2 ERs placed on lockdown after chemical scare

2 ERs placed on lockdown after chemical scare

www.cnn.com

The patients were believed to have come to the hospitals after being exposed to the chemical at an industrial site in East St. Louis, Illinois, said Chief Jim Silvernail of the Mehlville Fire District. He described the chemical as a "power situation" that required contact to make the people sick.

SSM DePaul said its hospital went on lockdown around 3:30 p.m. CT.

Hospital officials said three patients were admitted after coming in contact with a chemical that made them sick with...

(visit the link for the full news article)

Anyone have an idea what this chemical may have been? Kind of odd how the people working with it aren't saying.

www.cnn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I'm not quite getting why they would lockdown the emergency rooms (and the entire hospital at one point) for a couple of patients with chemical exposure.. did they think it was a contagious disease? terrorist attack?

Originally posted by mythatsabigprobe
I'm not quite getting why they would lockdown the emergency rooms (and the entire hospital at one point) for a couple of patients with chemical exposure.. did they think it was a contagious disease? terrorist attack?

well,these people who came in could have walked through half the hospital,spreading chemicals and merryment on their travels. It's a case of can't take the risk.

It may have been a mercury spill of some sort. Thats just about the only "chemical" that can cause alot of fear since its well known and clean up is not as simple as soap and water. Could also be some other chemical, mercury just came to mind.

I found this seemingly related story about an accident at a chemical plant. In this story, the chemical is identified as nitroaniline.

Chemical plant accident in East St. Louis kills 2 workers

The victims were exposed to nitroaniline, a highly toxic powder that can attack the respiratory system and get into the bloodstream, said Chief Jim Silvernail of the Mehlville Fire Protection District, which includes St. Anthony's.

"This chemical is bad," he said.

They were exposed to p-nitroaniline.

Here is a article on it from one of our local news sites.

KSDK

Here is the MSDS information for the p-nitroaniline.

MSDS

Many of us here are wondering why these people were brought into hospitals in our city instead of hospitals in Illinois just across the river where it happened. Especially when there are several hospitals far closer than St. Anthony's and Depaul. Unless they were trying to avoid sending them to a larger trauma center like Barnes. Some of the ER staff at St. Anthony's have said that they didn't know what these people were exposed to but that when they came in their skin was blue like it had been dyed.

But why they took them to these two hospitals when closer hospitals that are better suited to handle something like this were passed by is beyond me.

Originally posted by mythatsabigprobe
I'm not quite getting why they would lockdown the emergency rooms (and the entire hospital at one point) for a couple of patients with chemical exposure.. did they think it was a contagious disease? terrorist attack?

From one ER nurse I've heard talk they didn't know what they were exposed to. They didn't even know how to start treatment because they had to wait to find out what it was.

[edit on 31-8-2008 by Simon_Boudreaux]

Wow I was just at the St Anthony's ER yesterday morning from 7am till almost 2 pm.

Going to St Anthony and Depaul makes no since at all one is South St Louis County the other is North, and there are at least 10 other hospitals closer to Illinois.

Originally posted by LDragonFire
Wow I was just at the St Anthony's ER yesterday morning from 7am till almost 2 pm.

Going to St Anthony and Depaul makes no since at all one is South St Louis County the other is North, and there are at least 10 other hospitals closer to Illinois.

Exactly. Both of us knowing the area we know that this is not making sense. I mean come on. They had to pass Barnes, St.Louis University Hospital, Incarnate Word if it's still open, plus several more. Not to mention the hospitals in Illinois where it happened.

Barnes is the big trauma center for the event of chemical or biological attacks so why did they drive right past it to take these people to farther away facilities?

I'm starting to wonder if these people were exposed to something other than what they are telling us.

I'm starting to wonder if these people were exposed to something other than what they are telling us.

If they were exposed to something other than what the public is being told, that still wouldn't explain why they weren't taken to the closest hospital, would it?

What possible reasons could there be for taking them to the hospitals that they went to if there were so many others that were closer and on the way? If the hospitals themselves don't offer any obvious explanation as to why the victims would be taken there, perhaps it is the staff at the hospitals that hold the key?

Jemison

reply to post by Jemison


That's what I'm trying to figure out. Why would they take them to these two hospitals? I've heard one report saying it was because it was close to the people's homes. Now working in this factory with these chemicals and knowing what happens if you get exposed to them would you hold off immediate medical care just so you can go to a hospital near your home????

Oh wait. Now the F.B.I. is saying that there were no deaths from the accident and saying the East St. Louis mayor was premature in saying so but he wasn't the only one saying this. The hospitals and the coroner's office aren't reporting any deaths even though more than one person has said two people died from this.




Does the FBI normally investigate industrial accidents?I thought that was OSHA and EPA's job not the FBI's Or did they get involved because the ER's were having so much trouble getting info as to what these people were exposed to and wanted to make sure it wasn't an attack of some kind? That's my guess.

It was the ER physicians at DePaul that figured out what these people were exposed to and alerted other local ERs. Or so I've heard.

I'm also being told that the plant this happened at wasn't even suppose to be open and the people weren't suppose to be there. Not sure if it's true just relaying it to this thread.