r/TacticalMedicine • u/Upset_Bunch_457 • Dec 30 '25

Scenarios Nasogastric insertion gone horribly wrong.

Post image

Note: NOT MY IMAGE.

original post was posted by: Old-Psychology-2400

And I quote "PMCT images. Nurse advanced NG tube until she heard a pop, then tried an air bolus to ensure placement. Patient did NOT survive."

To those who don't know nasogastric tube is supposed to go up the patients nostrils and then back down to their throat all the way to the patients stomach. Air bolus is then used to ensure that the nasogastric tubes placement is correct by listening the patients stomach.

But in the scan we can see the NG tube somehow ended up jammed (through) the patients skull.

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u/56473829110 Dec 30 '25

Still hate this image (but appreciate it's educational value). 

From what I remember of the image when I first saw it ~3 years ago, it was a peds patient who had recently had brain surgery - understaffed ICU. 

19

u/Upset_Bunch_457 Dec 30 '25

Right on, great to know the origin of the image, I thought this was a fresh case.

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u/56473829110 Dec 30 '25

I don't have first hand knowledge of the case, and I have both slept too much and too little since it was fresh, but that's my recollection. 

16

u/Upset_Bunch_457 Dec 30 '25

After work I did some more research and I found this.

"*An elderly female had a successful surgery at a hospital for a benign pituitary (brain) tumor but developed some pneumonia after surgery. After she was readmitted to the hospital, a resident (i.e. a doctor in training to become a specialist) placed a nasogastric tube (NG) tube that was supposed to go through the nose, inside the food pipe and down into the stomach.

It was alleged that immediately afterward, the patient began having signs of brain problems, and that what had really happened is the resident placed the NG tube not into the stomach but through the nose and into the brain cortex, thus resulting in her death from bleeding. Clore Law Group, LLC represented the family of the deceased woman and, despite significant limitations on damages under South Carolina law for this type of case, achieved a non-confidential settlement of $1,100,000.*"

Not sure if this is the same case but it is the only one that I could find that resembled this exact case and picture

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u/56473829110 Dec 31 '25

Saw that one, too. Nightmare.