Thursday, August 2, 2012

Pit bulls educating surgeons: The Sucking Chest Wound

Dr. Larry B. Mellick, Professor of Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics treated a rare type of injury typically only seen as soldiers' battle wounds: the sucking chest wound.

This civilian patient was a 4-year old girl mauled by her family pit bull.  The pit bull tore open her chest wall.

The injury is so rare, Dr. Mellick referred to military guides to treat the patient.  He made a video and published a short write-up in Emergency Medicine Reports to inform fellow civilian emergency care doctors of the treatment.

[warning: it's gross]




Outside the battlefield theater, a sucking chest wound or open pneumothorax is a fairly uncommon event. Consequently, guidelines concerning the management of this condition are highly dependent on the experience of the military and expert opinion. Almost no research exists that can guide our management of these injuries.


They're just like any other dog.

36 comments:

Your Quiet Neighbor said...

Not only are they just like any other dog, they're misunderstood. Why, give them a chance, and they'll just cover you with kisses. And lick you to death!

Dude, I BaggedYourPit said...

"Expert opinion has changed about the prehospital or initial management of a sucking chest wound or open pneumothorax. Instead of applying an adherent dressing closed on three sides, an occlusive dressing should be applied to the wound, and the patient is monitored for the development of a tension pneumothorax."

Huh! I learned something. When I saw the full covering rather than a dressing adhering to three sides, my immediate thought was, "They're doing it wrong!" Now I'll have to backtrack to learn about the rationale for the change in protocol.

Animal Uncontrol said...

This goes to a point that you rarely hear but must be said more often: The Pit Bull leaves BATTLEFIELD level injuries in its wake. This is not like your typical shooting or stabbing wound. No, its the type of injury you'd see from an artillery blast or a heavy bomb explosion.

scurrilous amateur blogger said...

first burn victims, now battlefield injuries. yeah right, all dogs bite!

scroll to the bottom of this blog post to see the difference between a gunshot wound and a pit bull "bite".


we NEED medical professionals to take a united stand against dangerous dogs, NOW. they are in a position to make a huge difference.

Small Survivors said...

It is very true and a very apt analogy, AU.
Here is another recent battlefield analogy

Look at that fucker just having a ball attacking. When Dawn talks about mutants flexing their genetic muscle, this is it. This thing is doing what it was bred to do with utter joy. Luckly we then get to see the fucker shot to death.

scurrilous amateur blogger said...

it makes my day when psychopathy rears its ugly head in the pit bull community.

Prosecutor Sam Brown said: "One of the men answered with words to the effect of 'we can't, mate there's nothing we can do.'

"One of the men then said in a tone that was utterly sanguine 'you should have just knocked on the door.'

"After these vignettes were uttered the two men turned around, went back into the house closing no doubt what was left of the front door behind them."


this is how the freak show of "expert" nutters appeared when they show to criticize the texas study last year.

Jim Reeve said...

I couldn't imagine inviting a dog to become a member of my family, only to have it hurt or kill my child. Dogs are supposed to protect their family, so it appears that some pit bulls are even to stupid for that.

scurrilous amateur blogger said...

"This thing is doing what it was bred to do with utter joy. Luckly we then get to see the fucker shot to death."

yeah, this pit bull is like salmon, it dies after it fulfills its destiny. too bad they all don't.

thanks for posting this update snack.

Small Survivors said...

Jim, it really is mind boggling that a "family pet" could cause a battlefield wound. I genuinely cannot fathom a parent taking this kind of chance.

But, notice that the pit also seriously injured the father too. I can't imagine getting a pet I couldn't physically subdue, either. And I'm not just talking about size - about temperament, too.

Dayna said...

My God. That video just had me crying, I could not even imagine as a parent what it must be like to see your child like this. Horrifying.

Jaloney said...

Seeing the heartbeating out of the gaping wound made it very clear that this person came very close to getting their heart ripped out.. and dying from the family pitbull. Why take chances like this with your kid? Why gamble?

DubV said...

You know the standard nutter retort Jaloney. It's because "any dog could do this and who is really to blame is the parent who left the dog alone with the kid or didn't socialize it properly". That standard reply doesn't age well. Especially when the nutter feels very clever for having said it.

Chase K9 Services said...

hey guys...how's the fight going?

Massachusetts Governor Patrick signed a bill into law today that makes regulating dogs by breed illegal. BSL...Illegal! And more. This progressive piece of legislation calls for:

- Creation of a statewide spay/neuter program.
- Adds enforcement provisions to the spay/neuter deposit law for animals adopted from shelters and animal control facilities to ensure that they get fixed.
- Requires animal control officers to receive training.
- Prohibits carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide gas as a means to euthanize dogs and cats.
- Reduces dog bites by improving the dangerous dog law in a breed neutral manner.
- Allow pets to be included in domestic violence protection orders to protect both animals and people.

http://www.malegislature.gov/Bills/BillHtml/116590?generalCourtId=1

scurrilous amateur blogger said...

outstanding. only a heartless, narcissistic pit nutter could leave a comment like this on a video like that.

i just love it when you idiots show the world who you really are. BRAVO RYAN CHASE!

