Stupid or Unfortunate? A day in my life at work...

First of all, I have to apologize for my warped sense of humor (it's related to 14 years of nursing...and just coming off a long stretch at work), but we have a new and insightful game that we've been playing at the Gallagher house lately. It's called "Stupid or Unfortunate", and believe it or not, it reflects my day-to-day life at work! Our director of trauma at the hospital where I work, recently explained how he plays it with his 4 little girls at home. So a while back I thought I'd give it a try with Will and Madison as well. Let me tell you...it's been a huge hit!!

To provide a little background, our trauma department regularly reviews all the trauma cases admitted through our Emergency Department to determine if any of them require presentation at our monthly M&M conference (no, we don't sit around and eat candy... it means Morbidity & Mortality). There are usually about 60-70 cases which are listed in order of injury severity. Each listing contains the patients age, mechanism of injury and resulting injury. On a serious note, some of these cases very tragic and incredibly unfortunate. But on the other hand, many...infact most, are - for lack of a better word - stupid.

So, this is how the game goes: I read (write) you a case scenario, and then you tell me - Is it stupid or unfortunate?

1. 13 year old boy - sheet on his head pretending to be a ghost - falls down a flight of stairs - fractured femur and radius.......stupid or unfortunate?

2. 48 year old man - riding bicycle - stopped at liquor store to buy another bottle - crashes moving bicycle into moving car while taking a drink from bottle - closed head injury, multiple fractured ribs, pneumothorax.......stupid or unfortunate?

3. 24 year old male - riding motorcycle at 120 mph - no helmet - drunk and chronic alcoholic (at 24??) - loses control and crashes into ditch - transected aorta and road-rash like you wouldn't believe...............stupid or unfortunate?

4. 14 year old male - gets in a fight with parents - stabs himself in the stomach with a kitchen knife............stupid or unfortunate?

5. 17 year old male - goofing around with buddies while shooting various small objects out of a BB gun - gets shot in the abdomen with a cut-off sewing needle - to surgery for exploration and removal of foreign object from liver..........stupid or unfortunate?

6. 20 year old female, crossing busy highway with husband - hit by car - tox screen positive for alcohol, methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana - subdural hematoma, fractured femur, fractured radius, fractured pelvis, multiple fractured ribs, etc............stupid or unfortunate?

7. 50 year old man - jumps off the Empire State building - lands on the Statue of Liberty - falls in the ocean - swims to land then gets out of the water and gets run over by a car........stupid or unfortunate?

Seriously, I don't make these up! Well, all except for the last one - that's Will's favorite scenario when we play the game.

So, lessons to take away:
- Don't drink/ do drugs and drive anything (motorized or not)
- Don't drink/do drugs and go near anything moving...or near water, for that matter
- Don't play ghost at the top of a flight of stairs
- Wear a freakin' helmet if you drive motorcycles or bikes!!
- Don't stab yourself in the stomach to get back at your folks... they'll probably just stick you in a psych unit.
- And, don't jump off the top of the Empire State Building...you'll end up getting hit by a car.

Really, there are some truly, truly tragic instances, but please keep in mind: MOST TRAUMA IS PREVENTABLE!!!! PLEASE BE SMART AND SAFE!!!!

(That ends this public service announcement.)