Woman Returns From The Dead Just As Doctors Were Able To Remove Her Organs
29 replies, posted
[QUOTE]It was exactly midnight when Caroline Burns eerily opened her eyes and looked at the operating lights above her, shocking doctors who believed she was dead and were about to remove her organs and donate them to patients on the transplant waiting list.
The [URL="http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2013/07/st_joes_fined_over_dead_patien.html"]Syracuse Post-Standard[/URL] unearthed a [URL="http://www.scribd.com/doc/148583905/U-S-Centers-for-Medicare-and-Medicaid-Services-report-on-St-Joe-s"]report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [/URL]that chronicled the series of errors that led to the near-organ removal on a living patient at St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center in Syracuse, N.Y., in 2009.
"The patient did not suffer a cardiopulmonary arrest (as documented) and did not have irreversible brain damage," the HHS report concluded. "The patient did not meet criteria for withdrawal of care."
According to the report, doctors had inaccurately diagnosed Burns with irreversible brain damage and ignored nurses who'd noticed signs that Burns was improving: She curled her toes when touched, flared her nostrils and moved her mouth and tongue. She was also breathing on her own even though she was on a respirator.
Burns, who was 41 at the time, was initially found unresponsive and surrounded by empty bottles of Xanax, Benadryl, a muscle relaxant and an anti-inflammatory drug on Oct.16, 2009, according to the report. She was hypothermic and had a weak pulse, but she was alive.
In the St. Josephs emergency room, doctors performed toxicology tests and determined Burns was suffering from a multidrug overdose, according to the report. She was unresponsive and put on a ventilator.
Poison control specialists recommended using activated charcoal to stop Burns' body from absorbing the drugs, but it never happened, according to the report. Doctors couldn't get the tubes into her body. As a result, the HHS report concluded, it's possible Burns continued to absorb the pills she'd ingested, but doctors never did more toxicology testing to find out.
Soon, Burns was having seizures, but subsequent head CT scans on Oct. 17 and Oct. 18 appeared normal.
Still, the EEG brain scans indicated "poor prognosis" on Oct. 18, so doctors planned to "wait and see" whether Burns would improve over the next few days, they told HHS investigators in August 2010, according to the report. That same day, however, doctors told the family that Burns' brain damage was irreversible and that she'd undergone "cardiorespiratory arrest."
The family made the decision to take Burns off life support and donate her organs the next day.
[B]Although Burns opened her eyes at the last minute, saving herself from the organ harvest procedure, she committed suicide in 2011.[/B] The family never sued, and family members told the Syracuse Post-Standard that Burns was too depressed to be upset about what happened to her at St. Joseph's.
[/QUOTE]
[URL]http://abcnews.go.com/Health/patient-wakes-doctors-remove-organs/story?id=19609438[/URL]
Holy shit, just wow, it sounds like something out of a movie.
Sounds like something out of a creepypasta.
[QUOTE]According to the report, doctors had inaccurately diagnosed Burns with irreversible brain damage and ignored nurses who'd noticed signs that Burns was improving: She curled her toes when touched, flared her nostrils and moved her mouth and tongue. She was also breathing on her own even though she was on a respirator.[/QUOTE]
Like seriously.. what the hell. I really wish they were sued for their evil/incredible incompetence.
[QUOTE=Raserisk;41380030]Although Burns opened her eyes at the last minute, saving herself from the organ harvest procedure, she committed suicide in 2011. The family never sued, and family members told the Syracuse Post-Standard that Burns was too depressed to be upset about what happened to her at St. Joseph's.[/QUOTE]
That makes me sad, despite experiencing a miracle recovery she still continued to hate life and eventually kill herself.
[QUOTE=Shadow801;41380128]That makes me sad, despite experiencing a miracle recovery she still continued to hate life and eventually kill herself.[/QUOTE]
You don't just get cured from depression by coming back form an overdose.
[QUOTE=Shadow801;41380128]That makes me sad, despite experiencing a miracle recovery she still continued to hate life and eventually kill herself.[/QUOTE]
Some people are so depressed that the only thing they'll respond to is something like electroshock therapy. They are like husks of themselves. Inducing seizures is surprisingly effective because it makes the brain spazz out and release a bunch of chemicals.
This is exactly a fear if always had. I can't believe it actually happened. Wow.
OK so say someone has brain damage and is practically a vegetable, surely organs should only be removed from a dead person and not someone who is technically still alive.
[QUOTE=leontodd;41380803]OK so say someone has brain damage and is practically a vegetable, surely organs should only be removed from a dead person and not someone who is technically still alive.[/QUOTE]
No this is exactly how organ harvests are done as far as can be done because this way the organs are "fresh", basically, and are basically produced for transplant as soon as the receiving patient is ready to get them.
the agony
the fucking agony
[QUOTE=scout1;41380859]No this is exactly how organ harvests are done as far as can be done because this way the organs are "fresh", basically, and are basically produced for transplant as soon as the receiving patient is ready to get them.[/QUOTE]
I dunno, something tells me we don't butcher living people for parts. That believe is why so few people sign on to be organ donators.
