Life in a Trauma Cente - 24 Hours in A&E - S03 EP2 - Medical Documentary

[Music] [Applause]

John John

do you remember where you are [Music] King's College Hospital London a major trauma center

the curb jackknifed onto the Verge have we got a good pulse have we got an output and

one of the busiest a e departments in the world who will probably scream but he won't

remember no stop place where love come on Sir let's go

I love you gloss it's all right unfold every single day

[Music] can't keep out my no come on we've got to be strong for mum if it is the last

bit I all the patience you're about to see were treated in one Department

in just one 24-hour period I never cease to be amazed the robustness of human beings and

the strength of their relationships love it's a reflex it's what you do for many of the

families despite the devastation that they may be facing they give unconditional love

[Music]

[Music] hello we're just going to number four [Music] because we've got another patient

coming in as well

it started off with like the slowest day ever and it's just gone tits up but yeah I know

it's we've got we've got lack of space everywhere it's manic I have literally haven't stepped

out a resource for a week it's one of those

modern medicine is perhaps the victim of its own success you know if we think 100 200 years

ago if you break your leg you were probably gonna die um especially if you had an open

fracture a leg because you get infection and you're dying and there are advances in medicine

you know every day every week we read about it in the newspaper this can be done that

can be done but actually some people's lives are prolonged in an uncomfortable undignified

State because doctors try and play God sometimes and think they can do it and and that mistake

is made regularly but we're not gods

sometimes it's better to do nothing [Music] better to make the patient comfortable make

them dignified make them their last few days hours weeks with their family as good as possible

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foreign

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hello

it's Kent hymns five minutes away

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all right

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this is Kevin Kevin is 55 years old who's driving his Lorry uphill approximate speed

50 miles per hour hit the curb jack knife onto the Verge give Bullseye the windscreen

and the steering wheel has a marked dent in it injuries head neck possible pelvis left

femur closed and left closed tip FIB neurobasically intact interventions said two milligrams of

morphine four milligrams of ondansetron 30 milligrams of ketamine he's got a pelvic binder

and a Kendrick Sprint on the left leg lovely thank you very much I don't have any Derek

can you do a quick primary survey I'm gonna skip playing films just go for CT lovely [Music]

racing okay ready steady Kevin had his accident 20 miles away in Kent helicopter Medics treated

him for over an hour on scene one of them was King's trauma consultant Malcolm who does

regular shifts with the air ambulance

beautiful thank you very much it suddenly became really apparent that this is quite

a serious crash when we were flying overhead mechanism is really really important so you

sometimes take photos and you know when you decelerate in a crash like that it can cause

damage to internal organs so they water the main blood vessel in your body is particularly

prone if you're wearing a seat belt that can cause particular injury patterns as well particularly

at high speed so they're all things you have to take into account what's your name sir

Kirby Kevin I'm going to take you around to scan and do pretty much all of your body to

sort of check for any injuries that you've got all right

as well as internal injuries doctors are concerned that Kevin may have badly damaged his neck

my darling let's get you off this

all right we're just going to get you into a gown my lovely like a little fuss of you

the resource station room isn't just about the drama the traumas the blue lights the

hems it is about patients who are very very poorly

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we do have a fair few of the elderly patients coming into recess majority that I have looked

after will stay at home to that last minute and they don't want to bother anybody and

you're always having a heart attack at home one lady said to me once but I didn't want

to bother you and I know you're all very busy and I was going to leave it till later you

just think oh terrible you know and they're so vulnerable as well so they they need to

be looked after all right let's get you into a gown 80 year old Rose is having difficulty

breathing is it forward for me darling she's been brought into Kings by her three daughters

that's me we're in um King's College mum's in she's gone into recess and there is River

at the moment so we don't know the details but they've told Christine in the ambulance

it's not a chest infection it's mum's art well there she's in the best place she was

sitting at home getting worse and worse and worse so yeah um what I'll do is I'll let

you know as well about coming because obviously we don't know what how long it's going to

take to get a bed and everything have you got any pain anywhere yeah where's the pain

darling what's worse the breathing or the pain and then it causes pain

mum was born in the East End bow London she was an only child do you think that's why

she's a big family I think so I think so when I'm the second eldest and I'm the third oldest

