|
|
|
|
The Medical Side of Lightning
Tue Jun 21, 2005
Listen in RealAudio 
Hi, I'm Bryan Yeaton for The Weather Notebook. Dr. MaryAnn Cooper, of the University
of Chicago, is widely respected as a leader in research and treatment lightning-strike
patients. I spoke with her recently at the Severe Weather Workshop in Norman,
Oklahoma.
BRYAN: This is the second leading weather-related cause of death in the United
States. Does that surprise a lot of people?
MARYANN: I think that surprises a lot of people. One of the reasons it surprises people
is because lightning injuries are individual deaths, usually - maybe one, maybe two,
maybe 3 people at most. And it may hit the newspaper but it's not like how many
deaths after a tornado or hurricane or other events that get a lot more press than
lightning.
I think people are optimists, basically, by nature. We all think we're gonna win the
lottery and we all think we're not going to get hit by lightning. And, in fact, the odds are
just the opposite.
BRYAN: You work with lightning survivors and with them, I assume, your major
concentration is preventing that from happening to other people?
MARYANN: Well, I have several goals. One is the people who are injured - we can't
prevent their injuries, they've already had them. What do we do to make them better, to
make them understood, to accommodate to the injuries and go on with their life again.
The other aspect is prevention of this ‘cause I'd much rather prevent the injuries than
take care of the people after they've been injured. And, a third issue, I suppose, is,
that's much harder to address, is once the injury's been started - you've been hit by
lightning - then you've got a progression of things that are going to happen. Is there
anything we can do to intervene that will stop that progression of expected
consequences from the lightning injury?
Tomorrow, what lightning does to our bodies. The Weather Notebook is supported by
Subaru of America, and the National Science Foundation.
|
|
