Emedinews Inspiration: Determination and Persistence

This is a real life story of engineer John Roebling who built the Brooklyn Bridge in New York, USA back in 1870. The bridge was completed in 1883, after 13 years.

In 1883, a creative engineer named John Roebling was inspired by an idea to build a spectacular bridge connecting New York with the Long Island. However bridge building experts throughout the world thought that this was an impossible feat and told Roebling to forget the idea. It just could not be done. It was not practical. It had never been done before. Roebling could not ignore the vision he had in his mind of this bridge. He thought about it all the time and he knew deep in his heart that it could be done. He just had to share the dream with someone else. After much discussion and persuasion he managed to convince his son Washington, an up and coming engineer, that the bridge in fact could be built.

Working together for the first time, the father and son developed concepts of how it could be accomplished and how the obstacles could be overcome. With great excitement and inspiration, and the headiness of a wild challenge before them, they hired their crew and began to build their dream bridge. The project started well, but when it was only a few months underway a tragic accident on the site took the life of John Roebling. Washington was also injured and left with a certain amount of brain damage, which resulted in him not being able to talk or walk.

“We told them so.” “Crazy men and their crazy dreams.” “It’s foolish to chase wild visions.” Everyone had a negative comment to make and felt that the project should be scrapped since the Roebling’s were the only ones who knew how the bridge could be built.

In spite of his handicap Washington was never discouraged and still had a burning desire to complete the bridge and his mind was still as sharp as ever. He tried to inspire and pass on his enthusiasm to some of his friends, but they were too daunted by the task. As he lay on his bed in his hospital room, with the sunlight streaming through the windows, a gentle breeze blew the flimsy white curtains apart and he was able to see the sky and the tops of the trees outside for just a moment.

It seemed that there was a message for him not to give up. Suddenly an idea hit him. All he could do was move one finger and he decided to make the best use of it. By moving this, he slowly developed a code of communication with his wife. He touched his wife’s arm with that finger, indicating to her that he wanted her to call the engineers again. Then he used the same method of tapping her arm to tell the engineers what to do. It seemed foolish but the project was under way again.

For 13 years Washington tapped out his instructions with his finger on his wife’s arm, until the bridge was finally completed. Today the spectacular Brooklyn Bridge stands in all its glory as a tribute to the triumph of one man’s indomitable spirit and his determination not to be defeated by circumstances. It is also a tribute to the engineers and their team work, and to their faith in a man who was considered mad by half the world. It stands too as a tangible monument to the love and devotion of his wife who for 13 long years patiently decoded the messages of her husband and told the engineers what to do.

Perhaps this is one of the best examples of a never-say-die attitude that overcomes a terrible physical handicap and achieves an impossible goal. Often when we face obstacles in our day-to-day life, our hurdles seem very small in comparison to what many others have to face. The Brooklyn Bridge shows us that dreams that seem impossible can be realized with determination and persistence, no matter what the odds are.

(Contributed by Ms Ritu Sinha)

Emedinews: Insights on Medicolegal issues - In MLC cases, the direction of the shelving of margins of a lacerated wound indicates the direction of the blow applied to cause the wound.

• Lacerations are tears or splits of skin, mucous membranes, muscle or internal organs produced by application of blunt force to a broad area of the body that has crushed or stretched tissues beyond the limits of their elasticity.
• Crush injury from a direct blow may produce an irregular or stellate laceration with a variable degree of devitalized tissue, abrasion and visible contamination.
• Do not close a laceration if there is visible contamination, debris, non-viable tissue or signs of infection. Wounds may involve vascular areas of the face and scalp where the risk of infection is low or extremities where infection becomes a greater risk, along with the possibility of tendon and nerve damage. The elderly and patients on chronic steroid therapy may present with "wet tissue paper" skin tears following relatively minor trauma.
• When produced by a blunt weapon, such as club, crowbar, stone, brick etc., a lacerated wound is usually accompanied by a considerable amount of bruising of the surrounding and underlying tissues, and has inverted and irregular edges. The direction of the shelving of margins of a lacerated wound indicates the direction of the blow applied to cause the wound.
• When a heavy weight like a wheel of a heavy cart or a truck passes over an extremity, by its shearing and grinding force, it tears the skin from the underlying tissue and crushes the muscles and soft part lying beneath it realizing considerable blood and fat in them.
• Crush injury syndrome or fat emboli may follow a lacerated wound. The tear, avulsion, split are types of laceration.