I think it was ambus a Christian she was always skinny she was always skinnier than her she

was a lot Slimmer and older and blonde yes there was a time when Christine could wear

up pants yeah I was a lot bigger than her and our phone that's not fair

what's it like being the eldest

it's okay actually but I was never the boss I think if everyone was a boss it was Sandra

not me

[Music] the doors keep opening I keep thinking are they gonna come out and tell us something

turn out the fact that she's done sitting up there all on her own now but I said to

her last night when I finally last night they'll come over mum come over now and I'll sit with

you all night I'll sit with you so we know and I'll be fine I didn't know when I spoke

to him when Christine put me on to she didn't say I'm right when I phoned her before used

in Samurai do you remember when she had that in my time on her leg and that doctor came

out and said looking at your mummy around paper is very very sick there's not one part

of her body I don't think that's working properly anymore but then if she phoned her doctor

son he still would have said what her doctor said oh it's chest infection is that no blink

interesting fiction that's what Christine said don't it really thinking that she's gonna

die yeah and they don't want it they don't want it anymore so old lady no that's where

she should done with her family and

[Music] actually doctors thought there was nothing they could do much really [Music]

thank you

you know dominations makes like 800 pounds in a night sorry I dominate what yeah which

is really weird you found a calling in your life

how do you know that well I looked up 800 pounds an average nice work for beating up

800. I would happily wear some leather and whip a man for 800 quid I'd probably do more

[Music] all right that's it

Kevin a 55 year old Lorry driver has had a CT scan to check the damage to his neck and

other internal injuries [Music] the results are not yet in foreign

yeah that's that's great okay cool

on the motorway you'll probably see it at least one accident a day yeah I used to see

some accidents and think well I did that silly idiot managed to have an accident there till

I have my accident and thought well yeah this silly idiot Managed IT

went pulling your leg there and just to keep the bones kind of in place what we need to

do is we need to take that off and we need to put a plaster cast on yeah okay now as

you can imagine if you've got a break there that's going to be painful bloody painful

yeah sorry to be blunt but before we do that I'm just going to give you some more morphine

okay yeah take the edge off the pain I'm gonna I'm gonna give you more than what you had

the first time around okay if you bear with us it will be uncomfortable when we do it

there's no way around it but once the cast is on at least it won't shift and you'll be

much more comfortable okay oh try not to nod your head as well just say yes or no okay

the only bit I can't remember is the very first bit of what started the accident off

the rest of it I can remember as clear as anything remember looking in the mirror thinking

I shouldn't see that much of a trailer in the mirror the trailer started to come around

and started the jackknife and next thing I'm off down the embankment I'm thinking this

is going to hurt and it did sorry mate sorry fakes and deep breaths mate Kevin we're just

we're just going to get on do this get right and you'll be much more comfy I really really

apologize in advance okay what do you want me today [Music]

sorry mate this is going to be the worst bit coin Kevin I'm just gonna keep pulling and

keep it okay

[Music]

okay I'm gonna let go soon okay we're doing you're doing really well beautiful sorry about

that hurting so much that'll start to feel better now okay some deep breaths you've done

really well sorry about that [Music] you're right Mama hi um

Rose and her daughters have been at Kings for an hour last night she collapsed in her

bedroom

right can I have a look listen to your chest but they're all right if you take some nice

deep breaths for me

she's now having trouble breathing do you have any pain anywhere at all in your back

when did you fall yesterday have you fallen alive tell me a bit about your mum what does

she look like when you were growing up a black hair I just remember black hair um very pretty

I always thought of her looking like a movie star to us when she was younger she looked

glamorous she was very very beautiful she used to always be quite suited and booted

mum

she was a seamstress any pain in your tummy at all no and she was always busy she'd go

up the market come back cook a stew do a bread pudding you know everything was for us for

the children she just doesn't feel angry [Music] she was always sort of you know full of energy

that's where I think she hated hospitals she hated going in hospitals and she'd try and

get out of it as much as she could and even when she went in she'd try and just discharge

herself she just yeah she didn't want to be in there she one night we had a phone call

at 11 o'clock at night she'd managed to get herself out she told him she had care and

everything at home so she didn't have to stay in the hospital so every time she went in

we used to say you'll keep her in here don't let her out she's got to stay in the hospital

