Emergency S2 Ep4: don’t miss our teams in action in the series finale
In this final episode, 61 year-old Joe is at St Mary’s Major Trauma Centre. A former soldier, Joe had been at an army reunion where he had drunk half a bottle of vodka. On his way home, he tripped and fell down an escalator at King’s Cross station. Hospital scans revealed a fractured skull, a small bleed in his brain and a fractured wrist. Best friend and ex-wife Jacky worries about the extent of his injuries, saying, “all these years he served in the army and… he didn’t even get a paper cut.” Neurosurgeons rule out surgery on the brain but orthopaedic surgeon Dylan must urgently operate to put the protruding wrist bone back in place before fixing it with a plate whilst protecting the radial artery that runs alongside the bone. Despite potentially life-changing injuries, Joe’s desperate to attend his grand-daughter’s 18th birthday. “She’s only 18 once …don’t know if I’m gonna make it”.
In South-West London, Advanced Paramedic Practitioner Steve is dispatched to Jacob, a 25-year-old who, whilst playing for his vegan rugby team, suffered a severe femur injury and leg deformity after being tackled. On arrival, Steve assesses his leg and rushes him to St George’s Major Trauma Centre while Jacob asks, “I’m not going to lose my leg am I?” Orthopaedic surgeon Tim looks at Jacob’s injury and reveals the extent of the injury is rare, admitting that Jacob “might not be playing rugby again … ever, unfortunately.”
46-year-old Jorge has arrived at North Middlesex University Hospital – a trauma unit in North London. Still in shock, Jorge’s son Juan explains he found his Dad on the floor, at home, unconscious with a lot of bleeding. When Jorge’s CT scan shows a broken bone in his neck, Emergency Medicine registrar Allam explains “it’s a serious injury. It can lead to stroke and paralysis… so we need to act fast”. He sends him for an MRI scan and refers Jorge to the neurosurgery team at Royal London Hospital. Spinal surgeon Brett, and spinal fellow, Daniel, analyse the MRI scans. Fixing his unstable neck and spine is complex and a delicate operation and as Brett explains “there’s a danger of paralysing him or worse” but “Jorge’s 46. He’s got forty, fifty years of living with whatever we give him now, so it’s important to get it right”.
Back at St George’s, motorcyclist Daniil has been in intensive care for five days after colliding with an HGV. Following a seizure on arrival, doctors were concerned the 20 year-old had bleeding in the brain and a brain injury. His worried Mum, Dasha, is with him and explains “every day when he go to work with his bike, every time I’m thinking ‘please not today’ and finally … it happens.” Daniil has an uncertain and long recovery ahead, but his Mum is still grateful it’s not worse. “This is not [a] miracle you know? The guys just know what to do and they saved my son.”
Finally, we revisit the patients filmed across the series to reveal the outcomes after their traumatic injuries.
