Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site ski.UUCP Path: utzoo!decvax!decwrl!amdcad!lll-crg!well!ptsfa!ski!dr From: dr@ski.UUCP (David Robins) Newsgroups: net.med Subject: Re: Medical Puzzle #4 Message-ID: <222@ski.UUCP> Date: Thu, 9-Jan-86 21:50:42 EST Article-I.D.: ski.222 Posted: Thu Jan 9 21:50:42 1986 Date-Received: Sat, 11-Jan-86 18:47:03 EST References: <2160@aecom.UUCP> Distribution: na Organization: Smith-Kettlewell Institute, S.F., CA. Lines: 35 > [This week's puzzle is a tricky one suggested by John Wurzelmann. It > is very tricky, but I am presenting it as a puzzle on two levels, only the > second of which requires Medical knowledge.] > > A patient comes into the Emergency Room extremely jaundiced -- that's > very yellow due to Liver failure. There are also other signs of liver failure. > > Since people's skin color varies, to determine the extent of jaundice, > you examine the whites of the patients eyes. One eye is almost orange. The > other is totally normal-looking, showing no signs of jaundice. In addition, > the non-jaundiced eye is not responsive to light. > > Now the eyes shouldn't be different like that, so that requires an > explanation, and then and only then, can the liver failure be explained. > The latter, incidentally, requires a bit of medical knowledge that even I > didn't have when John suggested this problem to me. > -- > > Craig Werner > !philabs!aecom!werner Although this may not be the intended answer, I'll post it. Some doctors have gotten burned by this. THE NON-JAUNDICED, NO-LIGHT-RESPONSE EYE IS A PROSTHESIS! Some of them are very realistic looking. Obviously, a plastic shell won't become jaundiced. -- ==================================================================== David Robins, M.D. Smith-Kettlewell Institute of Visual Sciences 2232 Webster St; San Francisco CA 94115 415/561-1705 {ihnp4,qantel,dual}!ptsfa!ski!dr The opinions expressed herein do not reflect the opinion of the Institute!