My Doctor Carson- The Hero "Dr. Drill"..!
Dr. Carson is one of the most popular doctors in Maryborough, Victoria, because he has such a great patient manner and rapport, which is hard to find in this era of churning patients through the clinic doors.
He is also the Maryborough Hospital Anesthesiologist who probably spends as much time in the operating theater as he does in his clinic. He took care of the anesthetics when my dad had both his prostate surgeries.
And when he greets you at his surgery door he always breaks into a huge grin that somehow makes your aches and pains feel better before you even go through the door to pour out your miseries to his patient ears.
He really is as humble and sweet as he sounds in the audio and video interviews I have linked to from this page... and he has been a hero to a lot of locals here for a very, very long time!
So this lens is a tribute to a country GP who is versatile above and beyond the norm, and a bloody nice bloke as well.
Let me tell you the story about my doctor, the Hero.
- Helene Malmsio
Maryborough,
Central Goldfields Shire
Australia
How Dr. Carson saved boy's life with the drill!
A quick-thinking doctor in rural Maryborough, in the Central Goldfields Shire, Victoria, Australia used a household power drill to bore a hole into the skull of a boy with a severe head injury, saving his life.Nicholas Rossi, 12, was not wearing a helmet when he fell off his bike late on Friday 15th May, while riding outside a friend's house in Maryborough, 170 kilometres north-west of Melbourne.
He had been riding in the street with his friend. It was wet, his foot slipped and he fell and hit his head.
The boy hit his head on the pavement and was knocked out momentarily. "He was a bit delirious at first, but then he stood up and said he was fine," his father, Michael Rossi, said.
When he got home, Nicholas kept complaining of a headache and his mother, Karen, a trained nurse, took him to the district hospital, where he experienced spasms and periods of unconsciousness.
Local GP Rob Carson, who was on duty, kept him for observation, and an hour later Nicholas began to drift in and out of consciousness and have fits. Dr. Rob Carson quickly recognized he had only minutes to make a hole in the boy's skull to relieve the pressure.
Nicholas had fractured his skull and torn a tiny artery between the bone and the brain just above his ear and a huge blood clot had formed.
Diagnosis & Surgery:
At once Dr Carson recognised it as a sign of internal bleeding in the skull that places acute pressure on the brain - the same condition that claimed the life of actress Natasha Richardson.Michael Rossi says his son would have died if Dr Carson had not acted quickly.
"He came out and he saw us and he said he's only got one shot at it, and one shot only," he said. "[He said] 'I'm going to drill into Nick's head and try and relieve the pressure'."
"And he said if we can relieve the pressure he's going to reach Melbourne via air ambulance in a lot better shape than if we don't try something.
Dr Carson knew he had to operate, but the hospital had no neurological drills, so he got a household tool from a maintenance room.
Over the telephone, Melbourne neurosurgeon David Wallace walked him through the procedure.
Anaesthetist David Tynan assisted with the procedure and says Dr Carson saved the boy's life
Using a Dewalt drill fitted with a 9mm drill bit from the hospital maintenance room, Dr Carson made a one centimetre hole near Nicholas' right ear which started draining about 400ml of blood and the clot from his skull.
He used forceps to increase the hole to about a centimetre in diameter, then inserted a drainage tube to keep the blood flowing out of the boy's skull.
When questioned as to how he felt while performing the emergency work, Rob said doing the procedure was not nearly as scary as how he felt once he'd finished.
"After I'd finished I was still so unsure about Nicholas' condition, I asked Dr. David Tynan to check him, just in case my efforts had not been fruitful."
Nicholas was flown by helicopter to the Royal Children's Hospital.
From when Nicholas first became unconscious to the helicopter's arrival at Maryborough, the time lapse was only 70 minutes!
The Boy Was Dying...
When asked what was on his mind as he approached this procedure, Dr Carson said the thought of a young child dying in front of him was more scary than performing the actual operation.Modest Dr Carson - who admitted he had never used a drill before - said yesterday: "If you are in that situation you just do those things. My greatest fear was he might die.
"It is not a personal achievement, it is just a part of the job and I had a very good team of people helping me."
But Mr Watson called Dr Carson's action "one of the gutsiest life-saving efforts imaginable".
''This little boy was dying in front of me and that was actually more scary then anything I did. The thought of that little kid, a 12-year-old actually dying from a pretty simple accident seemed terribly unfair,'' Dr Carson said on Radio 3AW.
