Also known as: COVID
Marcella, a 62-year-old patient, is admitted to ICU with COVID-19 pneumonia causing severe respiratory distress. She requires intubation and mechanical ventilation when she decompensates despite oxygen therapy. She shares a ventilator with her daughter due to equipment shortage.
Also known as: COVID
Veronica, Marcella's daughter, initially has mild COVID symptoms but rapidly deteriorates, requiring ICU admission. She suffers cardiac arrest with hypotension before being placed on BiPAP and eventually sharing a ventilator with her mother. She likely contracted COVID from hugging her mother on her birthday.
Also known as: COVID
Meredith remains on mechanical ventilation throughout most of the episode. The medical team monitors her closely for potential extubation, concerned about limited ventilator availability. She is successfully extubated at the end of the episode after showing improved oxygenation and passing spontaneous breathing trials.
Also known as: Kidney stones
Irene, a 35-year-old patient with multiple sclerosis, presents with severe flank pain from a large kidney stone lodged in her right ureter. During lithotripsy, the friable ureter tissue tears away completely, requiring emergency exploratory laparotomy and kidney auto-transplant to save the kidney. The condition was likely exacerbated by herbal teas from her acupuncturist and inadequate hydration.
Also known as: MS
Irene has a history of MS managed with steroids and alternative medicine including herbal teas. Her MS complicates her kidney stone treatment as it affects her tissue quality and may cause future bladder issues that would be more difficult to manage with only one kidney.
Also known as: Broken leg bone with skin break
A young male pedestrian struck in a crosswalk sustains a severe open tibial fracture requiring external fixation. During surgery, he develops a fat embolism causing respiratory compromise and requiring mechanical ventilation for several days.
Also known as: Fat in bloodstream
During surgical repair of an open tibial fracture, the patient throws a large fat embolism causing acute respiratory distress with oxygen desaturation and tachycardia. He requires emergency intubation and mechanical ventilation, consuming one of the hospital's critically limited ventilators.