Study casts doubt on breathing tube procedure:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
A UK study has cast doubt on the value of emergency intubation - a practice whereby a breathing tube is passed into the windpipe to deliver oxygen to the lungs of trauma patients without using anaesthesia. Of 486 patients with trauma who were intubated without drugs (55.8% by physicians and 43.9% by paramedics), only one survived, researchers from the Royal London Hospital report in the British Medical Journal (July 21). Paramedics in the UK have performed emergency intubation for over 20 years.