''The actual procedure itself was not as terrifying as the possible outcome if I didn't do it.'' Dr Carson said his phone conversation with Dr Wallace had given him the confidence to do the risky procedure.
Nicholas recovered in the Royal Children's Hospital over the weekend and celebrated his 13th birthday at home on Tuesday.
The Message:
Dad Michael Rossi said he hoped all children would heed the message to wear a helmet when riding their bike after hearing Nicholas' story.He said Nicholas was doing very well and could even be back in Year 7 at Maryborough Highview College next week, although he'll insist he wears his helmet when he gets back on his bike in a couple of months.
Dr Carson said the successful operation was a memorable moment in his 30-years as a doctor.
''I suppose you would have to put it up with one of the highlights of your career, having had a career in country hospitals,'' Dr Carson said.
Dr Carson confirmed his versatility by delivering babies on Wednesday.
Listen to or watch the Interviews with Dr. Rob Carson & Dr. David Tynon.
Dr David Tynon, Mrs. Rossi, Dr. Rob Carson, Mr. Rossi (parents)
Drill doc: "Boy was dying"
Dr Rob Carson tells 3AW radio's Neil Mitchell how he saved the life of 12-year-old Nicholas Rossi by penetrating his skull with a household drill.
Listen to the Interview with Dr. Rob Carson
Sky News Video Newstory Video
ABC "Behind the News" story Video
Interview with Dr. David Tynon
I hope you enjoyed this little tribute page to my Dr. Carson!
The whole town appreciates him and hopes he won't need to deal with too many emergencies like this one... or BYO drill!
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The State of Healthcare in Victoria:
This case has gone beyond being a 'good news' story to also raising awareness and debate about the state of our Health Services in Victoria and Australia.We do have many problems in our healthcare system and it never seems to be properly addressed.
Here is one comment from the RDAA President:
"Undoubtedly, the fact that Dr Carson and another Maryborough doctor, Dr David Tynan, had procedural skills also meant the difference between life and death for Nicholas.
With the support of a multi-skilled rural healthcare team, Dr Tynan was able to administer general anaesthetic to Nicholas and then monitor his condition while Dr Carson undertook the operation.
These are advanced skills that fewer doctors are training in nowadays, and they are fast becoming a thing of the past in the bush.
"One shudders to think what the outcome would have been if, like in many towns across Australia, there was no local doctor available anymore to provide the emergency care that Dr Carson and Dr Tynan provided to Nicholas.
"It is a near certainty that Nicholas would have died at Maryborough Hospital or, at the very least, sustained severe long-term brain damage while waiting for a helicopter or road ambulance to arrive to collect him-or he would have died halfway along the road to Castlemaine." RDAA President, Dr Nola Maxfield, said.
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Where is Maryborough - Australia?
In the Central Goldfields, of course!
Clarendon Street,
Maryborough,
Victoria, 3465
Australia,
Who dares doesn't always win
I think anyone who first hears this story automatically flicks ahead to the thought of what the news headlines would have been if Nick had not survived his injuries, and this Doctor posted her thoughts on her blog page, and I think they warrant a mention.
By Dr Annette Katelaris
This week Dr Rob Carson, an unassuming, enormously capable and self-deprecating country GP, saved a 12-year-old's life by performing an urgent craniotomy with a household drill.
When I read this story, I was filled with admiration for his guts, good judgement and selflessness. Dr Carson did what most of us hope we will never have to do.
In these days of CTs, MRIs and second opinions, it takes enormous courage to make the decision that it is now or not at all.
He also sought guidance from a neurosurgeon who talked him through the ordeal. This is one of the differences between doctor as hero and doctor as cowboy.
Dr Carson is now enduring his 15 minutes of fame. The story was on the front of the national press yesterday. It was on TV and radio. His practice has been bombarded by calls from the media world wide including the Times in London and the BBC.
It's doctor-as-hero narrative and I don't mind that. But like many medicos, I was asking myself what the reaction would have been if this procedure had not had a happy ending. Can't you see the headlines:
"Driller killer doctor" - and stories about "Cowboy quack botched DIY brain operation."
If things had gone wrong, it would have been agonising to have explained to the child's parents and the media pack that it was entirely appropriate for a novice of the procedure to take a household drill to this precious boy's head.
This man, who is now a "god" may well have been demonised and be up before the Medical Board.
I guess that Dr Carson feels this too.
***Thank goodness this story had a happy ending - the alternative is too horrible to contemplate, as we need Dr. Carson and Dr. Tynon! ***
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