ER - trepanation scene

Patrick Fitzgerald

The popular medical drama "ER" had an interesting scene this week.

Paramedics are called to an apartment, but when they arrive they are met at the door by a man that insists everything is all right (notwithstanding the screaming coming from inside the apartment). But a woman throws open the door and leads the paramedics inside to her husband.

Her husband has a wound on his forehead and has blood streaming down his face, but insists that he does not want treatment.

After investigating further, it is revealed that he had attempted an alternative medical practice called "trepanation": drilling a hole through the skull (the purpose of this procedure is apparently to increase the quantity of blood that reaches the brain).

We further learn that the man who originally answered the door had also undergone trepanation some years ago in Europe, and claimed that it had immensely benefitted him. He had encouraged the husband to perform the procedure.

At the end of the scene, the woman, who was very upset that her husband had drilled a hole in his head, walks over to a laptop computer that was hooked up to the Internet. She smashes the laptop against the table screaming something like "the whole stupid idea came from here".

More information about trepanation can be found at the following Internet sites: http://dir.yahoo.com/Health/Alternative_Medicine/Trepanation/

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