When people are dying and you can only save some, how do you choose? Maybe you save the youngest. Or the sickest. Maybe you even just put all the names in a hat and pick at random. Would your answer change if a sick person was standing right in front of you?
In this episode, we follow New York Times reporter Sheri Fink as she searches for the answer. In a warzone, a hurricane, a church basement, and an earthquake, the question remains the same. What happens, what should happen, when humans are forced to play god?Listen here.
Also:
CRISPR
It's been almost two years since we learned about CRISPR, a ninja-assassin-meets-DNA-editing-tool that has been billed as one of the most powerful, and potentially controversial, technologies ever discovered by scientists. In this episode, we catch up on what's been happening (it's a lot), and learn about CRISPR's potential to not only change human evolution, but every organism on the entire planet.Listen here.
Out drinking with a few biologists, Jad finds out about something called CRISPR. No, it’s not a robot or the latest dating app, it’s a method for genetic manipulation that is rewriting the way we change DNA. Scientists say they’ll someday be able to use CRISPR to fight cancer and maybe even bring animals back from the dead. Or, pretty much do whatever you want. Jad and Robert delve into how CRISPR does what it does, and consider whether we should be worried about a future full of flying pigs, or the simple fact that scientists have now used CRISPR to tweak the genes of human embryos.
Radiolab
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ReplyDeleteI remember listening to the triage story on my way home Sunday evening from the hospital, ironically. I remember that I struggled with how a doctor can make those decisions in such an extreme situation. In normal circumstances, triage should be decided based on who needs care most urgently. But in those extreme circumstances, how does a doctor decide care? Does the heart attack case that will die soon need attention, or should it go to the refugee with his hand blown off? If attention goes to the heart attack case, its likely the refugee with the damaged hand will suffer, and not see any care, as more important cases will keep popping up, and even then, saving the heart attack victim isn't even 100% and they could still die.
ReplyDeleteIn the Katrina story, I think how the staff was able to make those hard decisions what fueled by adrenaline. It heightened their mental abilities, while suppressing their emotions. Although, this doesn't explain how they made their decisions, and for that I have no idea.
-Joseph Churchill
In cases of triage, the young should always be the first to preserved in my opinion as they are the future of the human race. Without then, humanity cannot continue.
ReplyDeleteTriage is used at every level of medicine. In military clinics, your priority is determined by your status. This is no emergency room, in most communities this is a general practitioner who is giving advice or dealing with a usual situation. To protect privacy, the kiosks only ask if you are military in uniform, military out of uniform, or civilian. Wanting your workers to get better and go back to work without worry as soon as possible is important. The same treatment is given for prescription waiting, tickets are called according to your status. This struck me as fair when I was younger, the military has these systems for a reason after all. When it becomes an ER room, more risks come into light. A general practitioner does not necessarily have to worry about accidents or trauma in the moment. The formula changes because of demand, prioritize those with conditions that are life threatening and so on down to a simple cold. The people with a cold can wait, someone who just suffered a heart attack cannot. Hospitals are even designed with this in mind, when you go to the MTSU clinic, there is a small room where vitals are gathered, then you are moved to a private room and if more treatment is needed, you are moved into a room with more specialized equipment. When it comes to emergencies, things get complicated. My Mom does costume make up and clothing for her work, its fun to help her, when we were on the military base, command asked her to create wounds on volunteers instead of just having the military police(MP's) having to read a sign that says, "abdominal wound". I was one of the volunteers(volentold mostly) that had an injury. For the first drill, we were in the school. I was paired with a girl who had a stomach wound and she was told to act distressed. I was to soothe her and tell them I felt fine while I had a wound on my back. Distress drew the MP's attention, I was ignored for 10 minutes. When we reset for the other drill, the injured rushing to the clinic less than a block away from school, I was caught with in a minute of arrival because they were prepared to deal with the situation. Triage is about preventing a situation from getting worse and decreasing pain and suffering. Objective observation can be difficult but necessary in situations such as this.
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