Legal Commentary

Richard Holbrooke, RIP

By Michael Froomkin

Another, if rather grim, reminder of how lucky I am to be doing so well.: Veteran Diplomat Richard Holbrooke Dies. 

I’ve read that if you don’t make it to the hospital within an hour of the aorta bursting, that’s pretty much it for your chances. I walked in maybe 20 minutes after the back pain started, and ended up collapsing in the receiving area of the emergency room while answering the paperwork questions. Which if you are going to pick a place to collapse is not such a bad choice.

Since my discharge from the hospital, I’ve met a lot of medical personnel and EMTs who tell me that a burst in the aorta is one of the things that they train for, over and over — but not something they see that often. And clearly, a walking, talking, fairly hale survivor is even more unusual.

Earlier: Aortas in the News.

Full post as published by Discourse.net on December 13, 2010 (boomark / email).