Woman Requires Leg Amputation After Contracting Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

Case Overview

This case involves a woman who required leg amputation after suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning. The woman was renting a house with a poor heating system and no fireplace. In early March, the woman’s heating system stopped working entirely. Her landlord gave her a propane space heater to warm up the house. One evening, the woman left the space heater on for many hours and lost consciousness. She was taken to the hospital the next day and discovered to have suffered carbon monoxide poisoning. She was discharged after 2 days. The woman was readmitted to the hospital a week later with severe foot and leg pain and circulatory disturbance. Over the course of the next few days, the woman developed rapidly progressive gangrene and high fever. The woman required a below the knee amputation.

Questions to the Emergency Medicine expert and their responses

How often do you treat carbon monoxide poisoning?

I treat carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning several times per year.

How does carbon monoxide poisoning occur from a brazier?

CO poisoning can occur from a brazier or any other combustion source, particularly if it is being used in an enclosed space. Incomplete combustion of wood and coal, among others, result in the formation of CO.

What are the long-term implications of carbon monoxide poisoning?

Long-term effects of patients who survive CO poisoning can include neurologic deficits.

About the expert

This expert has over 20 years of experience in the field of emergency medicine in military, clinical, and teaching roles. He earned his MD from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences following a BA from the California Institute of Technology. He then completed a residency in emergency medicine at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego and a fellowship in medical toxicology at the University of California San Diego. Today, this expert is board certified in emergency medicine and medical toxicology. He is a member of numerous professional societies and has published more than 40 peer-reviewed manuscripts. The expert formerly served as a general medical officer for the Branch Medical Clinic at the Naval Air Station on North Island, as an undersea medical officer for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton, as an associate professor of military and emergency medicine at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, as an attending physician in the emergency department at Cleveland Clinic, as chief of medical services on a Marine Corps base in California, and as an attending physician at University of California San Diego Medical Center. Currently, he is an attending physician at a children's hospital, a physician at a health system, and the associate medical director at a virtual primary care center in California.

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Specialties:

Emergency Medicine

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