Emergency Management of Pelvic Injuries
I’m Ed Smith, a Sacramento Personal Injury Lawyer. When people are involved in a car accident, they are at risk of suffering a variety of traumatic injuries. One of the most serious yet overlooked injuries is a pelvic injury. If someone has a pelvic fracture, he or she can suffer numerous complications. Some important statistics include:
- Pelvic fractures account for more than 5% of all bone fractures.
- The mortality rate of pelvic fractures often exceeds 10%.
- Pelvic fractures are at risk of severe infection.
- Pelvic injuries can lead to tremendous blood loss.
Some of the factors that lead to a high death rate with pelvic fractures include:
- Risk of developing sepsis from a severe infection.
- The development of pulmonary emboli as a result of fractures.
- Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome can lead to respiratory failure and death.
- Severe shock can lead to a massive inflammatory response and death.
All of these factors are serious complications that might result from a pelvic injury and possibly lead to wrongful death.
Emergency Management of Pelvic Injuries: Crucial Decisions
If someone arrives at a hospital with a pelvic injury, there are essential steps that should be taken. Some of the first moves of the medical professionals could be:
- Assessment of Circulation: The doctor will quickly look at the patient’s vital signs. Some individuals could require a blood transfusion, indicated by low hemoglobin, high heart rate, and low blood pressure.
- Maintenance of the Airway: If someone has difficulty breathing, intubation could be necessary to preserve oxygen status.
- Pregnancy Assessment: If a woman is pregnant when she sustained a pelvic injury, there could be another patient in the picture. A pregnancy test will be done on a patient who has sustained a pelvic injury.
- Internal Bleeding: Internal bleeding can happen with a pelvic injury. An ultrasound may be performed to assess the patency of internal organs and to look for signs of internal bleeding.
Once the individual has been stabilized, he or she may be taken to an operating room for repair of the injuries.
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Sacramento Personal Injury Lawyers
I’m Ed Smith, a Sacramento Personal Injury Lawyer. Pelvic injuries can cause serious complications. If you or a family member has suffered a pelvic injury in a car accident, call me today at (916) 921-6400 or (800) 404-5400. I can offer friendly, free legal advice without any obligation.
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Image Attribution: The picture at the top can be located on Pixabay. It has been printed here with permission.
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