[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;41380913]I dunno, something tells me we don't butcher living people for parts. That believe is why so few people sign on to be organ donators.[/QUOTE]
[url=http://www.wf-f.org/02-3-OrganDonation.html]It depends. We certainly do keep the bodies on ventilators in the case of brain death.[/url]
Whether or not this constitutes butchering is up to you. Personally I find it rather creepy and indeed rather grim, as the article in the OP shows there are safeguards but they are not perfect and some checks are just plain not done to check and see if a "braindead" donor actually has no chance. I am not an organ donor. But, anybody who's okay with the risks should definitely sign up. Transplants are important.
[QUOTE=Jawalt;41380398]Some people are so depressed that the only thing they'll respond to is something like electroshock therapy. They are like husks of themselves. Inducing seizures is surprisingly effective because it makes the brain spazz out and release a bunch of chemicals.[/QUOTE]
Or removing brain part
This is exactly why I don't trust doctors.
[QUOTE=scout1;41381048][url=http://www.wf-f.org/02-3-OrganDonation.html]It depends. We certainly do keep the bodies on ventilators in the case of brain death.[/url]
Whether or not this constitutes butchering is up to you. Personally I find it rather creepy and indeed rather grim, as the article in the OP shows there are safeguards but they are not perfect and some checks are just plain not done to check and see if a "braindead" donor actually has no chance. I am not an organ donor. But, anybody who's okay with the risks should definitely sign up. Transplants are important.[/QUOTE]
Most of the people in that state tend to be people who've been in car or motorcycle crashes and suffered massive head trauma. Whilst she wasn't provided with the level of medical care that would of prevented this, it's a rare case anyway - brain damage is somewhat easier to diagnose when the patient's head has smacked a pavement at 60mph.
On the other hand though, research is starting to show us that consciousness is more complex than we'd like to think, and it does make it harder to accurately judge when someone is brain dead.
[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;41380913]I dunno, something tells me we don't butcher living people for parts. That believe is why so few people sign on to be organ donators.[/QUOTE]
They're not considered living if they're brain dead. Read the article; there's a 25-step test for true brain death. But the body is still kept "running" manually without the brain's help until the organs are removed.
So, by extension, this means a doctor had to call someone who was in the middle of celebrating the transplant and new lease on life they were going to get, and shit all over their parade.
That it almost literally out of a Stephen King story:
[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autopsy_Room_Four"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autopsy_Room_Four[/URL]
The guy's been paralyzed by a snake bite, and only at the last second do the doctors realize he's alive when he gets an erection from a female doctor touching him.
[QUOTE=Flapjacks;41381970]That it almost literally out of a Stephen King story:
[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autopsy_Room_Four"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autopsy_Room_Four[/URL]
The guy's been paralyzed by a snake bite, and only at the last second do the doctors realize he's alive when he gets an erection from a female doctor touching him.[/QUOTE]
The only situation where random boners are useful
[QUOTE=Rangergxi;41380063]Sounds like something out of a creepypasta.
Like seriously.. what the hell. I really wish they were sued for their evil/incredible incompetence.[/QUOTE]
Rating you dumb for the doctors in the quote, not you being dumb
[QUOTE=Xystus234;41381655]This is exactly why I don't trust doctors.[/QUOTE]
Well have fun fixing up yourself then if you ever get sick or in an accident.
This is what is holding me back from being an organ donor.
shit I need to correct my "organ donor" checkbox
Jesus christ, the microscopic chance of being wrongfully diagnosed dead is keeping you from being an organ donor? Way to overreact
[editline]10th July 2013[/editline]
[QUOTE=Xystus234;41381655]This is exactly why I don't trust doctors.[/QUOTE]
I don't trust doctors, who save people literally every day, because someone made a mistake once, and it almost killed someone
This is why I am a not a organ donor.
I personally think using reasons like this as an excuse to not be an organ donor is a pretty piss poor argument.
Out of all the serious medical cases that are handled, exactly how many of them end up like this? I don't have any statistics on hand, but I'd be surprised if things like this were anywhere even closer to common.
I am happily an organ donor, and my reasoning for it is pretty simple: should something happen to me and I kick the can, what fucking good will my organs be doing me? I'd rather they at least live on beyond me, and continue to do good by helping other people live their lives and be with their families and loved ones and achieve their life's dreams. To do anything less just seems selfish to me, letting perfectly good organs rot.
[QUOTE=Gmod4ever;41385909]I personally think using reasons like this as an excuse to not be an organ donor is a pretty piss poor argument.
Out of all the serious medical cases that are handled, exactly how many of them end up like this? I don't have any statistics on hand, but I'd be surprised if things like this were anywhere even closer to common.
I am happily an organ donor, and my reasoning for it is pretty simple: should something happen to me and I kick the can, what fucking good will my organs be doing me? I'd rather they at least live on beyond me, and continue to do good by helping other people live their lives and be with their families and loved ones and achieve their life's dreams. To do anything less just seems selfish to me, letting perfectly good organs rot.[/QUOTE]
I want to list myself as an organ donor, but the fact that this can happen even 0.01% of the time, I don't want to be that guy. I understand that people make mistakes, but this wasn't a mistake, this was outright negligence. As long as that level of negligence is allowed, I am afraid I can't take that risk.
And this is why I'm not donating my organs. I don't care how small the chance is that I'd wake up, the chance [i]is[/i] there, and I don't want to be carved up for parts if there's any chance at all I'll wake up.
I can imagine the doctor being shocked as he puts his hand inside her.
I think we shouldn't harvest people for organs even if they are braindead, so long as they can survive without life support.
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