Cellphone lights enable operation to proceed in blackout

Hearing that a cellphone saved someone's life isn't exactly surprising these days, but it was the manner in which a bundle of handsets enabled doctors to continue on in a recent operation that differentiated this one from the rest. Reportedly, the backup generators at the Policlinico Juan D. Peron hospital in Argentina failed to activate after the power went out whilst an appendix surgery was ongoing, but rather than panicking, a family member gathered up a number of phones in order to provide enough light for the surgeons and anesthetists to keep on keepin' on. According to the hospital director, the operation went on without proper lighting for no more than 20 minutes, but thanks to the beaming LCDs, the fellow under the knife came through just fine.

[Via Switched, image courtesy of foto8]

[strider_mt2k @ Jul 31st 2007 7:07AM]

-or that time I was exploring this tomb in Egypt.

AZIZ, PHONE!!

[MikeG @ Jul 31st 2007 3:51PM]

Lol, I like!

[prokanda @ Nov 23rd 2007 1:05AM]

"Thank you Aziz."


"....and then the patient died from multiple bouts of pure radiation poisoning...."

[strider_mt2k @ Jul 31st 2007 10:24AM]

"...only life important..."

[Shazzer @ Jul 31st 2007 7:37AM]

Clearly the "Always Turn Off Your Cellphone in a Hospital" rule was waived in this case. ;^)

[noodle @ Jul 31st 2007 8:29AM]

and they didn't have freakin flashlights at the hospital?

[Bernhard @ Jul 31st 2007 8:42AM]

5 possible reasons for that:
1. They didnt have any
2. The batteries expired
3. The bulbs blew
4. They couldnt find them
5. The patient operated on was the hospital's electrical engineer and probably threw them away thinking they were not neccesary.

[Fubar @ Jul 31st 2007 9:06AM]

Or:

6. Hospital didn't have the budget for explosion-proof flashlights suitable for use in operating rooms stocked with oxygen cylinders and volatile anesthetics.

[nih @ Jul 31st 2007 9:38AM]

Flashlights aren't known for exploding and there are plenty of things hotter than a flashlight bulb in an operating theatre. And that's only a few of the reasons that explosions aren't even remotely a concern in an operating theatre.

[Diogo @ Jul 31st 2007 3:44PM]

No, the simple fact of the spark created by pushing the power button on a flashlight would suffice to ignite the pure oxygen and anesthetics used in an Operating Room.

The flashlight would not actually explode, but the simple fact of turning it on could potentially ignite the atmosphere in the room.

My R$ 0.04

[Steve @ Jul 31st 2007 8:22AM]

I remember the days of old when we had this wonderful device called a "flashlight". Then they became solar powered and it was all downhill from there...

[Ellianth @ Jul 31st 2007 12:23PM]

I don't know what you're talking about... I use my solar powered flashlight as often as my DVD rewinder. Very useful products.

I wonder if the patients family is gonna sue the hospital now.

[jamesmac @ Jul 31st 2007 10:02AM]

nice 5th Element reference... A good surgeon should be able to do it blind-folded anyway! ;-)

[Chris @ Jul 31st 2007 8:58AM]

Heh reminds me of Trauma center for Wii/DS where you use a pen flashlight and later on a camera's flash to perform an operation.

[Thesifer @ Jul 31st 2007 9:21AM]

If this had been in California, the guy still would have sued them.

[Nick @ Jul 31st 2007 10:33AM]

Wow, and no one caught that "anesthetists" should be "anesthesiologists"?

Next we'll be calling them "doctists" and "dentors"...

[- @ Jul 31st 2007 10:42AM]

Anesthetist is also correct. Just ask the AANA, the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists.

[Steve Hall @ Jul 31st 2007 11:43AM]

I guess I'm cellphone-challenged: I can't keep mine bright for more than 5 seconds at a time. Operate by strobelight, anyone?

[tiuk @ Jul 31st 2007 11:50AM]

Yeah, I was picturing family members having to keep pressing buttons on an array of cell phones for 20 minutes.

[Christian @ Jul 31st 2007 12:50PM]

What would MacGyver do?

[boolean22 @ Jul 31st 2007 2:06PM]

Say what you will, but I say hail to the balls of those doctors who could pull off such feat without hesitating.

I'm ashamed tho that our Hospitals abroad aren't suitable to resist our energy crisis.

The fact that our Provinces are in harsh technological isolation (compared to Capital Buenos Aires) doesn't help either.

[AJ @ Jul 31st 2007 3:24PM]

If any of them had good old Nokia 1100's, there would have been LED flashlights built right into their phones!

To be honest, barring cellphone use in hospitals prevents many useful applications (usually better communication between doctors and such), though this is a somewhat unorthodox use...

[Sebastian @ Jul 31st 2007 3:47PM]

It's important to add that they just needed some light to do the stitches, but the important, life-saving part was already done before the lights went out.

[Kenofthedead @ Jul 31st 2007 6:51PM]

My mobile does better as a torch then my actual torch does, with less glare.
This makes sense to me.

At least it wasn't a Nintendo DS or iPhone.

[Craig @ Jul 31st 2007 9:11PM]

So, um, if there wasn't power enough for lights, how was there power enough for those other machines in the room, like the ventilator and anesthesia monitors (you know...the things that actually keep the patient alive)?

[mynamestaken77 @ Aug 1st 2007 12:56PM]

You can manually ventilate the patient with a bvm, and as for anesthesiology goes you don't need anything monitoring him unless something goes wrong and you can check that by manually checking pulse, bp, and other such vitals.

[Dull @ Jul 31st 2007 10:19PM]

That is nice that they were able to save the person.
This does remind me of a very old Ericsson Mobile commercial. The lights go out durring a football game and everyone turns on their green lighted cell phone so they can finish watching the sport.