(Contributed by Dr Sudhir Gupta)

Emedinews: Inspiration: The Cookie Thief

A woman was waiting at an airport one night, with several long hours before her flight. She hunted for a book in the airport shops, bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop. She was engrossed in her book but happened to see, that the man sitting beside her, as bold as could be. . .grabbed a cookie or two from the bag in between, which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene. So she munched the cookies and watched the clock, as the gutsy cookie thief diminished her stock. She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by, thinking, “If I wasn’t so nice, I would blacken his eye.” With each cookie she took, he took one too, when only one was left; she wondered what he would do. With a smile on his face, and a nervous laugh, he took the last cookie and broke it in half.

He offered her half, as he ate the other; she snatched it from him and thought… oooh, brother. This guy has some nerve and he’s also rude, why he didn’t even show any gratitude!

She had never known when she had been so galled and sighed with relief when her flight was called. She gathered her belongings and headed to the gate, refusing to look back at the thieving ingrate. She boarded the plane, and sank in her seat, then she sought her book, which was almost complete. As she reached in her baggage, she gasped with surprise, there was her bag of cookies, in front of her eyes. If mine are here, she moaned in despair, the others were his, and he tried to share. Too late to apologize, she realized with grief, that she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief.

(Contributed by Ms Ritu Sinha)

Emedinews:Insights on Medicolegal issues:What is the difference between antemortem and postmortem bruises?

A bruise is also called a contusion.

• Some people bruise easily, whereas others may have tougher skin tissue. Apply a cold compress to the bruise for at least 10 minutes to reduce swelling or the amount of bruising after an injury.

• In some cases of brought dead or dead in arrival, the doctor attending the case in emergency may get confused or may not be able to differentiate between antemortem bruise and postmortem artifacts and the postmortem bruise is entered in MLC as injury. I have seen many such cases in AIIMS while conducting an autopsy.

• But, it is possible to differentiate on close examination because in antemortem bruises there is swelling and damage to epithelium, coagulation and infiltration of the tissues blood and color changes. These signs are always remain absent in postmortem bruises.

• It is seen that contusions and abrasions produced immediately after death show a very low degree of changes.

• Appreciable bruising does not occur after 2-3 minutes of death due to arrest of heart and blood circulation, but by using great violence small bruises can be produced up to 3 hours after death where the tissue can be forcibly compressed against the bone or if the body is dropped on the ground from a height or from transport trolleys or running vehicle.

• Some of the evidences of bleeding are seen without history of trauma due to tearing of small veins in the skin when the body is lifted from the scene of death and transportation handling and the same is called postmortem artifact.

(Contributed by Dr Sudhir Gupta)

Emedinews : Inspiration: Be Content about Your Life

Wonder if any of you ever had the feeling that life is bad, real bad,…and you wish you were in another situation. Do you find that life seems to make things difficult for you, work sucks, life sucks, everything seems to go wrong….

It was not until yesterday that I totally changed my views about life; after a conversation with one of my friends.

He told me despite taking two jobs, and bringing back barely above 1K per month, he is happy as he is. I wonder how he can be as happy as he is now, considering that he has to skimp his life with the low pay to support a pair of old-age parents, in-laws, wife, 2 daughters and the many bills of a household.

