Dr. WhiteCoat on how the media loves to report those who wake up from comas. But what about the other 99.99 percent?
No one gets joy hearing about comatose patients on ventilators for many years that get contractures, bed sores (even though bed sores should “never” happen), recurrent pneumonias, countless blood draws, Foley catheters, feeding tubes, etc., and then die a slow death. “If it bleeds, it leads” obviously doesn’t refer to decubitus ulcers.
This is a variation of the plane crash phenomenon. You only hear about the ones that crash, not the others that land safely.
Related posts:
- Bed sores are on the rise, despite being a Medicare "never" event
- Big CSF tubes
- What to do if you have a nose bleed
- Air ambulances
- Why it’s so difficult to die in an American hospital
- Body piercings that almost kill
- An insulin pump fails to shut off, leading to a hypoglycemic coma
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