Hello darling you're right we've only just been allowed to go in since she's been coming

here from the ambulance but she asked to come in here she knew she was that ill she looked

like she was dined in I really thought we was going to take her out in a box and I went

come on with me mum staying gabs his bed and we'll be fine and then she went no I want

to go to hospital so we knew then that she was she because she couldn't breathe she was

like you know what I mean just could not breathe at all

no yeah yeah

it's probably an element of that there yeah but there's also the fluid which just complicates

things a little bit further as well so we'll see how she gets on over the course no that's

great okay yeah thank you doctor

I don't get scared you're not [Music] busy night if you were you know dying you wouldn't

be here you'd be they might put you in our dependency after this because I want to keeping

up with you on a one-to-one till you get better but you're not man all right it's the fluid

yeah that's all it is

oh yeah so you should have come in earlier I wouldn't you hi you're stabbing them honestly

don't you don't want to go in hospital but we keep saying this to you come in earlier

then you can get something out quicker

mum you're right yeah look a lot better than you do to tell you that hey do you feel better

yeah sure she's just scared she stopped writing the life at me all right you might have to

get in that bed with you all right I can't take you more of this mummy God stop it I

can have a nervous breakdown

I thought it was added didn't you really yeah I thought you did yeah you're not mad you're

not not dying at all and I'm telling you Leah you're not gonna miss him about and tell him

that you're all right to come home until you are in here you're going to stay in here and

get better okay they told Michael anything yet and we ain't heard from Michael got no

credit on his phone again so I'll ring him I'll ring him in a bit yeah did you start

doing your dinner see Louie your eye brands

yeah you're getting used to these mum I have to get you a set and that's what we're going

to buy for Christmas so sort of Hospital we struggle with what to do and we're getting

away friends [Laughter] it messed my mum up

because we wouldn't leave you you know that yeah nothing we spoke to him behind your back

as well and you're gonna be you're going to come through this tell them to come and get

us all right

thank you

yeah we wanted to chat review to be honestly I think she's going to go through this well

be honest with us all we can do is kind of do everything we can to try and help the fight

whatever's going on the issues are that she's got quite severeign

so I think that would be a that would be a no-node

bearing in mind as well as the degree of disparity of the heart disease if the heart was to stop

if the chance of getting started again would be very slim okay so I'll have a chat with

the medical doctors are going to look after her but my feeling would be in that situation

trying to restart the heart but again putting her through stuff that was like to be of any

benefit and so my my feeling would be that that would not be a good idea okay I think

that would be her way of sound enough [Music]

there is a possibility that if you could get worse

she thought she was dying when she'd come in she really thinks it's the end so we're

not telling her that we're just telling her that she's going to get better she's scared

well I mean when people are struggling with their breathing like that if they get anxious

as well I can make things worse I think that's very sensible way of dealing with it okay

well thanks very much Dr philia Drone honestly yeah thank you thanks [Music] foreign [Music]

[Music]

event later they're not going to do that for them all right

all right she could come through it Chris that he's saying he's just telling us he's

not going to put mum on a ventilator and he's not going to resuscitate her because it won't

be any good should be an event or later and all it'll be doing is keeping mum alive to

press faster switch off so it's the next 48 hours so I'm gonna ring Steve to bring my

stuff over I'm going to start mum

Christine where are you [Music] you need to come to King's College

my mom's in

hospital she's not well

[Music] last name Watson I love the name Rose yeah [Music] my little girl called Earth Rose

it's really cute

well a lot of people I know will say Well when he turns out your time's up but actually

it death terrifies me I'm terrified of dying I don't want to die you know and I do I have

no I'm not ashamed to say that the process of dying absolutely terrifies me terrifies

me because it's it's unknown [Music] as doctors and nurses you have to accept sometimes you

can't change everything there's not always that miracle cure for everything and I think

once you accept that actually that's happening you you have to get it as right as you can

you can't get dying wrong

ask Steve it's May they're not going to resuscitate man and they're not going to put on a ventilator

because she's got too many things wrong

I'm going to stay here tonight I will die tomorrow until she comes through the critical

bit um Steve I need to cancel these cakes

the numbers will be in my book because the beats the girls gonna have to come and get

a baits back and they need to know pretty soon about the cakes [Music] it was hard to

think

she wouldn't be saved if it happened and praying that she just wouldn't it wouldn't happen

that she wouldn't go into that and not have to be bought round not have to be resuscitated

so all the time he was praying mum please be okay please be okay don't let that happen

because you're not going to live if that happens

yeah it's just being told that they're not going to try and bring it back if it goes

wrong because they just won't work for her

but we can't let her know that we're just telling that she's going to be real because

