Dr. Brendan Morrissey (@unsarcasticone) is an Emergency Medicine Advanced Trainee currently working at St. Vincent's Hospital Melbourne ED - one of Austalia's leading hospitals in dealing with drug and alcohol affected patients (see here for recent article in 'The Age'). He studied at University College Dublin, and has been working in Emergency Medicine across Australia and New Zealand for the last 8 years. His interests are Public Health and Medical Education.
The Case:
A 51-year-old man self-presents to your inner city ED one Friday evening; he’s complaining of mild abdominal pain and shortness of breath. A quick scan of his old notes at triage shows a background of Chronic Liver Disease secondary to alcohol. He does not appear in distress and is haemodynamically normal, so is placed in the long line for an empty cubicle.
