Also known as: Inflamed appendix
A 35-year-old male being transported for a ruptured appendix when the medevac helicopter crashes. He develops early sepsis and ultimately disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), nearly dying until his family's arrival helps him recover.
Also known as: DIC
Life-threatening complication from the crash where the patient cannot clot blood, leading to hemorrhaging everywhere. The team brings his family from a cruise ship via helicopter for a final goodbye, but he miraculously survives.
Also known as: Second-degree burns
The flight medic sustains second and third degree burns to his back and right chest after being fused to his seat during the helicopter explosion. The burns constrict his breathing, requiring emergency fasciotomy.
Also known as: Face injury
The helicopter pilot sustains severe facial trauma with a bleeding neck laceration. She has a dislocated jaw compressing her breathing tube and develops pneumomediastinum. She codes in the elevator and dies in surgery.
Also known as: Air leaking into chest cavity
The pilot develops air leaking into her mediastinum (Hamman's crunch on exam), contributing to her cardiac arrest and death.
Also known as: CF
An 8-10 year old autistic girl with severe respiratory distress and abdominal pain is ultimately diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, extremely rare in African-Americans (1 in 15,000). She tests positive for a mutation allowing treatment with a cutting-edge CFTR channel potentiator medication.
Also known as: Asperger's syndrome
The young patient is nonverbal autistic who has never spoken to her mother. The team uses a voice simulator app to help her communicate, ultimately leading to her first verbal interaction with her mother.
The autistic child has acute pancreatic inflammation as a complication of undiagnosed cystic fibrosis, contributing to her abdominal pain and malabsorption.
Also known as: Bleeding behind the eye
A teenage boy injured when a girl threw a stapler at him develops bleeding behind his right eye that compresses the optic nerve, requiring emergency surgery to prevent permanent vision loss.
Also known as: Irregular heart rhythm
The young cystic fibrosis patient develops torsades de pointes (a dangerous cardiac arrhythmia) likely related to malnutrition and electrolyte abnormalities, requiring emergency magnesium administration.
Also known as: Parkinson's
Dr. Guthrie is offered Deep Brain Stimulation surgery as treatment for his Parkinson's disease. He qualifies as a good candidate but declines, saying he has unfinished business first.