon fading in and out of consciousness. "Vicky I need you to stay awake! Stay awake!" That's all I remember saying.
I have next to no memory of the actual procedure. What I do remember feels more like a dream than an actual experience. Vicky was in fact conscious when I delivered her son. Still, I barely felt anything. I was on autopilot the entire time.
Gallant managed to jump from the ambulance with the baby safely in his grasp in order to get him back to County. Meanwhile, we managed to stabilize the patient and transport her as well.
When it was all said and done, Vicky and her son ended up being just fine. As for me, it was an experience I won't soon forget.
The most dangerous thing I've ever done was about four and a half years ago. I was working the night shift during a horrible thunderstorm. It was raining profusely and I soon found myself in a place that I did not want to be.
Dr. Gallant--whom I had just been introduced to at the time--was waiting with me in the ambulance bay for a car accident victim. Our plans soon got rerouted when a call came in about a pregnant woman who had been stabbed. The ambulance she was being transported in had overturned and they needed docs on the scene.
What we arrived to was utter chaos. One of the EMTs was trapped inside the rig while Vicky, the patient, was still in the back of the ambulance. While I tried to get to her, lightening struck a pole that was standing very near the accident site. Gallant, in a moment of what appeared to be bravery mixed with stupidity, pushed a paramedic out of the path of the falling pole. Unfortunately, Brody was electrocuted regardless.
By this point I was still no closer to being able to reach Vicky. There was a loose electrical wire swinging back and forth on top of the ambulance, and I risked--we all risked--being electrocuted by getting into the back of the vehicle. But I, in my own moment of bravery and stupidity, jumped in the back of the rig to assess the patient.
By that time, Vicky was in active labor. Outside, another line snapped and soon Gallant was in the ambulance as well. To this day I have no idea what he was thinking. I barely know what I was thinking.
However, I soon realized that Vicky needed an emergency c-section.
A C-section in the back of an ambulance during a massive lightening storm is not the best scenario for a physician who knows very little about the procedure. I was in uncharted territory and Vicky knew it. She was soon fading in and out of consciousness. "Vicky I need you to stay awake! Stay awake!" That's all I remember saying.
I have next to no memory of the actual procedure. What I do remember feels more like a dream than an actual experience. Vicky was in fact conscious when I delivered her son. Still, I barely felt anything. I was on autopilot the entire time.
Gallant managed to jump from the ambulance with the baby safely in his grasp in order to get him back to County. Meanwhile, we managed to stabilize the patient and transport her as well.
When it was all said and done, Vicky and her son ended up being just fine. As for me, it was an experience I won't soon forget.