Misconnected chest tube: An extremely unusual fatal complication of secondary pneumothorax
Veronika Heckmann1, Gábor Simon1, Tamás F Molnár2,3
1Department of Forensic Medicine, Medical School, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary.
Abstract:
A rare and fatal complication of suction drainage of secondary spontaneous pneumothorax is reported. The patient, likely by a mistake, arbitrarily connected the oxygen supply tube to the thoracic drain. The sharp increase of intrapleural pressure combined with the atmospheric intraalveolar environment caused diffuse lung injury and cardiopulmonary collapse without a direct lung injury. The conflicting interests of patient autonomy and patient safety require further consideration.
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