Human Respiratory System and Grey's Anatomy

Post created by Lauren

In the last couple weeks of class, we have learned extensively of the structure, process, function, and influences of the human respiratory system. What I found to be of most interest was the structure and influences of particularly the lungs. How the different levels of pressure have to at their proper levels during inspiration and expiration to prevent lung collapse.

In relation to this, I was watching a popular medical drama that fed my interest of the structure and influences on the lungs. 

Grey’s Anatomy is a series that gives us glimpse of the lives of young surgeons at Grace Mercy Hospital here in Seattle. In an episode of the sixth season, I Saw What I Saw, there was a hotel fire that caused many casualties and burn victims to me admitted to the hospital. One lady in particular was admitted with 2nd degree burns on her chest and little signs of distress, other than a compliant of discomfort in her chest. 

A Doctor came and checked on her but in the rush of things, forgot to follow standard procedure and check her throat and pay close attention to the burns that engulfed the woman’s chest. The medical negligence cost the woman’s life.

What the doctor failed to see was the effects of the harmful smoke inflaming her lungs. The smoke caused massive swelling of her throat and eventually lead to blocked oxygen pathways and acute respiratory distress. Her chest pain was also an indicator of pneumothorax, which was caused by the burns on her chest. 

The Mayo Clinic shows that a pneumothorax is a collapsed lung which occurs when air leaks into the space between your lung and chest wall (we learned in A/P to be the pleural space). This air pushes on the outside of your lung and makes it collapse. 

So, with her blocked airways and collapsed lung, the different levels of pressure were offset to were even a Cricothyrotomy could not save her life. 

In all, the human respiratory system is an interesting and complex system that can be influenced by many external environments as seen in Grey’s Anatomy. 

Sources: 

Mayo Clinic: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/pneumothorax/symptoms-causes/syc-20350367