Dr Meryl Broughton: The patient was doomed, my surgical horror story
Our 21st century approach offers big improvements over those of the past
In the movie Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, the crew of the starship Enterprise take a trip back in time to Earth in 1986.
During their escapades, one member of the team suffers a head injury. Dr Leonard McCoy is horrified when the doctors of the day propose to treat the patient’s intracranial haemorrhage with a craniotomy.
Although drilling holes in the skull is still the treatment for a significant extradural haematoma today, the 23rd century on-screen doctor likens this action to the Dark Ages or the torture of the Spanish Inquisition.
He was able to repair the tear in the crew member’s middle meningeal artery using a fictional medical tricorder.