He explained that it was through one incident that he saw in India……

That happened a few years ago when he was really feeling low and was touring India after a major setback. He said that right in front of his very eyes, he saw an Indian mother chopped off her child’s right hand with a chopper. The helplessness in the mother’s eyes, the scream of the pain from the innocent 4 years old child haunted him until today. You may ask why did the mother do so, has the child been naughty, was the child’s hand infected??

No, it was done for two simple words — to beg. The desperate mother deliberately caused the child to be handicapped so that the child can go out to the streets to beg. I cannot accept how this could happen, but it really did, just in another part of the world which I don’t see.

Taken aback by the scene, he dropped a small piece of bread he was eating half-way. And almost instantly, flock of 5 or 6 children swamp towards this small piece of bread which was then covered with sand, robbing of bits from one another. The natural reaction of hunger. Stricken by the happenings, he instructed his guide to drive him to the nearest bakery. He arrived at two bakeries and bought every single loaf of bread he found in the bakeries.

The owner is dumbfounded, but willing sold everything. He spent less than $100 to obtain about 400 loaves of bread (this is less than $0.25/per loaf) and spend another $100 to get daily necessities. Off he went in the truck full of bread into the streets. As he distributed the bread and necessities to the children (mostly handicapped) and a few adults, he received cheers and bows from these unfortunate. For the first time in life he wonders how people can give up their dignity for a loaf of bread which cost less than $0.25. He began to ask himself how fortunate he is as a Singaporean. How fortunate he to be able to have a complete body, have a job, have a family, have the chance to complain what food is nice what isn’t, have the chance to be clothed, have the many things that these people in front of him are deprived of…..

Now I begin to think and feel it, too. Was my life really that bad?

Perhaps….no,… it should not be bad at all….

What about you? Maybe the next time you think you are, think about the child who lost one hand to beg on the streets.

(Contributed by Ms Ritu Sinha)

Emedinews Inspiration: Appreciate Life’s Annoying Little Things

Lessons from 9/11, the annoying little things:
• As you might know, the head of a major company survived the tragedy of “9/11” in New York because his son started kindergarten.
• Another fellow was alive because it was his turn to bring doughnuts.
• One woman was late because her alarm clock didn’t go off in time.
• One was late because of being stuck on the NJ Turnpike because of an auto accident.
• One of them missed his bus.
• One spilled food on her clothes and had to take time to change.
• One’s car wouldn’t start.
• One went back to answer the telephone.
• One had a child that dawdled and didn’t get ready as soon as he should have.
• One couldn’t get a taxi.
• The one that struck me was the man who put on a new pair of shoes that morning, took the various means to get to work but before he got there, he developed a blister on his foot. He stopped at a drugstore to buy a Band-Aid. That is why he is alive today.
Now when I am stuck in traffic…Miss an elevator…Turn back to answer a ringing telephone…All the little things that annoy me…I think to myself…
This is exactly where God wants me to be at this very moment.
The next time your morning seems to be going wrong, the children are slow getting dressed, you can’t seem to find the car keys, you hit every traffic light…Don’t get mad or frustrated; God is at work watching over you.
May God continue to bless you with all those annoying little things – and may you remember and appreciate their possible purpose.

Emedinews:Insights on Medicolegal issues:Morphine

• The name Morphine originates from Morpheus – the Greek God of dreams.
• Morphine is an alkaloid of opium – white crystals, has bitter taste and alkaline reaction. It is very sparingly soluble in cold water but soluble in boiling water.
• Morphine hydrochloride and morphine sulfate are medicinal preparations and morphine acetate is a non–official preparation, the dose of each being 8 to 20 mg. These salts are bitter in taste, neutral in reaction and are 5 to 8 times more powerful than opium.
• Morphine has a depressant action on the cortex, the respiratory and cough centers in the medulla are depressed but the vagus and vomiting centers are stimulated.
• The spinal cord is also stimulated. Its most outstanding effect is pain relief, partly due to depression of the pain perception in cerebral area and partly due to its euphoric effect.

(Contributed by Dr Sudhir Gupta)