Emedinews: Insights on Medicolegal issues - Traumatic events are extraordinary, not because they occur rarely, but rather because they overwhelm the ordinary human adaptations to life.

Traumatic events are extraordinary, not because they occur rarely, but rather because they overwhelm the ordinary human adaptations to life. Judith Herman, MD, Trauma and Recovery

Trauma triad of death is a term in medicine describing the combination of hypothermia, acidosis and coagulopathy of blood.

• In the cases of traumatic injuries if the cycle continues uninterrupted the three conditions share a complex relationship; each factor can compound the others, resulting in high mortality seen as sudden death in postmortem examination.
• This combination is commonly seen in patients who have sustained severe traumatic injuries and results in a significant rise in the mortality rate.
• Severe hemorrhage in trauma diminishes oxygen delivery, causing the patient's body temperature to drop - hypothermia. This in turn can halt the coagulation, which prevents blood from clotting resulting in coagulopathy.
• Due to the minimal level or absence of the blood-bound oxygen and nutrient, the body's cells burn glucose without oxygen for energy which in turn increases the blood's acidity such an increase in acidity can reduce the efficiency of the heart muscles, further reducing the oxygen delivery and hence triggering a deadly cycle.