Saturday, April 17, 2010

Military docs pluck live shell from soldier's head

On April 15, 2010, an injured Afghani soldier at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan was taking a CT scan. As Lt. Col. Anthony Terreri was reading the CT scan, he noticed something unusual. Instead of a shrapnel lodged into the injured soldier's head, it was actually an unexploded ordnance, which is "a live round of ammunition that could detonate at any time." The cause of the unexploded ordnance in the soldier's head was due to an IED, a bomb, that released shards of metal that happened to strike the soldier's head. John Bini, the trauma care advisor, states that, "People will pack just about anything in to these things: rocks, nails, screws, explosives."

Just after looking over a second CT scan, Bini and his team discussed the risk of surgery. In order to conduct surgery without exploding the ordnance, Bini, who was the surgeon, had to take safety precautions such as turning off all volatile anesthetics and electricity. While Bini was the surgeon, Rengel monitored the "soldier's vital signs" with a "blood pressure cuff, a battery-operated heart rate monitor and some good old-fashioned arithmetic." Other personnel in the surrounding area were told to evacuate.

Bini reports that the ordnance did not penetrate the patient's brain. However, there was a signification fracture. As the surgery took place, Bini abandoned metal tools for the procedure, so he actually used his bare hands to pull the bomb out due to a fear that it would increase the chances of the bomb exploding,

This is a great story about a person who crosses the line to help another person of a different race. Even though he argues the real heroes are the soldiers, Bini risked his life for another person. I respect him for taking the necessary steps, under intensive pressure, to extract the unexploded ordnance.
By reading this article, I have realized that there are life-threatening risks for surgeons behind the scenes. We are fortunate to have soldiers and surgeons who dedicate their lives for our country.

2 comments:

SethXY said...

I think another novel thing about this surgery was how the surgeon decided to remove as much technology as possible from the procedure instead of increasing it. Today, the norm is definitely to increase your hardware when performing more and more complex things but for a Bini to actually go against that norm is something special, and he succeeded for it.

Sabrina said...

It was very admirable that the doctor would risk so much to aid and afghani soldier. It's one thing to risk your life (he was dealing with an unexploded ordinance that could go off at any time) for one of your own men, but for someone else is especially commendable. I think this article not only highlights the bravery that happens behind the scenes, but the various shades of gray in matters of war; not everything is black and white. Just because this soldier was Afghani did not stop Lt. Col. Anthony Terreri from dislodging the bullet in his head, which shows that in war, no matter what, we are dealing with fellow human beings, regardless of their allegiance or ethnicity.