"It was a bloodbath": Rare dialysis complication can kill patients in minutes — and more could be done to stop it
CBSN
Nieltje Gedney was half-asleep in her West Virginia home, watching murder mysteries over the hum of a bedside hemodialysis machine, when she felt something warm and wet in her armpit.
A needle inserted into her arm had fallen loose, breaking a circuit that the machine used to clean her blood. It was still pumping, drawing and filtering blood as designed, but the blood was now spilling into her bed instead of returning to her body.
Gedney, a leader of the Home Dialyzors United support group, knew what to do. Armed with a decade of experience with hemodialysis, she calmly applied pressure to her arm and pressed a red button that turned off the pump. Her blood loss stopped. In the seconds that her needle was loose, Gedney had soaked through her pajamas, bedsheets, and quilt.
On the eve of the D-Day invasion, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower spent the remaining hours of daylight with the paratroopers who were about to jump behind German lines into occupied France. A single moment captured by an Army photographer became the most enduring image of America's greatest military operation.
This story previously aired on March 6, 2016. Child Advocate: Do you know why you are here today? 911 operator: 911. What is your emergency? 911 operator: Is there anybody else in the house with you? Robin Doan [to 911]: I so hope my mom is not dead. Robin Doan [to 911]: Please can you just send somebody out here? Robin Doan [to 911]: I'm cold. I'm very cold. Robin Doan [to 911]: I heard my mama scream ... Robin Doan [to 911]: I want my mom. I want my mom. Robin Doan [to 911]: It's on Highway 70. It's about 13.3 miles out from the bowling alley. I have a purple shirt on I have purple pants on. Robin Doan [to 911]: All I want right now is my blanket and my pillow. ... I see him. I see him. Robin Doan [advocate interview]: I really don't want to go to sleep anymore. It makes me to where I'm too scared. I really don't want to go to sleep. OK. Robin Doan [advocate interview]: He had shot in my room and missed me. Advocate: Did you hear anybody say anything. Could you hear anybody talking? Robin Doan [advocate interview]: I don't know this for sure but I thought I saw a white eyes ... a white face. Robin Doan [advocate interview]: And when he shot I saw a flash. Robin Doan [advocate interview]: I can't talk about it. It's too heartbreaking. Levi King interrogation: Before I even realized it, I mean, I'd just pointed it at him and fired.