The Gapp Online

[Marks_Mistress]

Enough is Enough | Air Date: 10/02/2005
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

The first patient George works on arrives with a "GCS of 3." What does that mean?


GCS stands for Glasgow Coma Scale. It measures three components of consciousness - eye movement, verbal response and motor response.
If you score 3& you're not in good shape AT ALL. It's the lowest score and means you're probably dead or will be soon. You don't open your eyes, make no attempt to speak or make noise, and don't respond to stimuli, not even pain. If you score 3, you're in a coma or dead.
When you're being rated on the Glasgow Coma Scale, 15 is the score you want. If you score 15, you can open and close your eyes whenever you want to, you can freely communicate and follow simple commands - or choose not to. If you score 15 it means you only have a very minor traumatic brain injury or even better, no brain injury at all.


Alex's patient Scott decides to donate half of his liver to his father.

Living organ donation has become more and more common in recent years. It is possible to donate ½ a liver, one kidney or the lobe of one lung to a relative, loved one or person in need.
The liver is the only organ that will regenerate. If all goes well, in a few months, the donor and the recipient will have a healthy full sized liver.
As a donor, once your liver has regenerated and you've recovered from surgery, you can live a healthy normal life and resume your normal life activities. Yes, including the occasional alcoholic beverage.
If you would like more information on organ donation please go to: www.organdonor.gov/donatelife