Holiday cocktails that may cause traumatic injuries
Washington, December 17 (ANI)
There are some things that just do not go together and are a recipe for disaster, according to a Loyola trauma chief.
"Kids and light cords, cars and cell phones or alcohol and anything, are just a few of my least favorite things," said Dr. Thomas Esposito, chief of the Division of Trauma, Surgical Critical Care and Burns in the Department of Surgery at Loyola University Medical Center.
"The mild weather has delayed the traditional snow blower and snow shoveling injuries, but the Christmas and New Year holidays still bring in falls from ladders, electrical outlet zaps and alcohol-fueled everything," he stated.
Dr. Esposito is asked so often about what he sees in the Loyola Level 1 Trauma Center that he has actually created an extensive list.
"Santa has his naughty list and so do I. We trauma surgeon 'mixologists' have our list of time-tested recipes for disaster that we see year in and year out," Esposito said.
While he said he is rarely surprised by injuries he routinely sees in the Trauma Center, Esposito is disturbed by the number of children who are injured by televisions.
"Little kids climb on improperly mounted flat screens and big-screen TVs or the TV stand and get seriously hurt or die when the TV topples over onto them," Esposito said.
"And there is always a trail of patients we get who drink or use other intoxicants and fall off the roof while hanging lights or even shoveling snow! I guess it is a double form of getting high, but roofs and human hooves don't mix well," he asserted.
Other things that Dr. Esposito said do not mix are:
Bar brawls and Bottles
Guns and Gatherings
Candles and Cats
Little fingers and Electrical sockets
Ladders and Lights
Toy parts and Little tongues
Kids and Cabinets
Knives and Lives
Flames and Fleece
Drinking and Decorating
Pets and Poisons
Cooking and College Football
Space Heaters and Enclosed Spaces
Candles and Champagne
Shovels and Out-of Shape Shovelers
Hands and Snow blowers
Knives and Knuckles
Heat and Bare Feet
Texting and Tree topping
Reefer and Roofs
Drivers and Distraction
Faces, Fingers and Fireworks