Rumpelstiltskin said...

Yeah, leaves it on a video of a child who's lung was almost ripped out by a pit bull. Classy.

I think pit nutter describes him very well.

Anonymous said...

ive seen pit-nutters doing their crazy little victory dances before ,but its ok , the shit will come out in the wash , eventually.

Anonymous said...

quess we may see the governors mug on this blog , explaining how his mutants had never shown any aggression before , played nicely with the neighbourhood kids , were heavily into agility , skateboarding ect. lol

DubV said...

As long as the AVMA, HSUS, and other animal orgs are: 1. seen as authorities on an issue that is largely a human safety/health issue and 2. these same "august" orgs can make arguments often reduce to the pit nutter screed of "any dog can bite"; then I expect some politicians to be duped by pit nutters or use this as some political move.

Your Quiet Neighbor said...

Oh, yeah. Like pit bull owners are going to trot right out and get their mutants spayed or neutered. Sure.

Way to go, MA. You've officially been taken over by dumbasses.

DubV said...

"- Creation of a statewide spay/neuter program."

This is tantamount to BSL in Mass. since there is no serious pet overpopulation problem outside of pit bulls.


"- Adds enforcement provisions to the spay/neuter deposit law for animals adopted from shelters and animal control facilities to ensure that they get fixed."

See my comment above. Chemical sterilization is on the way and will make this a moot point. I agree that all animals adopted out should be spay/neuter, but it should happen while in the facility (and this should've always been the case). I assume this is not done so that money is not wasted on animals that will be put to sleep anyway, but it is a shame.

"- Requires animal control officers to receive training."

Duh, common sense.

"- Prohibits carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide gas as a means to euthanize dogs and cats."

Shows that emotionalism is being injected by rescue orgs against the idea of "gassing" something. Carbon monoxide/dioxide gassing is not inhumane (unless done via a hot truck exhaust, in a box with a ton of live animals on top of each other, etc). Animals lose consciousness within a minute or so when exposed to 5% CO and die very quickly afterward.


"- Reduces dog bites by improving the dangerous dog law in a breed neutral manner."

The "by" part is a circular argument within this legislation. They are asserting with the law that a breed-neutral approach is best and then listing it as one of its attributes. Besides that, this is merely an assertion. Also, based upon nutter arguments it is all about "how you raise'em" and BSL doesn't work because bad people ignore legislation. If those too things are both true, then expect the only effective bits of this law to be related to making it easier to keep a dog from being a repeat offending biter.

"- Allow pets to be included in domestic violence protection orders to protect both animals and people."

This is pretty cool, and a good idea. But watch, it will be used and abused by nutters in strange scenarios that will end on this blog or one on its blog roll.

DubV said...

I'd love to see who wrote that legislation. Does that have to be disclosed?

Rumpelstiltskin said...

You'd think animal control was already trained on dogs since, well, they catch them.

Are they going to be trained that "all dogs bite" and pit bulls are "nanny dogs"?

scurrilous amateur blogger said...

"I'd love to see who wrote that legislation. Does that have to be disclosed?"

i'm working on it.

"Are they going to be trained that "all dogs bite" and pit bulls are "nanny dogs"?"

i expect that training will come in the form of the same kind of training that HSUS got from jane goebbles berkey (trashing bloodhounds) and the same kind of training that ledy vankavage provides. i saw her trashing cocker spaniels in her in house service. she deleted her training videos after i got a hold of them.

training highlights:
* all dogs bite
* dogs are individuals
* trash other breeds
* no breed identification in biting reports
* the importance of CGC titles for the dogs that no one can identify
* a slide show of the vick dogs who have not been hit by cars or haven't chewed through their cages to kill another dog or who still shiver and cower in the presence of their nutter owners.

* jane will also push:
1) the transference of ownership to remove any liability from the shelters.
2) no background checks (it's okay if pits fall into the hands of dog fighters to protect her fighting dog fetish)
3) prioritization of animal welfare investigations over loose dangerous dogs - completely ignoring attacks on other animals.
4) all attendees will receive a copy of the newspeak dictionary for easy reference to the sanitized language. ex:
BAIT DOGS ARE OUT THIS YEAR
NANNY DOG IS OUT/AMERICA'S DOG and CHERISHED FAMILY DOG is IN

at the end of the training the brainwashed army will be provided with a 24 hour hotline for questions that are not covered in the training. a nutter lawyer will be on call to step in and take over all media interview requests. when in doubt, always fall back on shyster lawyers - that's why they pay kara the big bucks.

scurrilous amateur blogger said...

oops, i apologize to the minister of propaganda for misspelling her name - GOEBBELS.

Anonymous said...

dubv : that is a horrible looking atavar but hanibal lecter is so much more appropriate.

DubV said...

Ha...my first attempt at an avatar and I've managed to disturb Miss Margo and snarky!

