I was on general surgery call at one of my hospitals yesterday, and I got a call from an ER physician about a young lady with right lower quadrant abdominal pain. The first thing general surgeons always think about in a young patient with pain in that location is appendicitis. It's incredibly common, and very easy and rewarding to treat. The ER doc had ordered a CT scan of her abdomen which failed to identify the appendix. There wasn't any inflammation in the area of where the appendix should be, but there was a recently-ruptured right ovarian cyst which surely was causing her pain.
But why couldn't the CT scan identify her appendix?
She had an appendectomy 4 years ago.
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On a completely unrelated note (and having nothing to do with medicine whatsoever), PETA (in the US) is asking a federal court to give constitutional rights to 5 employees of SeaWorld. Doesn't sound like such a big deal, until you realize that these employees are WHALES. Yes, PETA wants constitutional rights extended to orcas, and they are claiming that the whales' captivity violates their 13th amendment rights banning slavery.
"By any definition, these orcas are slaves — kidnapped from their homes, kept confined, denied everything that's natural to them and forced to perform tricks for SeaWorld's profit," some PETA whackjob said.
Animals in captivity aren't slaves, you moron. They are animals in captivity. I am offended on behalf of all those people who actually were in slavery. Fuck you, PETA. Fuck you.
"Animals in captivity aren't slaves, you moron. They are animals in captivity. I am offended on behalf of all those people who actually were in slavery. Fuck you, PETA. Fuck you."
ReplyDeleteWhile I don't ally myself to PETA, what this boils down to me is that you're offended by humans being compared to animals because they don't deserve the same respect. Is that truly unquestionable? Is it really whackjobbery to disagree?
Yes. Yes it is.
DeleteOuch.
DeleteWell, in my defence, perhaps a better word would have been empathy. Not that I would equate this kind of thing with human slavery, myself. I just don't think very highly of it.