A Radiologist's Tale

[eagleseven]

One day, a young 36-year-old Radiologist, just having finished his residency, is working early Sunday morning. As he's new, he's been given the worst hours at his particular hospital.

He's walking to his office, when he feels a sudden, intense chest pain.

He thinks to himself "I'm too young to have a heart attack, but I can't work like this!" He checks himself into the ER, and orders a series of scans.

---

The ER nurses tell him that he'll have to wait a few more hours, because nobody is on staff who can legally read his scans. Being the only radiologist currently in the hospital, he reads them himself.

The doctor looks at his scans, says "Oh, shit!" and lies down. The nurses run to him, to see what is wrong. He is already unconscious.

He dies less than an hour later. My pathologist comes in Monday morning, to find his friend in the morgue. He notes the irony, in that the radiologist's last diagnosis was correct: his own death.

---

What killed the otherwise healthy, young radiologist? He suffered a dissecting aneurysm, where his aorta spontaneously ruptured.

---

Morale of the story? Stress kills.

 

[JW Frogen]

We all, every last one of us, live in the Twilight Zone.

 

[fyrenza]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1sf2CzEq0w"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1sf2CzEq0w[/ame]

 

[Madeline]

One day, a young 36-year-old Radiologist, just having finished his residency, is working early Sunday morning. As he's new, he's been given the worst hours at his particular hospital.

He's walking to his office, when he feels a sudden, intense chest pain.

He thinks to himself "I'm too young to have a heart attack, but I can't work like this!" He checks himself into the ER, and orders a series of scans.

---

The ER nurses tell him that he'll have to wait a few more hours, because nobody is on staff who can legally read his scans. Being the only radiologist currently in the hospital, he reads them himself.

The doctor looks at his scans, says "Oh, shit!" and lies down. The nurses run to him, to see what is wrong. He is already unconscious.

He dies less than an hour later. My pathologist comes in Monday morning, to find his friend in the morgue. He notes the irony, in that the radiologist's last diagnosis was correct: his own death.

---

What killed the otherwise healthy, young radiologist? He suffered a dissecting aneurysm, where his aorta spontaneously ruptured.

---

Morale of the story? Stress kills.

Hopefully this was not drawn from real life, eagleseven.

But I'll bet good money many MDs test themselves; how you guys can resist becoming raging hypocondriacs escapes me.

 

[editec]

Iatrogenesis is the nation's 4th highest killer after heart attacks, cancers, and diabetes.

My advise for a long life?

Eat well, sleep well, stay in shape, avoid stress, eschew cigarettes, alcohol and drugs and AVOID going to the doctors EXCEPT in extreme circumstances.

My personal exist strategy is to drop dead while in PERFECT health thus saving myself, my family and the TAXPAYER the costs and hassels of a long dying process.

Haven't quite worked out the details, yet, but that's the plan.

 

[eagleseven]

Hopefully this was not drawn from real life, eagleseven.

But I'll bet good money many MDs test themselves; how you guys can resist becoming raging hypocondriacs escapes me.

It's a true story...and yes, nearly everyone in hospitals have hypochondriac tendencies. My hospital has been trying to clamp down on self-testing, as expensive supplies keep mysteriously go missing.

 

[Big Black Dog]

The thing I have noticed in life is that sooner or later, everybody dies.

 

[Madeline]

Hopefully this was not drawn from real life, eagleseven.

But I'll bet good money many MDs test themselves; how you guys can resist becoming raging hypocondriacs escapes me.

It's a true story...and yes, nearly everyone in hospitals have hypochondriac tendencies. My hospital has been trying to clamp down on self-testing, as expensive supplies keep mysteriously go missing.

Good grief. I hope he was not a friend of yours, eagleseven. I *cuddle* you whilst you regain your health.

 

[eagleseven]

Hopefully this was not drawn from real life, eagleseven.

But I'll bet good money many MDs test themselves; how you guys can resist becoming raging hypocondriacs escapes me.

It's a true story...and yes, nearly everyone in hospitals have hypochondriac tendencies. My hospital has been trying to clamp down on self-testing, as expensive supplies keep mysteriously go missing.

Good grief. I hope he was not a friend of yours, eagleseven. I *cuddle* you whilst you regain your health.

