Putting the patient first.On October 7, a gas main ruptured outside George Washington University George Washington University, at Washington, D.C.; coeducational; chartered 1821 as Columbian College (one of the first nonsectarian colleges), opened 1822, became a university in 1873, renamed 1904. Hospital in Washington, D.C. The resulting street fire forced the evacuation of hundreds of patients, physicians and nurses from the hospital. Cardiothoracic cardiothoracic /car·dio·tho·rac·ic/ (-thah-ras´ik) pertaining to the heart and the thorax. car·di·o·tho·rac·ic n. Of or relating to the heart and the chest. surgeon Bryan Steinberg and his team were performing a coronary bypass coronary bypass Surgical treatment for coronary heart disease to relieve angina pectoris and prevent heart attacks. It became widely used in the 1960s. One or more blood vessels—usually an artery in the chest or a vein from the leg—are transplanted to create operation at the time. The patient was connected to a heart-lung machine heart-lung machine, device that maintains the circulation of the blood and the oxygen content of the body when connected with the arteriovenous system; it is also called the pump oxygenator. . During an interview published in the October 27 American Medical News, Dr. Steinberg recalled that they initially heard rumors about a possible fire in the street, then "people started coming in and making comments that there was a car on fire," then there was an explosion "and people started reporting there were flames 40 feet in the air." Eventually, "someone came in and said that the hospital was being evacuated e·vac·u·ate v. e·vac·u·at·ed, e·vac·u·at·ing, e·vac·u·ates v.tr. 1. a. To empty or remove the contents of. b. To create a vacuum in. 2. ." The evacuation order created a dilemma for Dr. Steinberg and his team, as it clearly jeopardized the life of their patient. Dr. Steinberg was also concerned for his coworkers: "[W]e tried to get the nonessential non·es·sen·tial adj. Being a substance required for normal functioning but not needed in the diet because the body can synthesize it. people out and at the same time continue the operation as quickly as possible. Those of us remaining were committed to caring for the patient. We said we don't want to know any more about what is going on outside. But that didn't mean we weren't aware of what was happening. In the back of your mind you are thinking about your family." Meanwhile, "several firemen were stationed around the operating room operating room n. Abbr. OR A room equipped for performing surgical operations. to make sure the environment was safe and there wasn't gas coming in," and other hospital personnel made sure that "we had adequate blood, supplies and medications before evacuating everyone. We were then at a point where we needed another 20 or 30 minutes to get off the heart-lung machine and have the work on the heart completed. So we did that." By placing their patient's welfare ahead of concern for their own safety, Dr. Steinberg and his team were able to complete the operation without undue complication. In his words, the patient "did extremely well" and was "very appreciative." Happily, nobody was killed and only one person was injured by the gas main rupture, fire and explosion. |
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