Tragedy for a Future Emergency Physician

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southerndoc

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Mila made a lot of friends in our ED, and she will be sadly missed.



From the Yale Daily News:

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Less than one day after being struck by a car near the Yale School of Medicine campus, Mila Rainof MED '08 died Sunday morning at Yale-New Haven hospital. She was 27.

The Santa Monica, Calif., native had likely been exercising at the Harkness Dormitory at 367 Cedar St. prior to the accident. On her way back to her York Street apartment at 9:45 a.m. Saturday, Rainof was hit by a vehicle at the intersection of South Frontage Road and York Street.

"Yale feels terrible; it's very rare that a medical student dies while at such a crucial period in their life," School of Medicine Dean Robert Alpern said. "It was very tragic that she died at such a young age so suddenly. We've all been stunned all weekend."

Rainof received both a bachelor's degree of the arts and a bachelor's degree in the sciences from Stanford University in 2003. The fourth-year medical student was set to begin her residency in California at Alameda County Medical Center's Highland General Hospital Department of Emergency Medicine this fall.

On Saturday morning, a large truck pulling out of a nearby hospital loading dock obstructed Rainof's view of oncoming traffic on South Frontage Road, Assistant Dean for Medical School Student Affairs Nancy Angoff said. Shortly after the truck pulled away, the light turned green and Rainof ran to avoid traffic, she said.

Two sport utility vehicles at the front of the intersection were able to swerve around Rainof, but the driver of a sports car directly behind the SUVs, whose view of the street was blocked, accelerated in order to get into the left lane onto the highway. In the process, the car hit her "with a good bit of force," Angoff said although she said she did not know the speed at which the car was moving.

Rainof was hit so hard that she flipped in the air and landed on her head, Angoff said. She incurred serious head injuries at the scene.

After being rushed to Yale-New Haven Hospital, Angoff said, doctors transferred Rainof to the neural intensive care unit and tried desperately to ease swelling around her brain. Rainof remained alive overnight, but neurologists who arrived the next morning pronounced her brain dead.

In keeping with their daughter's commitment to helping and saving others, Rainof's parents chose to have her organs salvaged for donation, Angoff said.

After the hospital performs an autopsy, Angoff added, Rainof's parents plan to have their daughter cremated and the ashes brought back to California.

Students living in the area described the intersection as "dangerous" and traffic in the area as reckless.

University spokesman Tom Conroy told the News on Sunday afternoon that Rainof's parents had been informed of the accident by the University. Her parents and boyfriend, who were at the hospital overnight Saturday, could not be reached for comment Sunday evening.

City Hall spokeswoman Jessica Mayorga said Saturday that the New Haven Police Department would release further details about the incident Monday.

A Saturday-afternoon press release stated that the NHPD's accident-investigation team "will be interviewing the driver and witnesses" to the incident.

"This is a tragic loss for all of us who came to know her and admire her and love her over the four years that she was here," Angoff said. "She was a wonderful student and friend to students and she will be grieved and missed by faculty, staff and students — it will be a very difficult time for the graduating class to come to terms with her loss."

The University plans to hold a community meeting today for the medical school and Yale-New Haven Hospital communities to assist friends with the grieving process.

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WTNH has a news video posted at http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=8200649

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Very tragic, this reminds me a lot of the 4th year UC Davis student that died last year.
 
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Tragic indeed. Our prayers are with her family and friends.
 
this is such a sad story- i met mila on one of my interviews and she is one of the very few people that i remember from the interview trail- because she was so friendly and cheerful. being a 4th year female medical student, same age, same career path, it hits close to home.

its so terrible, my thoughts are with her family and friends
 
I didn't know her well, we exchanged a few emails just last week because she was setting up an emergency medicine event for the students. But she seemed really nice and on top of her stuff even in that limited interaction.

How's the department holding up Southern? I can't imagine treating a trauma patient and suddenly realizing that it was a coworker or friend.
 
Ugh. How awful. Words cannot express what a tragic loss this is. I cannot imagine the pain now for her her mother, boyfriend, and anyone else who knew her. My thoughts and condolences to her family, friends, and those looking forward to working with her in Oakland. Emergency Medicine has suffered a great loss. :mad::mad:
 
this is terrible. what a huge loss :(:(:(
 
On Saturday morning, a large truck pulling out of a nearby hospital loading dock obstructed Rainof's view of oncoming traffic on South Frontage Road, Assistant Dean for Medical School Student Affairs Nancy Angoff said. Shortly after the truck pulled away, the light turned green and Rainof ran to avoid traffic, she said.

Two sport utility vehicles at the front of the intersection were able to swerve around Rainof, but the driver of a sports car directly behind the SUVs, whose view of the street was blocked, accelerated in order to get into the left lane onto the highway. In the process, the car hit her "with a good bit of force," Angoff said although she said she did not know the speed at which the car was moving.

What a horrible loss for someone who was just beginning to live. It sounds like a few bad decisions were made by several people involved that could have prevented this tragedy. This kind of offensive rather than defensive driving is all too common in the "me first" culture of today. What a shame.
 
When I was in New Haven for residency, I had to walk across that intersection daily, and it is a REAL dangerous one to begin with. It is basically the first light you hit after the freeway ends (or the last light you hit before you enter the freeway), so cars are usually hauling a$$ through there to begin with, and are constantly running the light. I've seen quite a few people nearly get hit there as they tried to cross.

Very sad that this had to happen. I hope the city takes measures to make it a safer place to cross....
 
so sad. It's really hard to lose a classmate, even if you don't know them that well (we've sadly lost one already to a death).
 
:( I'm pretty sure I met her in college

Someone in my class died on an away rotation last year. It makes you realize how uncertain the future is, and how much value there is in the present.
 
There was a memorial service for her today. It's hard to cross the street at that intersection where she was hit without becoming emotional. I'm a pretty stoic guy, and even I tear up when I see the flowers and her picture there. The picture shows her best: in an environment where she loved (the ED), in a white coat, stethoscope around her neck, and her characteristic smile that her friends know her for.

She will be sadly missed.

It's very tough to treat someone who you know well and care about.
 
We lost one as well. During our second year, one of our classmates just didn't show up for his spring break plans. Just disappeared. No one ever heard from him again, and it's been 2 years. His very serious girlfriend was in our class too.

We've also lost two residents recently, one to brain cancer, and one to ovarian cancer. Horrible. :(
 
We lost one as well. During our second year, one of our classmates just didn't show up for his spring break plans. Just disappeared. No one ever heard from him again, and it's been 2 years. His very serious girlfriend was in our class too.

We've also lost two residents recently, one to brain cancer, and one to ovarian cancer. Horrible. :(

I remember hearing about the medical student who just disappeared. :(
 
Yeah, last year there was the plane crash in California. I felt weird sending an application for the spot vacated.
UAB lost a senior resident in a tragic accident last year too.
 
I remember hearing about the medical student who just disappeared. :(

It's amazing that people can still just vanish. They're still looking for that Middlebury kid who walked out of his dorm in a snowstorm this winter and vanished.
 
yeah, his mom works at my hospital and we still get the catastrophic leave requests.

I can't imagine sending your kid across the country for college and having that happen.
 
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