Emergency Tracheotomy

Started by TeslaCoil
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TeslaCoil

TeslaCoil

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Recently had a discussion with a friend about performing emergency procedures in public, and came up with this conundrum: if a random person were to choke on their food in a restaurant, and the Heimlich fails, would it be prudent to perform an emergency tracheotomy?

I realize physicians are protected by the Good Samaritan Law, in so far as they are practicing within their "professional bounds", but what are those professional bounds? Does it vary by specialty? Would an anesthesiologist be professionally qualified to perform an emergency tracheotomy in public or anywhere for that matter? What are the legal implications?

Is there anybody out there who can clarify this?
 
Good Samaritan laws aside, how many people would really feel comfortable A. doing a slash trach and B. with some ****ty kitchen knife at a restaurant. This all sounds really cool in theory, but I imagine the reality would be far from life-saving. This all assumes you are going distal to the food lodged in their trachea as well.
 
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We had a recent discussion where this came up. If you're not in ENT and doing emergent trachs, I would imagine that you'd open yourself up to legal liability if you used makeshift equipment and the patient died. Good Samaritan laws generally cover physicians acting within the scope of what they are competent of, and I don't think anyone would say they're competent at makeshift tracheotomies.
 
Mad Jack said:
We had a recent discussion where this came up. If you're not in ENT and doing emergent trachs, I would imagine that you'd open yourself up to legal liability if you used makeshift equipment and the patient died. Good Samaritan laws generally cover physicians acting within the scope of what they are competent of, and I don't think anyone would say they're competent at makeshift tracheotomies.
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Eh, I feel like if you were an ENT, general/trauma surgeon, EM physician, intensivist or anesthesiologist, I feel like you'd be practicing within your scope. Do all of these specialties do crics/trachs regularly? No. But they should be comfortable enough with the procedure to do it in a life or death situation. Mind you, the above situation is so contrived it is not likely going to impact any of us. But let's say your at an emergency situation, EMS is there and they get in a can't intubated can't oxygenate situation. In that case, I think any of the above physicians should prefer an error of commission than one of omission if a patient is in extremis.
 
If ppl see you slashing a guy's throat and he dies...that looks bad...

Unless it is a friend/relative or you are MSF in Somalia...don't do that ****...wait for the EMS

The lay public is too dumb to understand...the fatso who choked on his steak now has a wife who can get rich because you decided to be a hero
 
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2 anesthesiologists on a plane with a choking man
 
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