A 62 year-old obese female with residual left-sided weakness from prior CVA presented with severe ankle pain after a fall. She was getting up from the toilet when her left knee gave out and she fell with her leg trapped underneath her body. After helping her back to bed, the patient’s daughter noticed her ankle and thought “it wasn’t supposed to look like that.” …
Read MoreWhen a patient presents to the emergency department with atraumatic monoarticular arthritis, it is important to rapidly determine the etiology because septic arthritis is a medical emergency that can lead to significant morbidity and mortality…
Read MoreA 32-year-old female with no significant past medical history presents to the emergency department with complaints of nausea, vomiting, and bloating. The patient reports her last menstrual period was about 2 months prior to presentation. She was evaluated about one-month ago, at which time she was told that a pelvic ultrasound revealed an intrauterine gestation sac without a fetal pole or yolk sac, suspicious for early pregnancy failure. The patient subsequently developed vaginal bleeding, associated with abdominal cramping, nausea, and vomiting. She interpreted these symptoms as a miscarriage. The patient states that the vaginal bleeding has since subsided, but she endorses continued and progressive nausea, vomiting, and bloating. She is unable to tolerate oral intake. She denies fever, headache, abdominal pain, back pain, vaginal discharge/odor/pain, dysuria, or diarrhea…
Read MoreA 3 year-old male presents to the pediatric emergency department with leg pain. Prior to arrival, the patient had been at daycare and was found crying, reporting pain to his right leg. The daycare staff denied any specific trauma and noted that he had been playing happily throughout the morning. His parents were understandably concerned and dad reported that this had been his fourth visit to the emergency department for fractures since he started walking at 12 months of age…
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