Case Files from the University of California San Diego Health System Fellowship Coma and Severe Acidosis: Remember to Consider Acetaminophen

摘要

A 28-year-old man was brought to the Emergency Department (ED) for evaluation of a depressed level of consciousness that developed while in jail. Sixteen hours previously, he had been arrested on charges of murder. The patient’s mental status was reported as normal at the time of arrest, and it had remained so during several hours of interrogation and during the booking process at jail. Following interrogation, the patient was placed into a cell with no other inmates. During the jail intake process, the patient had not reported any history of medical problems nor was he prescribed with any medications. Paramedics arrived to find him unresponsive, but maintaining airway reflexes and hemodynamically stable. They measured a blood glucose of 300 mg/dL and noted one episode of blood-tinged emesis during transport to the ED. No seizure activity was witnessed.