Emergency Room Series: Mind Your Business

Unless you are an immediate participant in a personal situation, it’s best to mind your business by not getting yourself directly involved.

 Even if you are indirectly affected by an issue, that does not mean that it’s about you or give you the right to intervene


A lady was brought to the ER yesterday by her husband and other relatives. She was unconscious. The husband claimed they were eating when she suddenly grabbed her head and screamed aloud and fell down. As soon as she fell, they said she couldn't talk or respond to them again.


On physical assessment, she looked like she was in her late twenties. She was unconscious and wouldn't respond to touch, pain or sound. There was no sign of physical trauma. Her vital signs were normal: bp, pulse, respiration, oxygen saturation level etc. The medical team queried aneurysm and stroke. We put up IV fluids that would reduce the brain pressure slowly just in case it was high. We took blood samples for series of blood and electrolyte tests. They all came back to be within normal limits asides the White blood cell count which was slightly elevated and could easily be treated with antibiotics.


We also took her for a brain CT scan which was quite expensive . The husband quickly paid as he wanted his wife to be okay. Surprisingly for us, the brain CT scan came out to be normal. We called for a neurosurgeon to review who also concluded the same. No blood clots, no growths or tumors or any sign of increased cranial pressure. The spinal cord was also normal. 

We asked the family if she fell, they said she was only eating and suddenly shouted that her head was paining her and she slipped from the chair and fell.

 When asked if she hit her head on anything, the husband said no. We wheeled her to the XRay for an skull X-ray. There was no fracture too. We then wondered what exactly we would he treating her for. Her health history was also questioned: use of contraceptives, past surgery, drug abuse, self-medication, past seizure, infections, allergies etc, the husband kept saying no, no, no ...

A neurologist soon came and asked for an MRI scan. The test was very expensive too but nevertheless, the husband hurriedly paid. The test didn't show any sign of tissue damage or disease, such as infection or inflammation, or a tumor, stroke or seizure. The neurologist didn't see any wave of confusion, or abnormal movements neither was there any neurological deficits in general. The neurologist was marvelled.

We stopped the fluids that would lower the pressure in her head as it was normal and we commenced her on rehydration fluids and antibiotics.


Nevertheless, 4hours later she was still not responding. The neurologist then asked the husband series of questions including the things the wife did from a week ago. The husband said she stayed home most times since she was on leave and only went to the market a day ago to get food stuffs. He then mentioned that they moved to a new apartment a month ago and although she was easy going, she got into a fight with a neighbour who dropped her things in front of the patent's door. The neighbour was well known to cause trouble with other tenants.

 The husband claimed the neighbour dropped utensils at the entrance door and spilled some water there too which didn't go well with the patient and they exchanged words. The husband said the neighbour kept saying that 'it's like you want to die abi'. 

After about 6 hours, we noticed her respiration to be rapid and laboured so we placed her on oxygen. The family pastor was also called by the husband. As for me, I'm human and I've seen cases where things aren't just right, like this one.

 Cases where people go into unneeded drama with other people and end up sick or something, forget science. The doctor and nurse can only try their best but we don't own life or have any power over how a patient responds to treatment but God. The lady is still in coma and on oxygen. I hope she gets better. 

It’s natural to make judgements, so it’s important to be aware of and curb the downsides of that instinct. When it comes to minding your business, avoiding snap judgements means foregoing the assumption that you fully understand a situation. Asides people doing evil against each other, one could end up beaten or stabbed or shot. We read stories like that in the news. We should learn to control our temperament as anger does no good. I don't know if the neighbour has anything to do with it but as a human, that's another thing I can think of. You don't know who is who or what anyone is capable of. We still don't know what's wrong, but with time we'll find out.