The purpose of this paper is to explain how a woman's various organs and systems respond to trauma, and how many of those actions can result in minimizing chances of organ destruction and increasing the victim's chances of surviving the accident. In addition, some actions taken by the woman's body can actually be deleterious to her chances for survival.
             This woman presented upon arriving in the ER with several broken ribs, which resulted in a bruising of the liver and kidneys and a ruptured spleen. The first diagnostic signs were : low blood pressure, low respiration and low urine output.
             The woman's reaction to the accident constitutes the classic demonstration of shock symptoms. Of the various first diagnoses, that of the ruptured spleen is of the most concern. The spleen acts as a major filter of blood, as well as a repository for discarded red blood cells. Its rich blood supply foretells a large loss of blood into the abdominal cavity. The woman's reaction to this blood loss is to repress metabolism in order to reduce blood flow; of course, part of this reaction is due to the blood loss, which results in a self-supporting cycle of continually lowering blood pressure which corresponds to the loss of blood from the circulatory system. The rupture of many capillaries and arterioles results in the immediate release of thrombus-attractant enzymes, which assure that platelets rush to the scene to help staunch blood flow (Gando). As we will see later, this rush of platelets also creates subsequent problems.
             A further result of shock is that the woman's overall slowdown in metabolism and specific actions result in a reduction in temperature, which further reduces metabolism and protects the brain and other vital organs for a longer period of time than if they had been at normal body temperature.
             The broken ribs result in the release of several products into the surrounding blood stream, i...