Also known as: Cold exposure
A 3-year-old girl who was underwater for 20 minutes, presenting with severe hypothermia (core temp 84°F) and cardiac complications. The team worked to rewarm her using various techniques including pleural lavage and eventually discovered she had ingested her grandfather's diltiazem, complicating her treatment. After prolonged resuscitation including thoracotomy and cardiac irrigation, her pulse was successfully restored.
Also known as: Calcium channel blocker overdose
The toddler accidentally ingested her grandfather's diltiazem (blood pressure medication), which is highly toxic in children. This caused refractory ventricular fibrillation requiring calcium administration and aggressive resuscitation measures.
Also known as: GI bleed
A 67-year-old woman scheduled for thyroidectomy who suffered a massive gastrointestinal bleed from presumed diverticulosis. The intern failed to report her bloody stool symptom during rounds, and she subsequently died after prolonged unsuccessful resuscitation.
Also known as: Thyroid mass
The patient had a neck mass causing difficulty swallowing and was scheduled for thyroidectomy for symptomatic relief. Fine needle aspiration showed a benign degenerative cyst.
Also known as: Head trauma
A homeless veteran from Gates' old unit who suffered a traumatic brain injury from a rocket attack in Iraq. MRI showed diffuse axonal injury in the parasagittal white matter. The Army misdiagnosed him with a personality disorder and discharged him without proper treatment.
Also known as: Blood cancer
Dr. Cate Banfield's 5-year-old son presented with febrile seizure and altered mental status, later revealed to be caused by acute myeloid leukemia with extremely elevated white count (167,000) causing hyperviscosity syndrome. He suffered a stroke, cardiac arrest, and ultimately died in Trauma 1 despite aggressive treatment including leukapheresis.
Also known as: Fever seizure
Daryl's initial presenting symptom was a febrile seizure with history of prior similar episode. His mother initially attributed the recurrence to typical febrile seizures, delaying recognition of the underlying leukemia.
Also known as: Brain attack
CT scan revealed hypoattenuation in the distribution of the middle cerebral artery, indicating stroke caused by hyperviscosity from acute leukemia with white count of 167,000. The stroke was caused by blood sludging from leukostasis.