DOCTORS OPERATE TO COVER BURNS OF TEEN ELECTROCUTION VICTIM.Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer Michael Halsell, the Newbury Park teen-ager shocked by 220,000 volts of electricity, underwent three hours of surgery Wednesday in which doctors removed dead tissue and covered his burns with cadaver cadaver /ca·dav·er/ (kah-dav´er) a dead body; generally applied to a human body preserved for anatomical study.cadav´ericcadav´erous ca·dav·er n. skin. While the third-degree burns third-degree burns npl → brûlures fpl au troisième degré third-degree burns third npl → Verbrennungen pl dritten Grades that scorched scorch v. scorched, scorch·ing, scorch·es v.tr. 1. To burn superficially so as to discolor or damage the texture of. See Synonyms at burn1. 2. 85 percent of his body are the 17-year-old boy's most visible injuries, Monday's jolt from a Southern California Edison Southern California Edison (or SCE Corp), the largest subsidiary of Edison International (NYSE: EIX), is the primary electricity supply company for much of Southern California. It provides 11 million people with electricity. tower in Ventura County also severely damaged Halsell's internal organs, said Dr. A. Richard Grossman Richard Grossman is the former co-director of the Program on Corporations, Law and Democracy (POCLAD). He is co-author of Taking Care of Business: Citizenship and the Charter of Incorporation. He lectures widely on issues of corporate power, law and democracy. , medical director of the Grossman Burn Center at Sherman Oaks Hospital Sherman Oaks Hopital (SOH) is an 153 bed acute care facility in Sherman Oaks, California, USA and is home of world renowned the Grossman Burn Center. SOH is owned and operated by Prime Healthcare Services, Inc. and Health Center. Halsell rappelled from the tower to practice mountaineering mountaineering or mountain climbing Sport of attaining, or attempting to attain, high points in mountainous regions, mainly for the joy of the climb. when he touched the live wire. The electrical shock "cooked" the body's cells, and Halsell's kidneys have been "working overtime" to rid his system of toxins, Grossman told reporters after the operation. "You also lose a tremendous amount of blood in an injury like this," he said. During the procedure, four surgical teams used 5 square feet of cadaver skin, obtained from tissue banks, to cover the teen's scorched ears, face, arms and chest. The cadaver skin is used to prevent infection and make open wounds less painful, Grossman said. Halsell was given 10 units of blood during the procedure. Halsell, who was given morphine for the pain, breathed through a tube and slept "comfortably" after the operation, with his eyes swollen shut, Grossman said. "He's alive The boy's long-term prognosis remains unclear, given that he needs six or seven surgeries in the next few weeks. Grossman said doctors plan to resume the cadaver skin procedure Tuesday, this time covering the lower part of Halsell's body. Eventually, the boy will receive an anti-rejection drug so that his body accepts the cadaver skin. "We'll try to put his own skin from his scalp on his face," Grossman added. "His chances for making it to the next surgery are slim," Grossman said. "His biggest battle is with his kidneys, his lungs - everything trying to rid him of the toxic byproducts, the necrosis." Still, other victims burned as severely as Halsell have recovered. "We've had 80- to 90-percenters survive and walk out," Grossman said. Recounting television news broadcasts that showed Halsell perched on a beam of the 140-foot electrical tower, Grossman marveled that his patient even survived the jolt. |
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