Tissue banks : the dangers of tainted tissues and the need for federal regulation : hearing before the Committee on Governmental Affairs, United States Senate, One Hundred Eighth Congress, first session, May 14, 2003.

  • United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs.
Date:
2003
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Tissue banks : the dangers of tainted tissues and the need for federal regulation : hearing before the Committee on Governmental Affairs, United States Senate, One Hundred Eighth Congress, first session, May 14, 2003. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    for a while, which we had expected. I told him, I would come on over to his house after I took care of a few things and he said that was fine. I got to his house about 6 p.m. As soon as I arrived I real- ized that he was in worse shape than he had let on. He was throw- ing up, and told me he almost passed out twice walking to the sink. He complained about feeling warm but he did not feel warm to the touch. I called Dr. Mulawka’s office right away and I got the answering service. They told me that they would call the doctor and have him call me back soon. Shortly after that someone else called from the clinic. When I explained how Brian was feeling, he told me to change the dosage on one of the medications which was likely the culprit of the stomach problems. Brian told me he would like to spend the night at our house so we packed up some of his things and we started to drive to my house which is only two and-a-half miles away. On the way Brian said he would like to stop at the hospital and have them check him out. We got to the emergency room about 8 p.m. When the nurse and the doctor on duty examined Brian they suspected that he was simply dehydrated and they put him on IV. I think they also gave him something in the IV to help settle his stomach. He still complained about burning up, and he stripped off his shirt and his blankets but he still did not register a fever. Brian also complained about his knee hurting, but the nurse could not find any unusual swelling, redness, or hot spots. A couple of times he doubled over with an upset stomach before the medica- tions seemed to kick in and help him. The nurse and the doctor thought he would feel better once he was more hydrated from the IV. His vital signs seemed to be OK. The doctor also ordered chest x-rays and had blood drawn. After that was done, Brian was back in his room and he was resting bet- ter. No one seemed alarmed about anything at that time and they told us that he would be going home soon. Brian finally appeared to be dozing off to sleep. I was tired and told the nurse that I would go out into the emergency room to get some rest. At that point it was about 1 a.m. in the morning. I was in the waiting room for about 15 maybe 20 minutes when someone came in and told me to come right away. Brian had sud- denly taken a turn for the worse. He had been moved to a larger room in the ER where several people were anxiously working around him. He was awake at that time. After a few minutes, the doctor told me that Brian’s vital signs had changed all of a sudden and that they were trying to find out what was wrong. Then the doctor asked me if there was anyone in town who I wanted to call to be with me. I began to worry. He told me that I should call my husband who, thankfully, was in Minneapolis and not on a trip as he is a pilot. I called Steve and the doctor explained to him that he should come to the hospital im- mediately, that things did not look good for Brian. I had not ex- pected any of this when I brought Brian to the hospital. We thought he was just dehydrated and nauseous from the strong medicine. The doctors were now planning to move him to the inten- Sive care unit.