We Can't Kill Your Mother!

Table of Contents for "We Can't Kill Your Mother!" and Other Stories of Intensive Care, by Lawrence Martin, M.D.

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Preface

13. Coma
The stuff of tabloids -- but a true story.

1. Rounds
A morning on rounds in the ICU. Meet some of the patients and young doctors.

14. Cocaine Wins
And the patient loses.

2. Overdose
A young woman is determined to kill herself - why?

15. Crisis and Lysis
Pulmonary embolism - how to diagnose and treat?

3. Call NASA!
Can the National Aeronautics & Space Administration help these patients?

16. Extraordinary Care
The story of one man's devotion to his ventilator-dependent wife.

4. A Strange Pneumonia
It was unusual at the time--which is why this pneumonia surprised the doctors.

17. Thyroid Storm
A woman's thyroid gland runs amok.

5. Asthma in the Last Trimester
A young women with severe asthma -- and about to give birth!

18. As High as a Giraffe's
Hint: The giraffe has a very high blood pressure - that's how blood gets to its brain.

6. "We Can't Kill Your Mother!"
Is that what her daughters wanted the doctors to do?

19. The Red Baron
The Red Baron was a teller of tall tales - aka lies.

7. The Yellow Man
You might not want to drink again after reading this story.

20. "Mommy, why don't you hug me?"
Because Mommy's got a very severe problem with her nervous system.

8. Adult respiratory distress
Near total failure of the lungs -- a true case for intensive care.

21. The Wild Man
Some overdoses can make you act crazy.

9. Too Much Sugar, Too Little History
So who discovered insulin -- and when?

22. 'Lou Gehrig' Strikes Again
A moral and ethical dilemma if ever there was one. You may not like the ending.

10. Crusade
Two profiles of inveterate smokers.

23. "Shock Him!"
A lucky patient is brought back from certain death.

11. "Just give me a cigarette!"
Some people -- like this patient -- will smoke no matter what.

GLOSSARY

12. Pickwickian
Obesity, daytime sleepiness and under ventilation - a deadly combination.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The following stories were originally published as magazine articles.

  • Adult Respiratory Distress, published as A Case for Intensive Care, in The Gamut, Fall 1982

  • Crusade, published as Hammer Home the Message to Patients Who Smoke, in Medical Economics, January 1991
  • Pickwickian, in The Gamut, Winter 1991
  • "We can't kill your mother!", in Medical Economics, March 1991
  • Extraordinary Care, published as Mr. Bowman's Solution, in The Saturday Evening Post, April 1991
  • Too Much Sugar, Too Little History, in The Gamut, Winter, 1992
  • The Red Baron, in The Saturday Evening Post, January 1993
  • "Mommy, why don't you hug me?", in The Saturday Evening Post, May 1993.
  • The Wild Man, in The Saturday Evening Post, October 1994
  • "Call NASA!", in Resident & Staff Physician, July 1995
  • 'Lou Gehrig' Strikes Again, in The Saturday Evening Post, July 1995
  • "Shock Him!", in The Saturday Evening Post, June 1996
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Copyright © 1996-2001 by
Lawrence Martin, M.D.
Associate Professor of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland
Contents Page Revised March 1999