Lesiones de guerra en Bruselas: Cuerpos destrozados, miembros arrancados y hierros clavados en la carne
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Los cirujanos muestran los pedazos de hierro, tornillos y clavos que extrajeron de los cuerpos de los heridos REUTERS/Francois lenoir
Cuerpos destrozados, miembros arrancados y hierros clavados en la carne: los médicos que desde el martes tratan a las víctimas de los atentados de Bruselas se enfrentan a una auténtica “medicina de guerra”.
King Philippe – Filip of Belgium and Queen Mathilde of Belgium pictured during a royal visit to the ‘Campus Gasthuisberg UZ’ hospital in Leuven to visit victims, doctors and nurses, after Tuesday’s terrorist attacks in Brussels, Thursday 24 March 2016. Tuesday morning two bombs exploded in the departure hall of Brussels Airport and another one in the Maelbeek – Maalbeek subway station, which made around 30 deadly victims and 230 injured people in total. ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Daesh – ISIS) claimed responsability for the massacre. BELGA PHOTO LAURIE DIEFFEMBACQ
King Philippe – Filip of Belgium (2nd L) and Queen Mathilde of Belgium look at fragments of iron shrapnel from a nail bomb, found in victim’s bodies, as they meet with medical staff at the ‘Campus Gasthuisberg UZ’ hospital in Leuven, outside Brussels, on March 24, 2016 during their visit to the injured victims of the Brussels attacks, two days after a triple bomb attack, which responsibility was claimed by the Islamic State group, hit Brussels’ airport and the Maelbeek – Maalbeek subway station, killing 31 people and wounding 270 others.
Belgian authorities are seeking a second suspect over the attack on a metro train in Brussels in which one suicide bomber has already been confirmed dead, police sources told AFP on March 24. / AFP / Belga / LAURIE DIEFFEMBACQ / Belgium OUT
King Philippe – Filip of Belgium (2nd L) and Queen Mathilde of Belgium look at fragments of iron shrapnel from a nail bomb, found in victim’s bodies, as they meet with medical staff at the ‘Campus Gasthuisberg UZ’ hospital in Leuven, outside Brussels, on March 24, 2016 during their visit to the injured victims of the Brussels attacks, two days after a triple bomb attack, which responsibility was claimed by the Islamic State group, hit Brussels’ airport and the Maelbeek – Maalbeek subway station, killing 31 people and wounding 270 others.
Belgian authorities are seeking a second suspect over the attack on a metro train in Brussels in which one suicide bomber has already been confirmed dead, police sources told AFP on March 24. / AFP / Belga / LAURIE DIEFFEMBACQ / Belgium OUT
A woman wrapped in a blanket stands outside the Koningin Astrid-Reine Astrid military hospital in Neder-over-Heembeek in northern Brussels after the hospital was evacuated following a gas leak on March 24, 2016.
Some of the people wounded in the March 22 terror attacks in Brussels are being treated at the hospital. / AFP / PATRIK STOLLARZ
The Belgian flag flies at half-mast at the Koningin Astrid-Reine Astrid military hospital in Neder-over-Heembeek in northern Brussels on March 24, 2016.
The hospital, where some of the people wounded in the March 22 terror attacks in Brussels are being treated, was evacuated due to a gas leak. / AFP / PATRIK STOLLARZ
The Belgian flag flies at half-mast at the Koningin Astrid-Reine Astrid military hospital in Neder-over-Heembeek in northern Brussels on March 24, 2016.
The hospital, where some of the people wounded in the March 22 terror attacks in Brussels are being treated, was evacuated due to a gas leak. / AFP / PATRIK STOLLARZ
A nurse of the ‘Campus Gasthuisberg UZ’ hospital in Leuven, outside Brussels, shows fragments of iron shrapnel from a nail bomb, found in victim’s bodies, within a visit of the Belgian Royals to the hospital on March 24, 2016, two days after a triple bomb attack, which responsibility was claimed by the Islamic State group, hit Brussels’ airport and the Maelbeek – Maalbeek subway station, killing 31 people and wounding 270 others.
Belgian authorities are seeking a second suspect over the attack on a metro train in Brussels in which one suicide bomber has already been confirmed dead, police sources told AFP on March 24. / AFP / Belga / LAURIE DIEFFEMBACQ / Belgium OUT
Queen Mathilde of Belgium (L) and King Philippe – Filip of Belgium (R) visit to Brussels Airport, in Zaventem, on March 23, 2016, a day after triple bomb attacks at the Brussels airport and at a subway train station killed 31 people and wounded more than 200.
