Emergency C-Section Video: Sharp Memorial Hospital

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Transcript

Man: She was sitting at the bus stop at Mira Mesa Boulevard, a car came down at probably 45 to 50 miles an hour, maybe. The vehicle took out the entire bus stop.

Nurse: The doctors here say we’re going to lose the baby.

Ruth: I’ve been told eventually the glaucoma will come and more than likely, you will be blind before you go to heaven.

Dr. Ronald MacIntyre, Urologist: Most men that I see are devastated; they cry, they don’t know what to do.

Announcer: These are stories of real people.

Janice: That night by myself, I was just thinking, he can’t mean I’m going to die.

Announcer: Lives touched by nurses, doctors, staff and volunteers, all on a journey dedicated to making health care better.

Colleen: I’ve been a nurse for Sharp for over 25 years, and everyday is still exciting to me. We are so fortunate in health care because we really are with people through some of the scariest times, some of the most wonderful times and that’s a privilege for us to be there. Every day is different, and I love that about my job.

Announcer: These are stories of The Sharp Experience.

(Siren wails)

Man 1: We’ve got one major trauma. A pregnant female, we’re going to have to try and isolate her.

Man 2: She was sitting at the bus stop at Mira Mesa Boulevard; a car came down.…

Man 3: So she was a pedestrian?

Man 2: The vehicle took out the entire bus stop, canopy and everything for about 15 to 20 feet or so.…

Doctor: OK. Pupils have been fine.

Man 2: Oh yeah, all that’s been fine.

Doctor: No medical history?

Man 2: We really couldn’t get a lot of information.…
 
Doctor: What language does she speak, English? OK.

Man 2: All right.

Doctor: Thank you. OK, listen to me. What’s your name?

Karen: Karen.

Doctor: Karen. How old are you, Karen?

Man: Thirty.

Nurse: Karen, hang in there.

Doctor: We’ll find out. We’ve got baby doctors here.

Karen: I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe.

Nurse: OK. He signed permission.

Doctor: So we need to get her intubated? And I’ll do some in-line traction.

Man: What’d you think of the ultrasound?

Doctor 2: It looked fine, the baby’s got a normal heart rate, it’s all movement.

Doctor: You did see movement though? … No fluid coming out here?

Woman: Look at me, sweetie.

Man: Let’s get her oxygenated. She could have some major head going on, too. It looks like there’s a lot of matted blood. OK. Let’s just get her down, get a quick chest X-ray. Quickly.

Man: A clavicle there. Can we have a C-section tray here? Are we otherwise ready to go for the CAT scan, you guys?

Woman: She’s calling CT right now.

Man: Thanks for your help.

Woman: They did an ultrasound, did an estimate of the weight and estimated that the baby was, like, 36 weeks gestation.

Doctor 2: Just get head, neck and belly, save some time.

Woman: If the mother’s not alive, the baby’s not going to be alive. We’ve got to keep the mother breathing.

Men: One … two … three.

Woman: Make sure she’s got a blood pressure to help perfuse the baby, to make sure the baby’s getting oxygen as well.

Doctor: She does have a head injury. I haven’t got the results of the C-spine, or the belly yet.

Woman: You can hear that heartbeat.

Doctor: She’s got a pelvic fracture, a spinal fracture, a clavicle fracture and head injury so probably it’s not going to be a good idea to roll her up very much.

Dr. Landers: Hello, I’m Dr. Landers. I need to listen to you for a second. I saw you downstairs earlier.

Male Nurse: We can find out what her initial injuries are from the CT scan but, more things might show up later.

Dr. Landers: I’m checking your baby right now. Can you open your eyes up a little bit for me, dear?

(machine beeping)

Woman: No, she’s contracting regularly, as if she was in regular labor. I just gave a call to the doctor.

Male Nurse: You’re doing OK, sweetie, hang on.

Man: We need to take her to the OR.

Woman: They’re going to OR.

Man: Do you have any transport monitors?

Nurse: The doctors here say we’re going to lose the baby.

Man: Get her ready for a C-Section.

Woman: Alrighty, thank you. OK, we can go, we can go.

Man: OK, let’s go, come on.

Dr. David Dowling, OBGYN: The placenta was in the process of separating with clear signs of abruption with regular contractions and heart rate decelerations. At that point, it was mandatory that we deliver the baby as quickly as possible. (Conversation among OR staff.) The placenta is the way that the baby actually breathes inside the uterus, and once it begins to separate, the baby can die very quickly.

Woman: She had a skull fracture as well as a pelvic fracture and we had to look at several other injuries to her internal organs, liver, spleen, kidneys.

Man: We were doing everything we could to keep her alive, save her life.

Woman: I was concerned that that baby may not have a mother.

Ali: They said Ali, a phone call, I picked it up, Hi, Ali, ICU, and I just hear, “Hi, you took care of me.” I said, “What’s your name?” And she told me, “It’s Karen.” And she’d called and just wanted to thank me for taking care of her. I just said to her, hearing your voice is thanks enough.