The patient remained in a comatose
condition for eight or nine days, during which he had enuresis
and intestinal torpor. He suffered from severe concussion of the
brain, which accounted for his prolonged coma. Delirium was
present, but he was carefully watched and not allowed to injure
himself. His recovery was tedious and was delayed by several
relapses. His first complaint after consciousness returned (on
the tenth day) was of a sense of constriction about the neck, us
if he were being choked. This gradually passed off, and his
improvement went on without development of any serious symptoms.
At the time of report he appeared in the best of health and was
quite able to attend to his daily avocations. Doyle appends to
his report the statement that among 394 cases embraced in
Ashhurst's statistics, in treatment of dislocations in the
cervical region, the mortality has been nearly four times greater
when constitutional or general treatment has been relied on
exclusively than when attempts had been made to reduce the
dislocation by extension, rotation, etc. Doyle strongly advocates
attempts at reduction in such cases.
Figure 205 represents a photograph of Barney Baldwin, a switchman
of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, who, after recovery
from cervical dislocation, exhibited himself about the country,
never appearing without his suspensory apparatus.
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