World leaders united in condemning the carnage in Brussels and vowed to combat terrorism, after Islamic State bombers attacked the symbolic heart of the EU. / AFP / POOL / YORICK JANSENS
A surgeon at the Gasthuisberg hospital in Louvain, Belgium, shows shrapnel removed from victims of Tuesday’s bombing attacks in Brussels following Tuesday’s airport bombings in Brussels, Belgium, March 24, 2016. REUTERS/Francois lenoir
A surgeon at the Gasthuisberg hospital in Louvain, Belgium, shows shrapnel removed from victims of Tuesday’s bombing attacks in Brussels following Tuesday’s airport bombings in Brussels, Belgium, March 24, 2016. REUTERS/Francois lenoir
A surgeon at the Gasthuisberg hospital in Louvain, Belgium, shows shrapnel removed from victims of Tuesday’s bombing attacks in Brussels following Tuesday’s airport bombings in Brussels, Belgium, March 24, 2016. REUTERS/Francois lenoir
A surgeon at the Gasthuisberg hospital in Louvain, Belgium, shows shrapnel removed from victims of Tuesday’s bombing attacks in Brussels following Tuesday’s airport bombings in Brussels, Belgium, March 24, 2016. REUTERS/Francois lenoir
A surgeon at the Gasthuisberg hospital in Louvain, Belgium, shows Belgian King Philippe and Queen Mathilde shrapnel removed from victims of Tuesday’s bombing attacks in Brussels following Tuesday’s airport bombings in Brussels, Belgium, March 24, 2016. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir
A surgeon at the Gasthuisberg hospital in Louvain, Belgium, shows shrapnel removed from victims of Tuesday’s bombing attacks in Brussels following Tuesday’s airport bombings in Brussels, Belgium, March 24, 2016. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir
A surgeon at the Gasthuisberg hospital in Louvain, Belgium, shows shrapnel removed from victims of Tuesday’s bombing attacks in Brussels following Tuesday’s airport bombings in Brussels, Belgium, March 24, 2016. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
A surgeon at the Gasthuisberg hospital in Louvain, Belgium, shows shrapnel removed from victims of Tuesday’s bombing attacks in Brussels following Tuesday’s airport bombings in Brussels, Belgium, March 24, 2016. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir
A surgeon at the Gasthuisberg hospital in Louvain, Belgium, shows shrapnel removed from victims of Tuesday’s bombing attacks in Brussels following Tuesday’s airport bombings in Brussels, Belgium, March 24, 2016. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir
A surgeon at the Gasthuisberg hospital in Louvain, Belgium, shows shrapnel removed from victims of Tuesday’s bombing attacks in Brussels following Tuesday’s airport bombings in Brussels, Belgium, March 24, 2016. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir
A surgeon at the Gasthuisberg hospital in Louvain, Belgium, shows Belgian King Philippe and Queen Mathilde shrapnel removed from victims of Tuesday’s bombing attacks in Brussels following Tuesday’s airport bombings in Brussels, Belgium, March 24, 2016. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Staff at the Gasthuisberg hospital in Louvain, Belgium show Belgian King Philippe and Queen Mathilde shrapnel removed from victims of Tuesday’s bombing attacks in Brussels following Tuesday’s airport bombings in Brussels, Belgium, March 24, 2016. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir
“Son lesiones de guerra, miembros arrancados, fracturas, traumatismo cerebrales, quemaduras”, explica Jacques Creteur, jefe del servicio de cuidados intensivos del hospital Erasme de Bruselas, done se han tratado a 16 víctimas de los atentados del martes en el aeropuerto y el metro de la capital belga.
“Lo más duro es que todas ellas son víctimas inocentes”, asegura.
Tres pacientes se debatían este miércoles entre la vida y la muerte en este hospital, uno de los muchos que trata a las víctimas. El último balance oficial es de 31 muertos y 270 heridos, muchos de ellos graves.
“Hemos tenido pacientes que llegaron con los miembros arrancados, impactos de restos de vidrio que volaron o de metralla, a veces de una bomba o de un mueble que explotó”, detalla Creteur.
La consecuencia de estas lesiones es que, para salvar a las víctimas, hay que practicar una medicina más común en un campo de batalla que una ciudad europea como Bruselas.
“En muchos de los pacientes tuvimos que aplicar lo que llamamos ‘control de daños’, es decir una primera operación para detener la hemorragia o, en el caso de un miembro completamente destrozado, una operación para ponerlo simplemente en su sitio, nada más”, explicó el doctor.
En los pacientes más graves, intentar curar demasiadas lesiones en una sola operación es demasiado arriesgado, porque la pérdida de sangre o las complicaciones pueden poner el peligro su vidas.
Los médicos prefieren estabilizar primero a los pacientes. “Es cirugía de guerra, en el ejército son expertos en el control de daños”, afirma Creteur.
Para complicar aún más las cosas, el efecto en un cuerpo humano de una explosión de esta magnitud puede tener consecuencias que no se detectan en un primer momento. Es el caso de la onda expansiva, que puede afectar al cerebro, los pulmones o los intestinos.
– Carrera contrarreloj –
Encontrar las lesiones es una carrera contrarreloj para los médicos, que no sólo usan la cirugía sino también escáneres corporales completos para detectar el daño antes de que sea demasiado tarde.
Al mismo tiempo, para las víctimas más graves, sobrevivir es sólo el primer paso porque las consecuencias pueden ser de por vida, explican los médicos.
En muchos casos tendrán que pasar años haciendo rehabilitación. A ello se une el riego de depresión y de estrés postraumático tras haber vivido un atentado, que a veces impide a las víctimas subirse a un tren o estar en un lugar con mucha gente.
En el hospital Erasme los médicos han visto de todo –accidentes de coche, explosiones de gas– pero nunca tantas víctimas al mismo tiempo, con el impacto emocional que ello supone.
Christian Melot, el jefe de servicio de urgencias de Erasme, explica uno de los casos que más le ha han marcado, la de un hombre joven con heridas graves que llegó al hospital.
Ese día su madre le había llamado para decirle que había un atentado en el aeropuerto y que no tomara el metro. “Y él dijo ‘Pero esto pasa en Zaventem, no tiene que ver con el metro’. Luego lo tomó y resultó herido en la explosión en la estación de Maalbeek”, explica Melot.
“Un cúmulo de circunstancias realmente increíble pero desgraciadamente es lo que le pasó”, lamenta.