When Jevon Puckett began his first shift as on-call consultant surgeon at Hawke's Bay Hospital on February 21 last year, there were two sorts of cases he fervently hoped he would not have to see. One was a badly injured child. The other was a badly injured liver. "They are terrifying."
Minutes after ambulance staff brought 19-year-old stonemason Sam Fletcher into the emergency department in Hastings at 8.45am, Puckett realised if there was a god, he wasn't paying attention that morning.
At 8.08am in Napier, Fletcher's abdomen had been crushed when he was pinned by six door-sized slabs of stone, each weighing 60-150kg, that had been destined to become kitchen benchtops. The pressure had torn off the top of his liver as effectively as a can opener would take the lid off a tin of beans.
The injury was the equivalent of a scalping to his liver, says Puckett. Fletcher, already pale from internal blood loss and unresponsive because of his plummeting blood pressure, was dying.
Fletcher's mother, Penny Taylor, driving to the hospital from Napier, says a doctor somewhat ominously called to ask her how far away she was, saying he would have her escorted past the Covid checkpoints into ED "because we don't have time".
"All hell was breaking loose. I had no idea what I was walking into. Sam was grey. He looked dead."
By 9.40am, Puckett himself had wheeled Fletcher to theatre to open his abdomen - "he had a belly full of blood" - and pack the liver to stabilise him and staunch the bleeding.
Denne historien er fra July 8 - 14, 2023-utgaven av New Zealand Listener.
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Denne historien er fra July 8 - 14, 2023-utgaven av New Zealand Listener.
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First-world problem
Harrowing tales of migrants attempting to enter the US highlight the political failure to fully tackle the problem.
Applying intelligence to AI
I call it the 'Terminator Effect', based on the premise that thinking machines took over the world.
Nazism rears its head
Smirky Höcke, with his penchant for waving with a suspiciously straight elbow and an open palm, won't get to be boss of either state.
Staying ahead of the game
Will the brave new world of bipartisanship that seems to be on offer with an Infrastructure Commission come to fruition?
Grasping the nettle
Broccoli is horrible. It smells, when being cooked, like cat pee.
Hangry? Eat breakfast
People who don't break their fast first thing in the morning report the least life satisfaction.
Chemical reaction
Nitrates in processed meats are well known to cause harm, but consumed from plant sources, their effect is quite different.
Me and my guitar
Australian guitarist Karin Schaupp sticks to the familiar for her Dunedin concerts.
Time is on my side
Age does not weary some of our much-loved musicians but what keeps them on the road?
The kids are not alright
Nuanced account details how China's blessed generation has been replaced by one consumed by fear and hopelessness.