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How Not to Die: Surprising Lessons from America's Favorite Medical Examiner
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About How Not To Die: Surprising Lessons From America's
Product Description WHEN THIS DOCTOR TALKS, YOU SHOULD LISTEN. Thousands of people make an early exit each year and arrive on medical examiner Jan Garavaglia’s table. What is particularly sad about this is that many of these deaths could easily have been prevented. Although Dr. Garavaglia, or Dr. G, as she’s known to many, could not tell these individuals how to avoid their fates, we can benefit from her experience and profound insight into the choices we make each day. In How Not to Die, Dr. G acts as a medical detective to identify the often-unintentional ways we harm our bodies, then shows us how to use that information to live better and smarter. She provides startling tips on how to make wise choices so that we don’t have to see her, or someone like her, for a good, long time. • In “Highway to the Morgue,” we learn the one commonsense safety tip that can prevent deadly accidents—and the reason you should never drive with the windows half open • “Code Blue” teaches us how to increase our chances of leaving the hospital alive—and how to insist that everyone caring for you practice the easiest hygiene method around • “Everyday Dangers” informs us why neat freaks live longer—and the best ways to stay safe in a car during a lightning storm Using anecdotes from her cases and a liberal dose of humor, Dr. G gives us her prescription for living a healthier, better, longer life—and unlike many doctors’ orders, this one is surprisingly easy to follow. About the Author JAN GARAVAGLIA, M.D., is the chief examiner for the District 9 Medical Examiner’s Office in Florida, presiding over 1,100 autopsies a year. She is also the host of Discovery Health channel’s top-rated series, Dr. G: Medical Examiner. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. ONE Doctor Dread Taking It on the Jaw I followed the infection underneath his breastbone like a trail of bread crumbs all the way up to his jaw. The trail teemed with pus, the army of white blood cells that had marched through the walls of blood vessels to fight invading microorganisms. I had never seen anything like it before. Bacteria had waged a protracted war with his body's immune system-and won. I wondered how fifty-year-old Victor Baca could have developed such a virulent infection. Ten days earlier, Victor had been in perfect health. Then he started complaining of back and shoulder pain and a sore throat. The symptoms kept him in bed and unable to go to work. Even so, he didn't seek medical attention. But as the pain worsened, Victor realized something was terribly wrong, and he called 911. The dispatcher alerted an ambulance. Paramedics arrived, found him critically ill, and went to work immediately. Despite their aggressive intervention, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), Victor slipped away, causes unknown. As I often do in cases involving unusual infections, after the autopsy I consulted Dr. Mark Wallace, an infectious disease specialist and an internal medicine physician, who also happens to be my husband. An infectious disease specialist tracks down bacteria and viruses, decodes their defenses and their weaknesses, and figures out what will kill them. Mark believed-and I concurred-that all the evidence proved that a bacterial infection had originated in Victor's mouth, shockingly, from the most ordinary of health problems: a common dental infection. This infection probably migrated from a decayed tooth into the surrounding bone and tissue in his jaw and caused an abscess, a cavity containing pus surrounded by inflamed tissue. Many of us have probably had an abscess at one time or another. They can show up externally (in the gums or in a hair follicle) or internally (in an organ), and some types are more severe than others. Once a pocket of pus breaks through the thin bone surrounding the tooth sockets, bacteria can spread through the tissue planes of the neck and into the chest. By the time Victor sought
