Abstract
To the Editor. —As one of the specialists attending to Jessica McClure after her dramatic rescue from the open water well in Midland, Tex, I feel a response to Dr Benke's 1 letter is indicated. The night Jessica was removed from the well, she was found to have compromised circulation to the right lower extremity from just below the ankle and further distally. This was an ischemic injury caused by compression. Our immediate concerns, of course, were hydration and correction of metabolic acidosis. We were dealing with acute peripheral posttraumatic ischemia and we were worried about the survival of the right foot and possible compartment syndrome within the right foot. Her condition was too unstable to proceed with early surgical intervention; because of studies indicating that hyperbaric oxygen was helpful in compartment syndromes, 2 we proceeded with this therapy. In the early morning hours of the first day of her
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
