Dr. Alia Kattan (Anesthesiologist, Southern California)
Appearances
This American Life
859: Chaos Graph
One day I got called in for a mass trauma in the emergency room. They said we need help. So I assumed it was just from bombings. And this 18-month-old got thrown into my hands. Her name was Liliana. I knew she was dead, but her mom was screaming. So I knew we had to do something and show her we tried. So I didn't see any blood frothing out of her mouth and doing chest compressions.
This American Life
859: Chaos Graph
And I looked up at her head and I saw there was blood. And I asked her, was there any imaging that had any CT scan? And there was a bullet shot to her head. And you could tell it was like a shot tried to her temple. And I was just like in shock to like, never have I been done this many kids, but I've never done chest compressions on a gunshot wound to an 18 month old.
This American Life
859: Chaos Graph
And the mom was just screaming. The mom, this was her only daughter. And she had tried for nine years to have her. And she was just hysterical, obviously.