Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/JAh9odm_68c   Electric scooters are all the rage, but their use in the US and around the world has fostered an epidemic of injuries.  A study by surgeons at UC-San Diego shows that most scooter disasters occur when their users drink alcohol, use drugs, and fail to wear helmets.   The investigators tabulated eScooter-related admissions to their emergency department over just one year.  The 103 patients with an average age of 37 years were two-thirds male.  Only 2% of them were wearing helmets, half of them were legally drunk, and at least 30% had a positive drug screen.  One-third of the patients admitted went to the operating room for treatment of intracranial bleeding, severe extremity fractures, or facial fractures.     EScooters provide convenient, alternative transportation, but their use on urban streets requires intense vigilance, a choice of quiet streets, a clear mind, and a helmet-protected brain.   Leslie M Kobayashi, Elliot Williams, Carlos V Brown, Brent J Emigh, Vishal