Citation

Weckbach S, Flierl MA, Blei M, Cothren Burlew C, Moore EE, Stahel PF. Scand. J. Trauma Resusc. Emerg. Med. 2011; 19(1): 63.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Scandinavian Networking Group on Trauma and Emergency Management, Publisher Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group - BMC)

DOI

10.1186/1757-7241-19-63

PMID

22027092

PMCID

PMC3212924

Abstract

We report the case of a 28-year old rock climber who survived an "unsurvivable" injury consisting of a vertical free fall from 300 feet onto a solid rock surface. The trauma mechanism and injury kinetics are analyzed, with a particular focus on the relevance of body positioning to ground surface at the time of impact. The role of early patient transfer to a level 1 trauma center, and "damage control" management protocols for avoiding delayed morbidity and mortality in this critically injured patient are discussed.

Language: en