Arthur Crabtree wrote:Yes, I think one of them was shouted down from a stand. But I doubt they had a ventilator at the ground. Presumably the doctors at the ground gave CPR and life support drugs and fluids. Maybe they did have that equipment, I'm just guessing. I'm mainly saying that given the injury, I don't really see what else the medics at the ground could have done. The patient was alive when he got to the hospital.
I asked my wife this question last night, she is a medical professional (although was keen to stress she isn't a neurologist). It was of her opinion that he basically had no chance whatsoever. She said that when a person suffers an injury of this nature, only really urgent neurosurgery to stop the bleeding, to release the intracranial pressure in the brain, and corrective surgery to make sure that the vessels effected basically don't die (I didn't understand the technical point she made, I may have got that wrong) is needed. She says that the mortality rate of such trauma is huge, and that a la Schumacher, even if you live you might wish you hadn't.
If I understood correctly, the reason that people die so much from this type of injury is the difficulty in quickly diagnosing the actual source of the bleeding. Most people who suffer from this injury may be conscious and showing clear signs of delayed speech, inhibition of movement and like that says to a professional "this isn't x, its y".... when someone is essentially in a coma, you cant do that, and lose precious time.
They also wouldn't administer drugs apparently, AC. Drugs that help oxygenate the blood also have an effect of increasing blood pressure, which increases intracranial pressure. In the opposite, drugs that slow the brains need for oxygen also tend lower blood pressure to the point that hypoxia can become an issue. Sedation, especially induced comas, also apparently make initial diagnosis near impossible because there are no way of seeing progress of symptoms.