ATLANTA – Grady Memorial Hospital released updated information on the patients injured in Friday’s hotel shuttle bus accident.
Grady reported to CBS Atlanta that only two patients remain at its facility Sunday. One of the three reported on Saturday has been discharged. The other two receiving treatment will remain overnight Sunday.
Two other accident victims are being treated at Atlanta Medical Center. CBS Atlanta was told Saturday they are in good condition.
The victims are among the 16 passengers injured in the bus crash near Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on Friday morning.
CBS Atlanta confirmed that 10 people involved in the accident were taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, including one child. Another six were taken to Atlanta Medical Center, including one child.
Grady Memorial Hospital Chief of Emergency Medicine Leon Haley said riding in a shuttle bus may have played a role in the injuries of the patients.
“Most people are not wearing seat belts, some of them could be standing, so hitting another vehicle, even at a low to moderate speed, obviously people fall and the potential for injuries is very high,” Haley said.
He said of the four patients admitted at Grady, one has a broken shoulder and another had a collapsed lung.
“We are in the process of reinflating that,” Haley said. “We do that through a special procedure that we do at the emergency department. They need to come in the hospital and be admitted for several days to be observed. Once their lung is comfortably reinflated, then they can be released.”
Daniel Schlatterer, a physician at Atlanta Medical Center, said those passengers were lucky to be so close to two trauma specialty hospitals.
“There was a cardiothoracic surgeon who came into the ER and said, ‘Hey what can I do, where do you need me?'” Schlatterer said. “That’s what separates a level one trauma center from a regular ER department.”
Source: cbsatlanta.com