Mass Casualty

Disaster strikes in Minneapolis! One of the main bridges collapsed and people died. Some were brought to the hospitals and some were taken to the ORs for emergency surgeries. I could only imagine the chaos and desperation of the OR personnel - it is a lot to think of: patients'condition, what is wrong, past medical history, allergies, last meal, etc.. I have been there, done that. Complete information is not always available in these situations, most of the time it's not available. But it definitely would be useful! I remember a case from my residency - although I was not involved, it was discussed at our weekly conference: 30 years old law student was rushed to the Operating Room after a deadly car crash - his girlfriend had been pronounced dead at arrival to ER. He had intracranial (inside the head) bleeding and we had to act fast. He was unresponsive, when they brought him over to ER. His family was not immediately available to ask any questions regarding his health history, and I don't think at that point any of the medical personal was thinking of that. While on the operating table he was given a standard antibiotic. People would routinely get this drug in the OR. Soon after that he had developed what looked like an antiphylactic reaction. So besides his already severe acute medical condition, anesthesia team had to deal with that. He died several days later never coming off the ventilator. Of course, I am not saying his death was a direct result of this acute allergic reaction - his brain injury was severe enough to kill him, but it didn't help for sure. His family later confirmed that he'd had a documented allergies to several antibiotics, eggs, and some other things. Certain allergies change the way we plan our anesthesia strategies. That is if we know in advance..It's much easier to figure out one's financial history then gather any medical information. It's not a question of technology, but rather a legal issue and most importantly people in general don't feel immediate urgency in needing anything like that (iphone on the other hand..). It would be nice for everybody to have a credit card like device with all medical information on it, not only in case of emergency, but even when you change your doctor, go to see a specialist, move to another area etc..
Praying along with people in Minneapolis....