Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

Don’t want to wear a helmet? Sign up as an organ donor.

Debbie Moore-Black, RN
Conditions
November 5, 2019
Share
Tweet
Share

I walk out my front door today to do my obligatory walk around the block with my pups.

Two police cars with blue lights flashing, lead a caravan of over 100 motorcyclists to a funeral for one of their fallen brothers. They revved up their motors in the procession, I guess, as a sign of love, of brotherhood, of kindred spirits in the motorcycle world.

I choked up. I was ready to cry. It reminded me of that 23-year-old male I once had while I worked surgical-trauma ICU.

A young man riding his motorcycle with no helmet, no protection, flying freely down the highway. Superman. “I’m going to live forever.” Not a care in the world with angel dust (PCP) in his system. Feelings of freedom and forgetting any troubles.

No troubles — until it happened. He crossed the line. Killed an innocent man in a car — a deadly collision.

He came to us from the emergency department. He was paralyzed from the neck down and on the ventilator with chest tubes, fractures to legs, ribs, arms — eyes wide open. But he couldn’t blink. He couldn’t track, his pupils were irregular.

His poor mother called me every morning at 6 a.m. with a crackle in her voice.

A motherly voice of sad surrender.

“Is he any better?” she would ask.

And sadly, I would have to tell her no. He wasn’t better; he was worse.

Eventually, a conference was called with the intensive care trauma team physicians and the mother. We would withdraw life support.

And that was it.

Maybe he would have been saved had he not done drugs. Maybe he would have been saved if he had a helmet on.

Maybe.

ADVERTISEMENT

An emergency department physician once gave us ED and ICU trauma nurses a seminar. I’ll never forget.

Don’t wear your helmet — then make sure you register as an organ donor.

In the U.S. 19 states do not require a motorcycle helmet.

Motorcycle helmets reduce the rate of head injuries by 69 percent and reduce the risk of death by 42 percent.

According to the CDC, close to 2000 lives were saved due to helmet wearing in 2016.

The blue lights passed by me. His buddies of over 100 in single file, revving their motors … and not one with a helmet.

Debbie Moore-Black is a nurse who blogs at Do Not Resuscitate.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

Prev

Why physicians should adopt the role of guides

November 5, 2019 Kevin 1
…
Next

What if you are one of the 2 percent?

November 5, 2019 Kevin 9
…

Tagged as: Emergency Medicine

Post navigation

< Previous Post
Why physicians should adopt the role of guides
Next Post >
What if you are one of the 2 percent?

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Debbie Moore-Black, RN

  • A nurse’s story of hospital bullying

    Debbie Moore-Black, RN
  • He begged for mercy and his family refused

    Debbie Moore-Black, RN
  • What money can’t fix: the scars left by a friend

    Debbie Moore-Black, RN

Related Posts

  • Don’t judge when trainees use dating apps in the hospital

    Austin Perlmutter, MD
  • Who says doctors don’t care?

    Cindy Thompson
  • Please don’t ask about my test scores, Mom

    Casey P. Schukow, DO
  • Don’t wait to take action on gun control

    Jennifer R. Marin, MD
  • If we don’t pay now to vaccinate our children, they will pay later

    Peter Ubel, MD
  • Physicians of America, unite! You don’t have to work for hospitals.

    Ken Terry

More in Conditions

  • Bureaucratic evil in modern health care

    Dr. Bryan Theunissen
  • Protecting elder clinicians from violence

    Gerald Kuo
  • Why does lipoprotein(a) exist?

    Larry Kaskel, MD
  • The myth of endless availability in medicine

    Emmanuel Chilengwe
  • A new autism care model in Idaho

    Ronald L. Lindsay, MD
  • What an FFR-CT score means for your heart

    Monzur Morshed, MD and Kaysan Morshed
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Rebuilding the backbone of health care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The flaw in the ACA’s physician ownership ban

      Luis Tumialán, MD | Policy
    • Why you should get your Lp(a) tested

      Monzur Morshed, MD and Kaysan Morshed | Conditions
    • The paradox of primary care and value-based reform

      Troyen A. Brennan, MD, MPH | Policy
    • Why CPT coding ambiguity harms doctors

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Physician
    • A doctor’s own prostate cancer recovery

      Francisco M. Torres, MD | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • Rebuilding the backbone of health care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The dangerous racial bias in dermatology AI

      Alex Siauw | Tech
    • The dismantling of public health infrastructure

      Ronald L. Lindsay, MD | Physician
    • The flaw in the ACA’s physician ownership ban

      Luis Tumialán, MD | Policy
    • Diagnosing the epidemic of U.S. violence

      Brian Lynch, MD | Physician
    • A neurosurgeon’s fight with the state medical board [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
  • Recent Posts

    • An attorney’s guide to your first physician contract [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why do doctors lose their why?

      Tomi Mitchell, MD | Physician
    • Bureaucratic evil in modern health care

      Dr. Bryan Theunissen | Conditions
    • Protecting elder clinicians from violence

      Gerald Kuo | Conditions
    • Why does lipoprotein(a) exist?

      Larry Kaskel, MD | Conditions
    • The myth of endless availability in medicine

      Emmanuel Chilengwe | Conditions

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 1 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Rebuilding the backbone of health care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The flaw in the ACA’s physician ownership ban

      Luis Tumialán, MD | Policy
    • Why you should get your Lp(a) tested

      Monzur Morshed, MD and Kaysan Morshed | Conditions
    • The paradox of primary care and value-based reform

      Troyen A. Brennan, MD, MPH | Policy
    • Why CPT coding ambiguity harms doctors

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Physician
    • A doctor’s own prostate cancer recovery

      Francisco M. Torres, MD | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • Rebuilding the backbone of health care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The dangerous racial bias in dermatology AI

      Alex Siauw | Tech
    • The dismantling of public health infrastructure

      Ronald L. Lindsay, MD | Physician
    • The flaw in the ACA’s physician ownership ban

      Luis Tumialán, MD | Policy
    • Diagnosing the epidemic of U.S. violence

      Brian Lynch, MD | Physician
    • A neurosurgeon’s fight with the state medical board [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
  • Recent Posts

    • An attorney’s guide to your first physician contract [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why do doctors lose their why?

      Tomi Mitchell, MD | Physician
    • Bureaucratic evil in modern health care

      Dr. Bryan Theunissen | Conditions
    • Protecting elder clinicians from violence

      Gerald Kuo | Conditions
    • Why does lipoprotein(a) exist?

      Larry Kaskel, MD | Conditions
    • The myth of endless availability in medicine

      Emmanuel Chilengwe | Conditions

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Don’t want to wear a helmet? Sign up as an organ donor.
1 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...