Attack of The Blues – a Case for Medical Detectives

When a policeman became suspicious and took a closer look, to his amazement he saw that the man’s nose, lips, ears and fingers were bright blue. The patient was rushed to Beekman Downtown Hospital; by the time the ambulance arrived, the blueness had spread over all of his body.

The doctor who examined the vagrant noted that he was in a severe state of shock and suffering from diarrhea. The doctor concluded that the patient’s blue color was due to an insufficient supply of oxygen in the blood, probably the result of carbon monoxide poisoning from an automobile engine or a gas pipe.

During the next nine hours, 10 more sufferers were brought to the hospital with the same peculiar symptoms. Following heart massage, stomach pumping, and oxygen, most recovered; the last to arrive was blue all over and could not be saved.

All victims were elderly down-and-outers and had fallen ill in different locations around the city. Finally it was established that all had eaten breakfast at the same run-down cafeteria, the Eclipse.

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Submitted on Feb 9, 2010 11:32 pm by [submitter anonymized] | comments (1)