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Written by Dr. DO
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Monday, 18 January 2010 20:45 |
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Lost a patient yesterday. And it was one of those tough ones. One where you actually see the person alive, talking to you before they die. Often patients who die in the ER come there mostly dead already. You don't usually expect to bring someone back who shows up at your door without a pulse. But when they come in talking to you and you lose them, it just makes it worse. |
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Written by Dr. DO
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Tuesday, 14 April 2009 19:21 |
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I had a patient I've been thinking about for the past few weeks. She is representative of one of the major issues we deal with in the ER. She suffered a severe head injury many years ago in a car accident. Since that time she has had problems with seizures. Several of the more commonly used seizure medications have not worked well for her in the past. Of course, the one that does work for her is quite expensive. She has no health insurance or prescription coverage. She uses her disability check that she gets at the end of the month to pay for her medications. |
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Written by Dr. DO
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Monday, 30 March 2009 23:29 |
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There is a common misconception that insurance companies won't pay for an ER visit if a patient signs out AMA. From what I understand, this is not true. However, I have often heard nurses threaten patients with this. I had a family member today who was uninsured who brought in his son who was also uninsured. The son turned out to have a testicular torsion. I quickly called the urologist who took him straight to surgery and saved his testicle. Later, the same family member brought in his wife who had passed out with the stress of her son going to surgery. After a thorough evaluation, I informed them I would be sending her home. The patient was very understanding and grateful. Her husband, however, became very angry. |
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Written by Dr. DO
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Thursday, 19 March 2009 21:28 |
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Mr. K. was a 45 year old man who I saw in the ER last week. He was having abdominal pain and back pain. We got a CT without contrast to see if he had a kidney stone and hopefully to evaluate his appendix (even though contrast usually helps with that). The CT scan came back negative, but he was so tender over the area of his appendix, I continued to worry he might have appendicitis. His white blood cell count came back and was very high. This increased my suspicion even more. |
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