he said if she gets anxious they're breathing or go worse

well that's what I'm thinking if all the kids come in she's gonna think it's her last country

but we're here she's got a well Debbie wants children Goods to come over I think I'll ring

you back later on yeah I'll let you get on all right then okay bye but if we stand over

that's the excuse we've got they've got beer because we stand over

how can you not Sana can you not deny that I can't do the Nan to see if someone think

it's their last right you know what I mean

because she said for his Pepe

he might not she might not you know what a fart is she she said this before she said

this before she's had it before and got through this this pneumonia business and but why did

we [ __ ] leave it again again sudden about wait she's got a twisting friction because

she's stubborn Deb and we feel like we're full sinner to go in hospital for the first

time she has said I want to go in hospital because she panic she couldn't breathe this

time she wanted to die at home but she's not going to die comfortably not being able to

breathe it's not your trending when you've got fluid on your lung it's not you're slowly

drowned in yeah she's going to be comfortable [Music] she might respond to the antibiotics

we can't give up oh come on come on stop we can't give up she's a fire mom and she hi

because she can't go in there like that can you hey we've got to be strong for mum if

it is a last bit I

got this bit of time with our Crescent we can't let her know we can't let her know because

he said she was uh she'd get anxious and her breathing will get worse

don't you dare ever blame yourself Christine for anything that happens with mum you know

that you've looked after her you've been there when we couldn't get around there you've took

burden off of me and Debbie sometimes so don't dare ever blame yourself it's no one's fault

[Music]

do you want a coffee

[Music]

I don't think she's going to come at this I don't think [Music] we've got to tell her

she is I know we've got to tell her she is

[Music] Kevin jackknifed his Lorry on the a21

he's broken six bones in his body including one in his neck

I knew I'd damaged my neck but I wasn't really sure how much damage I'd done to it I didn't

think I'd broken it or anything

sort of just sort of pulled some muscles in there

that was wrong [Music]

we're rolling around the corner with you all right

[Music]

okay then I'm sorry sir let's just catch your toe yeah sorry sorry with Alicia worries isn't

it yeah the old big toe driving for a living doing long distance about 10 years I just

like to have space around me and well most places you can always see something that's

good to look at little pool for this already yeah we're giving you a different ceiling

to look at how about that hey favorite favorite road um

well a very difficult one I mean the

was it the four I think it's a four seven three going through mid Wales nice Road

yeah there's another Scenic ceiling for you to look at yeah they look the same [Music]

thank you it's running chance to let my wife in to see me has she arrived yeah

because I know she'll be flapping yeah okay [Music] I was just leaving work and I had

a telephone call from his office saying that Kevin had had a serious accident was being

airlifted into Hospital in London had head and neck leg and multiple injuries and I thought

my goodness I'm gonna find him on life support or something

I don't know what happened [Music] thank you

by approving the paramedics exercise

when I heard of the neck injury all sorts of things went through my mind how are we

going to cope with this how are we going to carry on with our lives if if he's going to

be paralyzed if he's if he's going to be stuck in a wheelchair you just don't know [Music]

it changes your life completely you're just in in limbo [Music] I can never remember mum

complaining I can never remember sitting down and saying I've had enough I'm fed up use

kids get on my nerves you think of yourself now what you do with your own children and

you look back and I said I can never remember mum ever saying that she knew us children

so well that she'd know if something was wrong [Music]

so I might turn the oxygen off for a little bit just to see what she maintains about by

herself you can always pop it back on that's what the um intensive care doctor wanted all

right we've got little marks on your face where it was

Rose has been give treatment and recess for the last few hours

she's showing signs of improvement you see our feet is a tough one

she's called me every night 10 o'clock and I'd call her if she didn't ring um just to

make sure that we was both okay I was the only one in the family that had um been divorced

that God was going for a divorce um

it's hard to tell her um because I just felt that um she'd worry she'd worry and I knew

she would [Music] my husband left in the February and my dad died in the March

so it was a very big um emotional our people for all of us yeah it was hard it was hard

for me to think that I'd put another load to travel on top of all what was what was

going on with dads as well

I'm so tired she was very strong as she coped very well because she was looking after me

as well as grieving but wouldn't show wouldn't show that wouldn't wouldn't show that all