Nah...he was the friend of my Pathologist-Instructor. We were discussing how bloody pericardial transudates can be diagnostic for dissecting aneurysms, hence the story.

Danke!

 

[strollingbones]

isnt that more a weakness in the arota...than stress....a friend of mine died at a basketball game he was coaching of this...he was dead before he hit the floor.

 

[geauxtohell]

Hopefully this was not drawn from real life, eagleseven.

But I'll bet good money many MDs test themselves; how you guys can resist becoming raging hypocondriacs escapes me.

It's a true story...and yes, nearly everyone in hospitals have hypochondriac tendencies. My hospital has been trying to clamp down on self-testing, as expensive supplies keep mysteriously go missing.

I kind of suspect it's a half truth (no offense to your friend).

 

[geauxtohell]

isnt that more a weakness in the arota...than stress....a friend of mine died at a basketball game he was coaching of this...he was dead before he hit the floor.

Was he excessively tall, have long fingers, and eye problems?

 

[eagleseven]

I kind of suspect it's a half truth (no offense to your friend).

I don't see why one of our senior pathologists would lie about his friend's death for fun?

 

[geauxtohell]

I kind of suspect it's a half truth (no offense to your friend).

I don't see why one of our senior pathologists would lie about his friend's death for fun?

It's just that ER docs don't have to wait to get a prelim read on any X-ray. They read most x-rays themselves. If they had to wait for a radiologist to read every X-ray, there would be a lot of dead people. Go check out the ER if you doubt it. ER and Internal Medicine residents are always peering over X-rays and using them to make an assessment and plan long before the radiologist gets them.

I could buy that it was a very subtle finding that only a well trained radiologist would be able to find.

If the leak was in the pericardium, then that could be the case. For major dissecting aneurysms, they can usually be sussed out with a history and physical (you can palpate or at least auscultate the blood flow). My disclaimer is that I've never seen one.

Ever think about going to Med School and becoming a pathologist? It's a pretty cool field.

 

[eagleseven]

It's just that ER docs don't have to wait to get a prelim read on any X-ray. They read most x-rays themselves. If they had to wait for a radiologist to read every X-ray, there would be a lot of dead people. Go check out the ER if you doubt it. ER and Internal Medicine residents are always peering over X-rays and using them to make an assessment and plan long before the radiologist gets them.

I could buy that it was a very subtle finding that only a well trained radiologist would be able to find.

If the leak was in the pericardium, then that could be the case. For major dissecting aneurysms, they can usually be sussed out with a history and physical (you can palpate or at least auscultate the blood flow). My disclaimer is that I've never seen one.

Granted, this was when he was fresh out of medschool, roughly thirty years ago. Practices, and quality of scans, were likely different then.

Ever think about going to Med School and becoming a pathologist? It's a pretty cool field.

I've considered it...but the main difficulties lie in both the debt, and the current difficulty of getting into medschool. I have friends who are academically stronger than I, with more hospital experience, being rejected from school after school.

Maybe if the AMA decides to open up many more medschools, and our government somehow fixes the student loan mess, Pathology would be in my future. For now, I'll just be a med tech!

 

[strollingbones]

no he did not have marfan syndrome....i had my son tested for that

 

[xotoxi]

The ER nurses tell him that he'll have to wait a few more hours, because nobody is on staff who can legally read his scans.

Any ER doctor would be able to diagnose a possible dissecting aorta. That's just silly.

 

[eagleseven]

The ER nurses tell him that he'll have to wait a few more hours, because nobody is on staff who can legally read his scans.

Any ER doctor would be able to diagnose a possible dissecting aorta. That's just silly.

Tiny rural hospital, thirty years ago. Hence why my pathologist moved to a large urban hospital.

 

[geauxtohell]

no he did not have marfan syndrome....i had my son tested for that

Hmmm. Strange. It's like life is so much more complicated than the textbook pathology cases we learn!

 

[xotoxi]

The ER nurses tell him that he'll have to wait a few more hours, because nobody is on staff who can legally read his scans.

Any ER doctor would be able to diagnose a possible dissecting aorta. That's just silly.

Tiny rural hospital, thirty years ago. Hence why my pathologist moved to a large urban hospital.

That was my next question...was there even an ER doc available. Sounds like NO.