Gagging For It
(20
May 1998, Louisiana)
A
respiratory patient in an oxygen tent at a New Orleans hospital sneaked a pack
of cigarettes into his room. One morning in the quiet dawn, the
sixty-one-year-old patient ignored the nurses' lectures, ignored the warning
signs, and surreptitiously lit his last cigarette. In the presence of extra
oxygen, even a small spark can ignite a flash fire.
Before
he could even draw a breath of nicotine, the cigarette set his clothes on fire
and the flames began to spread. The man, afraid of being caught, tried to
extinguish the blaze without sounding an alarm. A hospital employee walked by
his room and noticed the man, standing in the midst of a conflagration, quietly
trying to pat out the flames.
An
orderly carried the patient into the hallway and extinguished his hospital gown
with a blanket, while nurses used fire extinguishers to beat back the flames
enough to reach the valve and turn off the oxygen supply.
Twenty-one
patients were evacuated, and seven others were treated for smoke inhalation.
The
cause of the blaze was airlifted to the Baton Rouge burn unit with third-degree
burns over forty percent of his body, where he died five days later. Was the
patient cured of his addiction by his experience? Apparently not. A pack of Kool
cigarettes and a lighter were found hidden in his sock at the burn unit.