I can't deal with you at the moment I've Got to Do with Myself she'd still cope and look

after us yeah

[Music]

it's time for Jack in the Box but I'm telling you when you walk in there now she's different

she's not shaking she's got oh oxygen there's thin air oxygen is [Music]

thank you I know we don't want them to go but we've got to go one day I don't know what

lift you she goes I mean no one left

me

you've got somebody who's got something used you listen to me okay me and Sandra are there

for you and we're as good as any husband even better because we're women and we understand

but you've got to let us in and you're not making a senior cushionless wine and you keep

saying I'm this big strong Depot I can cope and we all need one another

do you understand me

you've got to let one another in again

that said this you've got let us in stop think trying to think you can do it all by himself

I feel physically sick

I don't know everything's looking good but she could come through it so that's what they're

saying there and she's talking about talking to cardiologists about getting a date what

the heart I'm just going to talk to Mia

it's just looking at her legs all right

[Music]

did you feel do you feel a bit better um [Music]

[Music] thank you [Music]

I've had a CT scan in the head at x-rays truck driver Kevin has been joined by his wife Janet

and his boss robot

right there is a small break in one of the bones in the neck now um it's a bone near

the top of the neck near where the neck go into the base of the skull called the it's

called the adontoid Peg and it allows for a lot of the mobility you have uh in your

head allowing you to look left and right the neurosurgeons who are the experts in this

area looked at the pictures in the CT scan and they don't think it needs any um operative

treatment so they don't think they want to do an operation for it but we do need to protect

your neck and that part of it to let it heal and unfortunately that means 12 weeks in a

collar

I knew I could move my hands and my feet and everything I wasn't thinking of you know am

I ever going to walk again or whatever just could have been a lot worse [Music] fraction

of an inch made all the difference for me being here talking about it to not yeah I

think I was very lucky [Music] I mean at the time I thought it was very unlucky to have

the accident but I was lucky to get away with it [Music] all right it's me I might run out

of credit on this phone in a minute but she's looking a bit better when her Bloods have

come up so

um can you bring can you just pop my slippers in the bag as well for me um and a bottle

of that you know that by the front door there's some Carver bring a bottle of that

yeah I'll see you soon bye [Music] I've got to get money to get chips he's taking a bottle

of sauce in the car so they can have chips I know I said that to him I'm gonna go and

see her quickly then don't leave my bag Where We Are

[Music]

all right

they're all coming over to see you the old family is coming are we having a night at

your house tonight

I've come in the bag they take me up to a world tell me yeah don't drop the water your

lips are Ultra

they took her up on the walled I think late at that day so she brought she'd perked up

so then we thought oh she's going to get through this again

I think she began to calm down a little bit better thinking well she's going to have some

more antibiotics she's gonna you know get better and come out and so did we then you

know think oh

it wasn't till the week went on that you could see that she she wasn't getting out of the

bed and that we were being told more and more things were wrong with her kidneys were shutting

down and you just couldn't see that she was going to pull through [Music]

mum has moved to um a family room which um they said they would do when they knew that

she was going

you didn't tell your mum no no because we didn't wanted to know we didn't wanted to

to know that she was going to die imagine if I'd me and Sandra felt that would you want

to be told that that you was doing how was she gonna die every she what was she going

to do how is she going to talk to us differently than she did if we was all normal

um

we regret it now I suppose because we'd probably think what would she want to say to us perhaps

she would have wanted to say something to us but we didn't wanted to know that she was

going to die

I just told her that we all loved her that we were all there she was the best mum anyone

could ever have and just to rest just to rest now mum and go sleep and rest and don't fight

anymore and she took two last big breaths and that was it just cut died

and I just wanted her to lay down because she never really ever lay down mum whenever

she was in bed she always had to sit up because of her chest and they come in and laid her

down and she just looked like she was sleeping peacefully

we were all with her and what a way to go all your family with you're loving you so

we're very lucky to have a mum like her very lucky [Music]

[Music]

thank you foreign [Music] you're now the older generation I know it's right now we've got

one more on well two and aunt and uncle they're the ones left once they've gone yeah then

on the next and I keep telling my cousins that that we're the next that's what makes

you feel old [Laughter] right what we got coming in then road traffic collision query

chess Adam pearls injuries that have been pretty uh nasty if you've just been pulled

out over 100 mile an hour smash you must be thinking am I going to survive yeah yeah did

it hurt when you fell from heaven

over 2500 left-handed people are killed every year using products made from right-handed

people I'm here for you got your back yeah [Music] foreign

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