K_Z
Verified Anesthetist
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2010
- Messages
- 6,657
- Reaction score
- 2,499
Yes, doctors know what her body temp was when she was brought in. Even from before that - from when EMT began treating her.
Yes, blood would have been drawn and immediately analyzed.
Yes, they would know if there were drugs present - what kind and how much.
Yes, they would know if there was water in her lungs at the time of initial intubation. Or from anecdotal accounts of those who performed CPR on her.
Yes, they would have performed EEGs on her. Many of them by now.
YES, they would have performed numerous other tests on her to determine brain functionality.
Regarding family members seeing "signs" of improvement, this is a common phenomenon with families of comatose patients. There are reflex body movements and eye movements that can happen with a comatose patient. Family members who come to visit and talk to the comatose patient often mistake these reflex movements as a "response" from the patient. Unfortunately that is not what is going on.
Respectfully snipped.
Agree quite strongly with all of this.
BK has had every possible test that is relevant to her care and situation, at this tertiary care university hospital filled with specialists, IMO.
Doctors know EXACTLY what her condition is at this moment in time. They know what multiple EEGs have shown, her intracranial pressure, Doppler studies, her MRIs, her cerebral blood flow studies, whether drugs were involved in her presentation, how long CPR was in progress from time of arrival, presenting rhythms, and much, much more.
They have not been standing around wringing their hands for 3 weeks while the ventilator pumps away, "wondering" what's going on, and how damaged neurologically she is. And I am equally sure that everything they know has been shared with family. This is a tertiary care university medical center with highly specialized ICUs, and at least TWO neuro ICU's.
http://whsc.emory.edu/home/multimedia/videos/neuro-icu.html
I'd like to correct some misinformation above about the oral endotracheal tube she had. It's extremely unlikely that she has had "the same, original" endotracheal tube this entire time. It's probably been exchanged at least once or twice-- not uncommon at all. The cuffs sometimes develop a leak, other plastic parts deteriorate, etc.
As far as the tracheostomy-- I think it only signals that they are going to keep on going with her care at this point. Many patients in her condition get a trach in the first week, as it becomes evident that they will not be extubatable in any brief amount of time. That it was placed relatively late in her ICU course is actually not a good sign, or a sign of improvement, IMO. There are a LOT of wildly inaccurate comments in earlier media articles today-- yeesh! I think they probably also placed a permanent g-tube as well-- trach and g-tube are often placed simultaneously. If her gut is functioning, not infarcted or anything, they can probably begin tube feeding, if they haven't already.
My prediction is that she will be moved out of ICU very soon.