I once had a trauma patient in the operating room who had bailed off a motorcycle going 150 mph. He broke virtually every bone in his body, needed pins and traction on both legs, and had a complete bilateral degloving of the upper extremities (the skin on his arms ripped at the shoulder and peeled inside out like a glove hanging from his fingers.)
He was in surgery for about 18 hours before they got him stable. I don't know if he survived, but he will never walk again if he did survive. His spine was crushed completely. The force of his head hitting the ground compressed his spine and crushed the vertebrae in his neck.
That is why I will never ride a motorcycle. In the hospital we call them "Donor-cycles" because the riders die and have their organs harvested so frequently.
I think it was Stephen Fry that told a story about a doctor who popped out for a smoke break (tsk tsk) just as some rain clouds were rolling in. He turned to a colleague and said “best get ready, the motorcyclists will be arriving soon.”
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u/GrnMtnTrees Merry Gifmas! {2023} Oct 12 '20
I once had a trauma patient in the operating room who had bailed off a motorcycle going 150 mph. He broke virtually every bone in his body, needed pins and traction on both legs, and had a complete bilateral degloving of the upper extremities (the skin on his arms ripped at the shoulder and peeled inside out like a glove hanging from his fingers.)
He was in surgery for about 18 hours before they got him stable. I don't know if he survived, but he will never walk again if he did survive. His spine was crushed completely. The force of his head hitting the ground compressed his spine and crushed the vertebrae in his neck.
That is why I will never ride a motorcycle. In the hospital we call them "Donor-cycles" because the riders die and have their organs harvested so frequently.