Case of the Month
Section Editor: Nicholas Stence, MD
Children's Hospital Colorado, Aurora, CO
November 2019
A 45-year-old woman, post–motor vehicle collision as a restrained passenger requiring extrication, with a Glasgow Coma Scale score of 15. Emergency medical services performed field intubation and needle thoracostomy bilaterally due to acute respiratory failure. Trauma scan revealed pneumothoraces and multiple osseous fractures. There was cardiac arrest in trauma bay with prompt recovery.