VIOLENCE
Banksy, Balloon Girl, 2002
GUN RELATED INJURIES IN CHILDREN:
EXPERIENCE at a Pediatric Trauma Center
Over Eight Years
David S. Foley, MD
A
preschooler rode to work with her
father one winter night. This was
supposed to be a father-daughter
bonding event, a chance for her
to see what Daddy did on the
job. Afterwards, as the two walked back to
their car, a fight broke out nearby, shots were
fired, and she was struck by a 9-mm bullet. She
arrived in our ER about 30 minutes later, hemodynamically stable,
but in obvious respiratory distress. Ultimately, the bullet was found
to have entered near the base of her left neck, crossed through her
left chest and exited her left lateral chest wall. She was intubated,
14
LOUISVILLE MEDICINE
and a chest tube was placed in the ER for hemo-pneumothorax.
We found no major vascular injuries, she was admitted to the ICU
and spent over two weeks in the hospital. She needed thoracoscopic
surgery for a retained hemothorax, and ultimately a thoracotomy
and lung resection for persistent air leak. She was fortunate, in that
she survived and recovered completely. Not surprisingly, her hospital
stay was difficult not only physically but psychologically. While she
required intensive medical and surgical care, the additional efforts
of child life services, her expressive therapist and her inpatient child
psychologist were equally important in her recovery.
In caring for pediatric victims of violent crime, most of our