Facebook friends save life of spinal injury patientRSS Feed

A man who woke up paralysed because of an old spinal injury could have died had it not been for the help of his Facebook friends.

Peter Casaru woke up experiencing spinal spasms and, after discovering his phone battery was flat, posted a desperate appeal on his Facebook page.

He wrote: "Can someone call 999, ambulance for me, I need one now."

"I have fractued my back. dtuck ob floor. no phone abdglasses, toucvh typing.. please help me." (sic)

His friend Juliet McFarlane called the emergency services and an ambulance arrived at his home in Brecon, Powys, just 20 minutes later.

Doctors said that if the father-of-one had not received treatment when he did the spinal spasms could have killed him.

Mr Casaru broke his back in a quad biking accident six years ago, and has had spinal problems since.

While the internet was life-saving in this instance, recent research has shown that online medical information is not always accurate.

A study published in the New England Journal of medicine revealed that some of the people in popular online films about Parkinson's disease did not actually have the condition.

Authors warned this misinformation could cause confusion for patients seeking health information online.

News by Serious Law. Expert legal assistance for those affected by spinal injury

Posted by Matthew Heap
 

Back pain 'affecting younger workers'

07 October 2011

The percentage of workers suffering from spinal injury caused by sitting at a desk all day is about to increase, research shows.Sean McDougall, chief executive of BackCare, warned that back pain is happening...

Read More...

New drug to help spinal muscular atrophy patients?

06 October 2011

The spinal injury seen in spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) may not exclusively affect the motor neurones in the spinal cord as was previously thought, research has uncovered.A study, published in journal...

Read More...

Osteoporosis research breakthrough 'could lead to earlier diagnosis'

05 October 2011

A significant research breakthrough could improve the treatment of the spinal injury caused by osteoporosis.Research published in journal Cell Metabolism identified a new gene that modulates bone mass,...

Read More...