Matthews: He’s going to buy a chest tube. That’s just, that almost looks like a pneumothorax or something is in there. We are going to have to drain that. How about if we put in a JP [suction drain] just to make sure we are OK in the next 48 hours? All right?
Le: Irrigation please.
O’Neill: You see that fat there?
Le: Uh-huh.
O’Neill: What do you think is going on there?
Matthews: How are we doing, Dr. Le?
Le: Good.
Matthews: You closing the fascia?
Le: We put a JP in.
Matthews: OK. That is excellent. Good for you – that is good patient care right there. What else?
Le: It might be a little tough, running stitching.
Matthews: You’ll get it. Now you are closing it with running, you are not using interrupteds, right?
Le: Yes.
Matthews: OK.
Le: Are you recording me?
Matthews: Yes I am. You are going to be in PHOENIX magazine.
Le: Do you need me to take any visecral shots?
Matthews: What I need for you to do is get the abdominal wall closed nicely so that the patient doesn’t have any complications. He needs a chest tube. We’ve already put in the JP. This man should do well. It pays to be a winner so we do it right the first time. OK. Le Le, it looks good. [Brief pause] Are we winning?
Le: Yeah, we are winning.


Doctors working under Matthews’ supervision have just finished treating the car accident victim. They washed out the soldier’s abdomen and closed it up, removed packs from around the liver and placed a drain in the soldier’s left upper quadrant, along with a chest tube. The soldier will be sent to the CT scanner so that doctors can get a digital view of his injuries. Matthews, meanwhile, heads to the hospital’s Burn Center, where a man who escaped from a house fire ran back inside to save his children. A Burn Center staff member ushers Matthews inside.

Matthews: OK, you want to put him in… let’s put him in Bacitracin [an antibiotic]. He used to have that face mask on. We are going to actually use it.