Ramblings of an Emergency Physician in Texas
(AP) A spokesman for a South African emergency service says a man has survived after shooting himself in the head and then being hit by a truck.
via Man Survives Bullet in Head, Being Hit by Truck – CBS News.
If South Africa has a lottery, this guy should buy himself a ticket.
I’ve been able to study Paul Levy’s management of BIDMC during several classes (more on that someday), and he’s a smart guy. Which makes this dumbfounding, if humanizing:
The Board of Directors of BIDMC today issued the following statement, which has been distributed to the media and to the entire hospital community.
The Board of Directors of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, with the assistance of outside counsel, has completed its review of allegations made involving President and CEO Paul Levy. The review focused on a personal relationship with a former employee of the Medical Center. The Board found that over time the situation created an improper appearance and became a distraction within the hospital.
Good for him, and I doubt this is going to be enough. There’s a scandal worth and immediate $50K penalty and the threat of more in contract negotiations.
Time to call Oprah, or something, and do it All at Once. Get it all out (and don’t hold back, a la Tiger), etc. People will forgive bad judgment, they will pillory you for a cover up.
It’s going to come out, so Just Do It.
This is going to sound awful, but… if you kill yourself you’re obligated not to take others with you. I know that people who kill themselves aren’t thinking about others, but, here’s a cautionary tale:
Bullet from suicide try ends up in Starbucks
GRAPEVINE — A Starbucks customer stirring his drink Thursday afternoon heard a bullet whiz by his ear after a man shot himself across the street from the coffee shop, police said. The man was on the front porch of his house in the 900 block of East Wall Street, said Lt. Todd Dearing, a Grapevine police spokesman. The bullet went through the man’s head and the drive-through window at Starbucks and past the customer and finally lodged in a restroom wall at the back of the business, Dearing said. The man who shot himself was taken to …a hospital…
Bold by me.
via Briefs: Bullet from suicide attempt ends up in Starbucks | Northeast Tarrant | News from….
Rifle? Crazy high powered pistol firing a very solid bullet? I doubt we’ll ever know, but it’s a cautionary tale. Extremely fortunate that round didn’t collect an innocent soul.
It was the only place I saw Cowboys play home games in my lifetime, and I got to march there in the HS band long, long ago (big stuff when you’re 16). I have some ‘souvenir’ AstroTurf from the first time they recarpeted the place.
For those who are going to be up that early, the WFAA link to their live streaming web page is here: WFAA.
Here’s the video, via Austin’s KXAN. Implosion starts about 1:10.
CNN Video:
Jerusalem (CNN) — Dubai’s police chief said Sunday the secretive Israeli foreign intelligence unit Mossad “needs to be ashamed” after the January killing of a Hamas leader in a Dubai hotel.
via Dubai police chief: Mossad should be ‘ashamed’ over Hamas killing – CNN.com.
I concur. Really, 26 people to smother one guy?
Seriously….
iowahawk: Fables of the Reconstruction
Iowahawk explains the stats behind AGW, in an accessible post.
The smartest AND funniest guy on the internet? Thank heavens I look better…
(I told you we should elect him President…)
Well, good:
DIY Botox Seller Busted by Texas Attorney General | Wired Science | Wired.com
There seems to be no limit to either the desire for body modification or the willingness to serve that desire.
From the Austin American Statesman:
Scott & White in Temple receives 10 patients.
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, November 06, 2009The Fort Hood shooting victims were dispersed to hospitals throughout Central Texas, where few details of their injuries or prognoses were released Thursday evening.
The first stop for many of those injured was the Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood and the Metroplex Adventist Hospital in nearby Killeen. The more serious were then transferred to other hospitals so patients could receive specialized care.
Ten of the wounded were taken to Scott & White Memorial Hospital in Temple, 26 miles from the Army post’s main gate.
Of those patients, four were in operating rooms late Thursday and some others were in critical care, said Dr. Robert Greenberg, vice chair of the department of emergency medicine at Scott & White.
I head on the radio on the way home that the call for blood donations has been satisfied, and they’re closed for that now.
I have nothing but respect for those in uniform, and have no words for the families of those killed and wounded by a traitor in their midst.
We’re going to hear a lot about this murderous POS, and not enough about the dedicated soldiers who rescued their fellow men and women. Just like the VA Tech shooter, I’d like nothing more than to name him an Un-Person.
Wow. Just wow:
Hospital bill stuns slain student’s parents
By Sam Stanton
“It was just devastating and insulting,” Gerald Hawkins said Monday. “It’s just hard to grasp for words. My wife and I were near collapse.”
On Saturday, 10 days after Scott Hawkins was beaten to death inside his dormitory at California State University, Sacramento, his parents got a letter in the mail.
It contained a bill from the UC Davis Medical Center for $29,186.50 along with a form letter addressed “Dear Patient” that implied they were indigent and stated that the hospital no longer could provide them services.
