Baghdad Surgeons Amputating Without Anesthetics

[BaliBabyDoc]

FOXNews report on Baghdad shortages
Baghdad's hard-pressed surgeons, flooded with war-wounded, are amputating the limbs of children and adults with too few anesthetics to block the pain and too few antibiotics to protect the patients, a Greek doctor newly arrived from Iraq reported Saturday.

Mognie's account, after a full day touring hospitals during the U.S. bombardment, was a firsthand substantiation of a report by World Health Organization officials here, who said Friday the Iraqi capital was running low on anesthetics, analgesics and surgical items.

[Fox News' Simon Marks reported Saturday that many aid organizations in Amman had been trying to get medical supplies into Iraq, but had been turned away by Iraqi authorities.]

The next morning, at 9:45 a.m., he had just sat down to tea and a talk with doctors at a central Baghdad hospital run by the Red Crescent ? Muslim Iraq's Red Cross equivalent ? when four American bombs struck across the street.

"We all fell to the floor, and the glass windows shattered all over us," Mognie said. Two women in the room were hurt. He escaped injury but left a glass-flecked jacket behind.


Typically I wouldn't recommend reading ANYTHING on FOX but even with their jingoist slant . . . it's a reasonable anecdote from the war.
Special K for amputation . . . those are going to be some seriously messed up kids if they keep that up.

 

[Kadarin]

Originally posted by: BaliBabyDoc
The next morning, at 9:45 a.m., he had just sat down to tea and a talk with doctors at a central Baghdad hospital run by the Red Crescent ? Muslim Iraq's Red Cross equivalent ? when four American bombs struck across the street.

"We all fell to the floor, and the glass windows shattered all over us," Mognie said. Two women in the room were hurt. He escaped injury but left a glass-flecked jacket behind.

It's worth noting that this would not have occurred had Saddam's regime not had a policy of placing military and command/control facilities next to hospitals and schools and whatnot. It's also worth noting that while four bombs hit across the street, other than broken windows the hospital seemed to remain intact. Kudos to the care and precision with which the US military has approached this operation.

As for the medical supply issue, we can just hope the war is over as quickly as possible so that life can improve for the Iraqi civilians.

 

[mastertech01]

They refused medical supplies from Jordan it was reported today.

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

Not to defend the regime . . . but since they are hiding goodies in the hospital it seems quite reasonable to deny access . . . immoral but certainly reasonable.

 

[Colt45]

ketamine is an excellent anesthetic, that what it was developed as.

it used to be used on humans quite commonly, but patients objected to the hallucination-esque stuff it does, so its for the animals now

i dont see the problem as far as that goes

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

Ketamine is a short-acting dissociative agent . . . you would NEVER use it as the primary agent of analgesia for any procedure lasting more than a few minutes. We use it in kids in part b/c it works well but typically it is an adjunct . . . not the sole agent.

 

[Colt45]

Originally posted by: BaliBabyDoc
Ketamine is a short-acting dissociative agent . . . you would NEVER use it as the primary agent of analgesia for any procedure lasting more than a few minutes. We use it in kids in part b/c it works well but typically it is an adjunct . . . not the sole agent.

sure, but if you have a choice between K and nothing, and your leg is broken and full of shrapnel, what are you going to say to the doc? I'd take the K!

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

Dude, ether is probably a better choice than Kitty Valium for operative procedures.

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

Vit K is great for short term use as an adjunct but we didn't stop using it in adults due to minor hallucinations . . . if that was the case we would still use it on regular basis with adults. The trips are typically very disturbing . . . better than pain . . . maybe but the fact Iraqi surgeons have fallen to K for anesthesia/analgesia is proof they are really bad off . . . a true humanitarian crisis.

 

[Colt45]

desperate times call for desperate measures, I guess

 

[SgtBuddy]

I guess all that food/medicine for oil was used for "other" things for the past 12 years

 

[Alistar7]

Originally posted by: BaliBabyDoc
Not to defend the regime . . . but since they are hiding goodies in the hospital it seems quite reasonable to deny access . . . immoral but certainly reasonable.

There is nothing reasonable about that, sick people think thay way....