Democratic Underground Latest Greatest Lobby Journals Search Options Help Login
Google

Household drill saves boy's life

Printer-friendly format Printer-friendly format
Printer-friendly format Email this thread to a friend
Printer-friendly format Bookmark this thread		 This topic is archived.
Home » Discuss » Archives » General Discussion (1/22-2007 thru 12/14/2010) Donate to DU
 
dipsydoodle Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-20-09 04:42 AM
Original message
Household drill saves boy's life
A doctor in Australia used a household drill to bore into a boy's skull and drain it of blood clots as his local hospital lacked the required tools.

Dr Rob Carson performed the procedure on Nicholas Rossi, 13, after the boy fell off his bike and hit his head.

The doctor had never attempted the surgery before, and had to be talked through the operation by a Melbourne neurosurgeon.

The boy's father said the doctor's improvisation had saved his son's life.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8058771.stm
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
Maine-i-acs Donating Member (989 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-20-09 05:41 AM
Response to Original message
1. Way to go, Dr. MacGyver!!
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
LeftHander Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-20-09 09:32 AM
Response to Reply #1
18. :::SNORT::: cracked me up...nt
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
mwb970 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-20-09 05:42 AM
Response to Original message
2. Would something like this help the republicans see straight? /nt
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
pnutbutr Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-20-09 05:45 AM
Response to Reply #2
3. Australia has a single payer system n/t
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
mwb970 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-20-09 05:58 AM
Response to Reply #3
4. Um, I was talking about drilling holes in their heads. /nt
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
pnutbutr Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-20-09 06:36 AM
Response to Reply #4
6. with all the stuff recently about healthcare
I went that direction.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
ejpoeta Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-20-09 05:59 AM
Response to Reply #2
5. doubt it. they would argue that the reason they didn't have the proper tools
was because of socialized medicine.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
pnutbutr Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-20-09 06:37 AM
Response to Reply #5
7. Makes you wonder what the reason was
considering Australia does have a single payer system.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
dipsydoodle Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-20-09 06:52 AM
Response to Reply #7
8. Might have been a small local hospital
not equipped for what would be classed as brain surgery.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Ikonoklast Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-20-09 08:32 AM
Response to Reply #7
11. Does every walk-in clinic in the U.S. have a neurosurgeon
on staff?

That emergency could have happened a thousand miles from the nearest trauma center.

Once again, flying under the radar.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
pnutbutr Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-20-09 08:50 AM
Response to Reply #11
12. not just about the neurosurgeon
it specifically mentioned the tools that the hospital was not equipped with.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
hunter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-20-09 10:21 AM
Response to Reply #5
20. Here in the U.S. we'd be suing the doctor and hospital for not using the proper tools.
And the insurance company would be denying payment for the same reason.

Then the insurance company would find a way to drop the kid and his family, and he would never ever be able to get health insurance again.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
juno jones Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-20-09 08:28 AM
Response to Original message
9. Trepanation-
It's been around since the cave men, there are skulls from thousands of years ago with this same operation. He could have ultimately tried the same operation with a chisel-as has been done for centuries, but I'm damn glad the drill worked. It's probably a tad more accurate.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
KittyWampus Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-20-09 09:28 AM
Response to Reply #9
16. I hope they at least used a diamond drill bit.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
juno jones Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri May-22-09 07:57 AM
Response to Reply #16
21. LOL
I was wondering how they got it into an autoclave.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Stevenmarc Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-20-09 08:30 AM
Response to Original message
10. Now if he closed with duct tape it would be a story
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
tomm2thumbs Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-20-09 09:15 AM
Response to Original message
13. grindy grindy - eeek, I can't picture it - but glad it worked!
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
TexasObserver Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-20-09 09:19 AM
Response to Original message
14. MacGruber!!
Edited on Wed May-20-09 09:23 AM by TexasObserver
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Jennicut Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-20-09 09:25 AM
Response to Original message
15. Parts of Australia are extremely rural.
This was in a rural town of the state of Victoria.
It was a very small hospital.
Drills can be used to do this and have been used many times in emergency situations. The main point is to relieve the pressure on the brain.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
trof Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-20-09 09:29 AM
Response to Original message
17. My father-in-law used a drill 'surgically'.
He was tough as nails.
We were stringing some fence and he whacked his thumbnail with a hammer.
It started to turn black.
He steadied it on a fence post, took his cordless drill, and VERY delicately bored through the nail to relieve the pressure.
Instant relief.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
aikoaiko Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-20-09 09:38 AM
Response to Original message
19. its really not a giant mental leap to think of a household drill when a surgical drill was not there
Surgical drills


Household drill



But I am very impressed that he did it without any previous experience and being guided over the phone. Kudos to the competent doctor.
:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
DU AdBot (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Wed May 01st 2024, 04:13 PM
Response to Original message
Advertisements [?]
 Top

Home » Discuss » Archives » General Discussion (1/22-2007 thru 12/14/2010) Donate to DU

Powered by DCForum+ Version 1.1 Copyright 1997-2002 DCScripts.com
Software has been extensively modified by the DU administrators

Important Notices: By participating on this discussion board, visitors agree to abide by the rules outlined on our Rules page. Messages posted on the Democratic Underground Discussion Forums are the opinions of the individuals who post them, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Democratic Underground, LLC.

Home  |  Discussion Forums  |  Journals |  Store  |  Donate

About DU  |  Contact Us  |  Privacy Policy

Got a message for Democratic Underground? Click here to send us a message.

© 2001 - 2011 Democratic Underground, LLC