interesting occurance at the ER

[NeoNeanderthal]

Was working at the ER this week and saw some cool stuff. A guy (mid 20's) came hobbling in bleeding from his right thigh a decent amount. I got all excited thinking it was a gunshot. Had a 5.11 operator belt wrapped around his upper thigh as a TQ (though it was sliding all around and was really doing nothing). He also had celox clotting agent in the puncture wound.

Long story short, he had a Benchmade asst opening knife in his right pocket. It opened as he was sitting and he sank it deep into his thigh. The triage nurse came out and took his belt off, pulled the celox out, threw a bandage on it and told him to wait with everyone else. Even though he insisted he was losing a lot of blood and may die, it wasn't an arterial bleed and wasnt bleeding all that badly. He was quite the bubba, saying to his girlfriend "I woulda sewn it up myself if we had needle and thread". He had the wound irrigated and he was sewn up and sent home.

Makes me understand the old-school fear of tq's seeing this donkey try to use one for non-arterial bleeding. Some people.

[markm]

That's funny. Did you get his TOS username?

[yellowfin]

At least the Celox was a smart thing to do, right?

[ShortytheFirefighter]

It amazes me to no end how many people don't know the difference between arterial and non-arterial bleeding.

The best example of arterial bleeding I've seen so far was a guy who severed 3 fingers (and most of the 4th) with a table saw. It looked like the room had been shotgunned with blood. All over the walls, the ceiling, the floor, the saw...He was cool as a cucumber when we got there though, unlike the ones who aren't cut that badly and think they're knocking on Death's door.

[thirteen/autumns]

At least the Celox was a smart thing to do, right?

From the reading of the OPs post it sounds like Celox was a little overkill for the type of LAC/bleed the pt was having.

[Abraham]

Was this an otf type switchblade?

Yes, I know the OP said "asst opening knife", but I've wondered if an otf type would be a hazard with a surprise opening inflicting a heck of a wound...

[TehLlama]

Well, hopefully he realized that was a low cost crash course on why better tactical medicine classes should be in the near future.

[Apricotshot]

Was this an otf type switchblade?

Yes, I know the OP said "asst opening knife", but I've wondered if an otf type would be a hazard with a surprise opening inflicting a heck of a wound...

No quality OTF knife I know of could be accidently fired while in your pocket. The switch is stronger than the pull weight on most revolvers. (Speaking of Microtechs (Not the Halo model) and Benchmade Infidel.)

[Double3]

My wife works nights in the ER.

I hear them all.

[Abraham]

Thanks Apricotshot!