“UC Davis can no longer provide follow-up care or any other non-emergency care to you,” it read. “Please go to a County clinic for all non-emergency care or to get a referral to another doctor.”
For Gerald and Elizabeth Hawkins, it was just too much to bear.
So, their son is a victim of a homicide, at the ripe old age of nineteen. In a UC Dorm. No doubt a bright person with an unlimited future, cut tragically short.
Contacted by The Bee on Monday, Carole Gan, a hospital spokeswoman, called the mailing “a mistake.”
You don’t say.
She said she was limited in what information she could provide about the medical care provided to Scott Hawkins, but said he arrived at the emergency room at 3:11 p.m. and was pronounced dead five minutes later.
“The trauma team did everything they could,” Gan said.
I’m more aware than most of the number of people involved in a Trauma Activation, and it’s a lot. Those peoples’ time has to be paid for. It’s not, or shouldn’t be, $6,000/minute.
I’m also generally but not specifically aware of the obscenity of being sent a bill for nearly $30K for your son’s death. That is horrible, horrific and inexcusable on every level. For shame.
Horrible.
Condolences to the family.
By Ramon Antonio Vargas, The Times-Picayune
October 31, 2009, 4:50PM
A Tulane University plastic surgeon — known for healing the disfigured limbs and facial features of trauma victims and skin cancer patients with his scalpel — was knifed to death inside of his French Quarter home early Saturday.
An arsonist then lit his home on fire in an apparent attempt to destroy any clues leading to his killer, according to authorities.
Dr. Ralph Edward Newsome Jr., 45, died after being stabbed to death multiple times inside his three-story town house in the 900 block of Toulouse Street about 3 a.m. His body had no burns, and he had not inhaled any smoke, meaning someone set fire to the home after he was stabbed, New Orleans coroner’s chief investigator John Gagliano said.
Holy cow. Condolences to his family.
I got a nice email from the American Meat Institute (representing pork producers, among others), politely asking that we stop saying ‘swine flu’:
Novel H1N1 is a human disease. Pigs have not played any role in the spread of the virus. We urge you to remind your reporters and producers that continued use of the term “swine flu” is inappropriate and ask that your coverage de-link the virus from pigs or pork. We ask that you refrain from using pig graphics in your reporting as it reinforces the perception that a link has existed between the Novel H1N1 virus and pig production– something that is regrettable, inaccurate, yet commonly seen.
So, just say no to swine flu, it’s H1N1.
Allegedly for “not writing a prescription”…
Dr. Paul Arnold turned his back for a moment on a patient who was upset because the doctor wouldn’t write him a prescription.
That’s when the patient, Gregory S. Powell, 45, of Fort Myers, allegedly attacked Arnold, 65, biting off part of one of the doctor’s fingers.
As my tipster says “…probably wasn’t about refusing an amoxicillin script…”.
In custody; no word on the doc, and best wishes.
Thanks to Glenn (a true homie) for the tip.
One of the joys of having a blog with 10 readers is that a bunch of them actually add content. From the comments to this post (about the Collier Township, PA mass shooting) by CHenry:
Sadly a recurring pattern of tragedy. A mentally ill person: depressed, angry, frustrated and paranoid, socially isolated largely due to the behavioral features of his disordered personality (I say “his” particularly because it is true, most of these mass-killer-suicides are men) and then some event that triggers the lethal cataclysm of violence. It doesn’t even have to be something most people would think would trigger someone to break, maybe the failure of a brief relationship, or something more significant like a job loss.
U. Texas at Austin, Port Arthur, Tasmania, San Ysidro, California, Ecole Polytechnique, Quebec, Kileen, Texas, Dunblane, Scotland, Virginia Tech. All very similar, and there have been many more.
The gun control activists point to the weapons of choice. They have a point: semiautomatic firearms give an assailant a huge advantage of speed in making a body count when turned on unarmed and trapped victims. But even in places where gun ownership is tightly controlled, those with the determination to kill have found weapons of their choice.
We live in a society where it is startlingly easy to be alienated and alone, even in a crowd. For whatever reasons, the ties that bind us to one another, community, family, church, friendship and work are much more tenuous than ever before. People with thought disorders and violent tendencies have probably never been freer, both of the laws that once gave a society powers to confine them and of the observation and social controls that a world of smaller communities once imposed on their behaviors.
The lonely berserk stranger, hell-bent on wreaking as much destruction as possible before his own destruction has become the dark meme of modern living. Going postal.
I don’t see a practical answer to this problem. Good comment.
Flu developments | Fort Worth | Star-Telegram.com
Only a fraction of the nearly 2,500 nasal swabs sent to the state health department lab have been tested. The Austin lab had tested 181 of the 2,492 nasal swabs received from counties around the state by Friday. The lab’s single testing machine was overwhelmed Wednesday.
Don’t test the swabs. Then the count doesn’t go up when everybody’s twitchy.
I know you’re already tired of hearing about it, but:
They’re have a nice Informational about ‘Swine Flu’ and a good Q&A in the comments.
