Madonna vs. the Horse

[AlecWest]

Seems as though Madonna fell off a horse. Normally, I'd only give such a story a brief glance. But in this case, I was struck by a couple of things. It wasn't all that long ago that another celeb, Christopher Reeve, fell off a horse. And the injuries he sustained crippled him and eventually lead to an untimely/early death. The other thing? Read the first two paragraphs of the news story:

Madonna was taken to hospital yesterday with several broken bones after she fell off a horse while celebrating her 47th birthday.

The singer suffered three cracked ribs, a broken collarbone and a broken hand, said her spokesman. She was discharged from hospital last night after treatment. The accident occurred at Ashcombe House, her 1,132-acre country estate near the village of Tollard Royal, Wilts.

The keywords in that snippet were several broken bones, taken to hospital yesterday, and discharged from hospital last night. While I realize that Madonna is a zillionaire and could probably afford private in-home medical care, I'm wondering if it's standard operating procedure in such multiple-fracture accidents (especially involving the collarbone - so close to the spine) to only provide outpatient care ... not even keeping a patient for one night for observation. If so, it just doesn't seem right to me.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/08/17/nmad17.xml&sSheet=/new...ixnewstop.html

[adam]

A broken collarbone is an extremely minor injury and most of the time you just wear a sling. If its broken too close to the shoulder you may need surgery but they still send you home that day. There's no point sitting in a hospital, its not like you need surgery right away and its not like your condition is going to change. I don't really consider the collarbone close to the spine either, its on the oppose side.

Broken ribs could be dangerous because they could puncture an organ but that would require extreme force like a car wreck. Since she just fell she probably only fractured it. The only treatment for that is rest and pain killers.

[adam]

When I first read the title of this thread I thought it would be in regards to one of her pictures from her SEX book.

[Xylob the Destroyer]

collar bone is actually the most common broken bone
I broke my left one in 2 places -- the doctors said it would require surgery involving pins and really cool scars.
then they found out I had no insurance and slapped a figure 8 brace on me and told me it would heal on it's own eventually.
since it was never set properly, I lost over an inch in the bone's total length, but now it has a really cool knob right in the middle of it!

as far as adam's comments, i thought the same thing about the thread title
additionally, for an old hide, she ain't bad lookin' -- I wouldn't kick her outta bed anyway.
she's 15 years older than I am and looks twice as good as most of the women my age!

[Guest]

Waiting for the Reeeve reference.

[stiltman]

A broken collarbone is an extremely minor injury and most of the time you just wear a sling. If its broken too close to the shoulder you may need surgery but they still send you home that day. There's no point sitting in a hospital, its not like you need surgery right away and its not like your condition is going to change. I don't really consider the collarbone close to the spine either, its on the oppose side.

My dad basically died from a broken collarbone.
Punchered his lung. Lung collapsed. Respirator for 4 months. Several infections later, he died.

Broken ribs can do the exact same thing

[Guest]

usually a chest tube is put in to reinflate the lung.usually dont need a resperator. was he healthy when this happened?

[stiltman]

40% lung function after 3 bouts with ARDS

[Guest]

before or after the injury?

[stiltman]

before (real long story)

After, was 2 bouts of sepis(sp?)

[adam]

My dad basically died from a broken collarbone.
Punchered his lung. Lung collapsed. Respirator for 4 months. Several infections later, he died.

Broken ribs can do the exact same thing

I'm sorry to hear that...really. And I didn't mean to trivialize any kind of injury. But relatively speaking, a broken collar bone is still not considered a serious injury. People have died from the common cold too.

I think Xylob the Destroyer is right that the collar bone is the most frequently broken bone. In the vast majority of cases they just sell you an overpriced splint and send you home.