A 26-year-old dental student in Connecticut died in an intensive care unit that was overseen by a remote "tele-health" doctor who pronounced him dead on a video screen, a lawsuit says.
This should have been such a straightforward case too.
Mr. Hylton’s condition deteriorated in the ICU, and despite orders, there are no CIWA assessments, no intake/output monitoring, and no MD assessments for pain and/or change in mental status despite the RN’s non-contemporaneous note indicating mental status change in a patient diagnosed with alcohol withdrawal and a history of alcohol withdrawal seizures for which he had “previously been given Keppra.”
Hylton, who was admitted around 11 a.m., became unresponsive early the next morning around 4:30 a.m., the complaint says.
“Mr. Hylton slid down in bed, his eyes rolled back and he … exhibited seizure-like activity, vomited, became bradycardic and code was called,” the complaint alleges. “He was intubated, but he could not be resuscitated, and he was pronounced dead.”
What the fuck were they even trying to do? Some kind of tough love/cold turkey approach? Honestly wouldn’t be surprised bc I’ve heard a lot of ignorant pieces of shit suggest that should be standard protocol for opiate withdrawal.
Aside from that being intentionally and unnecessarily cruel, there’s this tricky thing about alcohol withdrawal vs withdrawal from other “more serious” substances, where you can literally fucking die. That’s exactly what happened.
He wasn’t going through opioid withdraw, he was going through alcohol withdrawl, which can be just as dangerous cold turkey quitting. Alcohol has non specific effects in the brain, inhibiting excitatory neurotransmission by acting on NMDA receptors, and accentuating inhibitory transmission by acting on GABA receptors. Stopping cold turkey causes hallucinations and seizures due to the jump in excitatory neurotransmission. Keppra is an anticonvulsant that blocks high voltage gated calcium channels, which I sort of feel is an inappropriate medication on it’s own, might have been better to pair it with a low does of memantine/ketamine or a benzodiazapine class drug.
…the designer benzodiazapines are taking the symptoms your describing to a whole new level.
The equivalent of thousands of alprazolam tablets can be acquired for a few hundred bucks. Addicts think they hit the jackpot when they get access to them, but they can be outright killed by the withdrawal. There is no ceiling for GABA A tolerance, so there is no ceiling for the withdrawal.
This should have been such a straightforward case too.
What the fuck were they even trying to do? Some kind of tough love/cold turkey approach? Honestly wouldn’t be surprised bc I’ve heard a lot of ignorant pieces of shit suggest that should be standard protocol for opiate withdrawal.
Aside from that being intentionally and unnecessarily cruel, there’s this tricky thing about alcohol withdrawal vs withdrawal from other “more serious” substances, where you can literally fucking die. That’s exactly what happened.
He wasn’t going through opioid withdraw, he was going through alcohol withdrawl, which can be just as dangerous cold turkey quitting. Alcohol has non specific effects in the brain, inhibiting excitatory neurotransmission by acting on NMDA receptors, and accentuating inhibitory transmission by acting on GABA receptors. Stopping cold turkey causes hallucinations and seizures due to the jump in excitatory neurotransmission. Keppra is an anticonvulsant that blocks high voltage gated calcium channels, which I sort of feel is an inappropriate medication on it’s own, might have been better to pair it with a low does of memantine/ketamine or a benzodiazapine class drug.
It’s simpler to believe he just got lost in the system - no treatment is similar to intentionally not treat
…the designer benzodiazapines are taking the symptoms your describing to a whole new level.
The equivalent of thousands of alprazolam tablets can be acquired for a few hundred bucks. Addicts think they hit the jackpot when they get access to them, but they can be outright killed by the withdrawal. There is no ceiling for GABA A tolerance, so there is no ceiling for the withdrawal.