I just googled pit bull and thought it appropriate to muzzle a pit.

Anonymous said...

its just that in my mind the mutant prob is more human, rather than canine . i also like liver with a nice chianti but i like my canine without the jamie gump.

Anonymous said...

arff arff , yes precious , she does put the lotion in the basket ....or she gets the hose.

vintage said...

GREAT PIT BULL DOG BUYING MOMENTS IN HISTORY:

Ted McCurry almost becomes a Pit Bull owner, bitten over 90 percent of his body and is killed. Apparently, Dax the Pit Bull didn‘t want to be sold


**Disclaimer...You Can't Make This Stuff Up!

vintage said...

PS....

DubV,

You made a very astute observation about business lobbies; AVMA and HSUS being seen as "authorities" on the dog mauling public health issue.

They insist there isn't a problem despite mauling hospitalizations being up 86% since 1993, and DBRFs increasing from 5 per year in 1974, to 30 per year in the late 2000's.

This is no different than when the Tobacco Lobby controlled information about Lung Cancer in the 50's.

Meet the Chief Architect of the Pit Bull talking points and the last CDC fatality report:

Dr Randall Lockwood: "The animal slept in my sleeping bag and appeared friendly but was eventually shot for hunting down and killing a sheep"


It is difficult to understand how such a kook could be allowed within ten miles of the public safety debate.

**Disclaimer...You Can't Make This Stuff Up!

Alexandra said...

DubV, thanks for the intelligent light you shine on all this stuff. Your comments often make my day (and leave me with nothing to add). Except maybe that it makes me angry every time again when vets make any claim to be experts on animal *behavior*. Kinda like me thinking I'm a vet because I took an animal first-aid class. An insult to the other's academic specialism and what it takes to get real skill in it after degrees are awarded.

Vintage, thanks for that Great Pit-Bull Dog Buying Moments In History link -- and the title you gave it! I've sent it on to at least six people already, using your header for it (hope you don't mind).

Small Survivors said...

There's more to the story Vintage posted. Jim Crosby evaluated the dog and determined that the dog headed up the "just say no to drugs or I'll kill you" campaign.

Or possibly was on drugs itself...You just have to read all the red herrings in this investigative work!

And there's a nice pic of the obviously gamebred little pit that killed a 180 pound man by crushing the base of his skull and tearing open 2 major arteries.

http://network.bestfriends.org/1980/news.aspx

Thank you vintage - Classic!

And I have to agree with Sputnik about your comments, DubV. I keep wanting to push a "like" button!

scurrilous amateur blogger said...

i thought this attack sounded like "the dog smelled drugs" bullshit excuse whitewash jimmy served up. but hey what do you expect with KAREN DELISE as his mentor. jimmy can only aspire to the level of imagination that karen demonstrates with her meteorologic explanations of pit bull rage but he does look impressive in the lion tamer role. i'll have to save as pdf now that you have posted it here. i think ledy has someone that regularly trolls here. then goes through and cleans house.
good times.

Branwyne Finch said...

I read the bill, and it seems the anti-BSL component was slipped in there when animal welfare organizations got involved. The bill states simply that a dog can't be declared dangerous based on breed alone. It doesn't state a town can't pass mandatory s/n laws, mandatory microchipping, etc. There is NO discussion currently that this will impact Boston or Lynn or Everett or any of the other cities and towns that regulate pit bulls. I don't think current towns with BSL are too concerned...this does not mean current cities and towns must repeal their BSL.

As far as the s/n clause, that is laughable....we don't have ANY problems with dog overpopulation in Mass, we simple have a pit bull overpopulation problem. The cost of this legislation will be funded with a voluntary donation on your tax bill, so I expect humane organizations will reap a cash windfall from this. I would say the most pressing need in the Commonwealth regarding animal overpopulation would be s/n services for cats, but I suspect a great deal of the money will go to further subsidize pit bull ownership with free s/n that is not income based.

Of course, none of this will impact the continued overbreeding of pit bulls, since most are purpose bred dogs.

"Helping homeless dogs" in Massachusetts is a euphemism for helping pit bulls. Considering most rescues and shelters are importing dogs from out of state to fill the demand for adoptable, non-pit bull type dogs, it's crazy to pretend this bill is helping to solve then "problem" of dog "overpopulation".

DubV said...

"And I have to agree with Sputnik about your comments, DubV. I keep wanting to push a "like" button!"

*blush*

Thanks!

DubV said...

"I read the bill, and it seems the anti-BSL component was slipped in there when animal welfare organizations got involved. The bill states simply that a dog can't be declared dangerous based on breed alone. It doesn't state a town can't pass mandatory s/n laws, mandatory microchipping, etc. There is NO discussion currently that this will impact Boston or Lynn or Everett or any of the other cities and towns that regulate pit bulls. I don't think current towns with BSL are too concerned...this does not mean current cities and towns must repeal their BSL."

Thanks Bran. So either Pit Nutter misread or misrepresented this or got his info. from someone else who had.