The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1874-04-30
AN EXTRAORDINARY CASE.
A Man Lives Seventy Hours With a
Broken Neck.

A Man Lives Seventy Hours With
Broken Neck.
An inquest held upon the body of
Patrick Fannon, who came to his death,
at Cincinnati, from injuries received by
falling from an embankment, developed
some very curious facts in regard to the
possibility of conscious life under ex-
traordinary circumstances. Patrick
Fannon lived for seventy hours after
sustaining injuries generally supposed
to be instantaneously fatal (; his neck
not only being broken in such fashion
that the spinal cord was completely
severed at the junction of the sixth and
seventh cervical vertebr@, but the YER
tebr@ also being fractured by the shock.
The physician who attended him said
he found deceased unconscious, breath
ing heavily, and in a comatose condition.
He was bleeding from the head and the
mouth; was perfectly immovable, in
sensible to pricking or pinching of the
limbs; the pupils of his eyes were very
much dilated, and he appeared to be
laboring from serious injuries to the
head He had no power of motion ex-
cept that Of breathing, and the latter
was from the diaphragm, and not from
the intercostal muscles of the chest.
Although the symptoms pointed toward
the brain for the cause of the conditions
present, L did not feel satisfied, as there
was not sufficient external evidence to
account for the conditions of the symp-
toms, and I directed my search to in
quire into the condition of the neck. L
found that the head was somewhat
thrown back, and that the neck appear
ed shortened and thicker than natural !;
there was more fullness on the right
side than on the left; on bending and
moving the head found more mobility
than was natural, and had cork in
troduced into his mouth, so that L could
examine the back part of the throat, and
1 then found dislocation of the ver-
tebre of the neck, the body of one yer.
tebra presenting itself in front of the
other to the extent of half an inch.
In trying to place the man in a COM
fsrtable position and condition in his
bed, his head was moved and his neck
was dislocated again. Tie dislocation
was reduced again by the same means
resorted to in the first instance. He
was then placed in comfortable posi-
ton, with orders that he should not be
disturbed until I sa him again saw
him again in about an hour, and found
that on account of bleeding about his
head, it had been moved to put piece
of India rubber cloth beneath it to
keep the clothes clean. found that
in doing so they had bent his head too
much on his breast, and this had inter-
fered and caused difficulty in his breath
Lot no
of his head his breathing immediately
became easy and regular, and the man
spoke so that he could be plainly un-
derstood. l sew that his head was
properly supported, and left him for
the night, expecting to find him dead
in the morning. At my visit in the
morning I found the man, to my as
tonishment, perfectly sensible, and i'll
full possession of his mental faculties.
He was able to take food and drink (;
but upon any motion being made of the
arms or head, he complained OF great
pain in the neck. He died at A. NJ, +,
living seventy hours after the accident.
The immediate cause of his death was
asphyxia, caused by an accumulation OF
mucus in the lungs and air passages.
desire to add that fracture was known
to be present at the time of the disloca-
ton.
DR.. Muscroft says this is the third
and worst case of broken neck he has
had to deal with during the last ten
years. In the first two cases the pa,
tients recovered, Notwithstanding that
one of them had sustained fracture OF
the cervical vertebr@, in addition tc
dislocation. The latter patient had
been injured in a fight; the former, G
canal-boatman, by fall from barge
into a shallow place near the rivel
bank. In neither of these instances
however, was the spinal cord actually
cut in two, as in the case of Patrici
Fannon nor did the patients lose con
sciousness, Notwithstanding they suf
fered from temporary paralysis of oil
most all the muscles, being unable tx
speak until after the reduction haC
been made. The injuries in Fannon'
case were peculiarly aggravated, yet h
was perfectly sensible and able to con
verse lntelligently for many hours be
fore his death, although the spinal corr
had been completely severed-a fact o
considerable interest to professors o