A 7-foot-man walked into an emergency room dangling a 5-foot-woman by
her feet. She told the staff that if she was upright, she'd pass out.
She was only able to maintain consciousness while upside down. No, this
isn't a joke. This is a true story that her attending physician, cardiac
electrophysiologist Louis F. Janeira, recounts in Discover Magazine.
Spoiler: The tip of her newly-installed pacemaker had become
disconnected from her heart muscle. When she was upside down, the lead
reconnected and stimulated her heart. From Discover:
“You’ll need to go back to surgery to reattach the lead,” I said to
Mary. “Let’s page your electrophysiologist stat.” I looked at Jason and
sighed. “Meanwhile, keep her upside down.”
We inserted an iv in Mary’s arm and hooked her up to an external pacing
device. But pacing her heart through her chest wall gave her severe
discomfort and was not a good option, even in the short term. Moreover,
it turned out that Mary’s slow beat did not respond at all to
medications, including intravenous epinephrine. So she was quickly
transported to the electrophysiology laboratory, dangling by her ankles,
carried by the only man around with enough strength to do it. And my ER
shift continued.
The next day I was back on duty. As I came out of a room after examining
a small child with a fever, I heard a familiar voice behind me.
“Dr. Janeira, it’s me, Mary. I’m all fixed up.”
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