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January 29, 2010

PENN MEDICINE In Haiti -- Dispatch 10

January 29, 2010 13:39

Subject: Her momma is dead

We are now well into our third day of surgery.  We have 12 big cases and several small cases scheduled. We are trying not to do too many cases, but the local hospital is now asking us to take care of more and more people.

That hospital has stayed at 200% normal patient count, and they are admitting 10-15 patients a day as more people leave Port au Prince.  Many are trauma patients who require surgical care.

We cared for a 12-year-old girl with a femur fracture. As she was waking up from her procedure she was calling for her momma, a term recognizable in most any language.

The response, which we have heard before, was "Her momma is dead."

We returned this young lady to a living grandmother.

Michael

 

DSS: I made some minor edits for phrasing and abreviations

Posted at 06:30 PM in PENN MEDICINE in Haiti |

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    This blog is organized and maintained by David S. Smith, M.D., Ph.D. Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, University of Pennsylvania. His subspeciality is anesthesia for patients undergoing neurosurgery. For the past 6 years he has had responsibilites for patient safety and clinical care quality improvment in a Department of over 65 faculty who provide anesthesia care for about 24,000 patients each year. Correspondance can be sent to [email protected]
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