Burn Unit Saving Lives After the Flames

by Ravage, Barbara

• ISBN13: 9780306814198
• ISBN10: 0306814196
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-05-04
• Publisher: Da Capo

Summary

Sometime in the early hours of the morning, the narrow entrance to Dan O'Shea's basement studio apartment began to fill with smoke. Most likely a cigarette had been left smoldering in an overflowing ashtray. Firefighters found Dan unconscious and barely breathing; his face was buried in a futon mattress, his back exposed to flames. For Tom Parent, a series of minor miscalculations added up to disaster: a pot full of cooking oil on the stove ignited. Tom grabbed the fiery pot and pivoted toward the door, passing under the blades of the ceiling fan as they turned lazily overhead. Within seconds he was engulfed in flames. By the time the EMTs met up with him, he was headed into full-blown shock.

Author Biography

The author of six books, Barbara Ravage is a member of the National Association of Science Writers. She lives on Cape Cod.

Table of Contents

Author's Note	ix
Introduction	xi
PROLOGUE A Life on Fire	1	(2)
CHAPTER 1 Saturday Night at the Cocoanut Grove	3	(18)
CHAPTER 2 A Riot in the Body	21	(26)
CHAPTER 3 The General	47	(14)
CHAPTER 4 The Very Young, the Very Old, the Drunk, and the Stupid	61	(18)
CHAPTER 5 Bigelow 13	79	(16)
CHAPTER 6 In the Hyperbaric Chamber	95	(14)
CHAPTER 7 At the Bedside	109	(20)
CHAPTER 8 Gasping for Breath	129	(16)
CHAPTER 9 The Scourge and the Silver Standard	145	(22)
CHAPTER 10 Cutting Off the Dead	167	(24)
CHAPTER 11 Healing	191	(22)
CHAPTER 12 New Skin	213	(14)
CHAPTER 13 Burned to Death	227	(12)
CHAPTER 14 A New Life	239	(16)
Notes	255	(32)
Acknowledgments	287	(4)
Index	291