Locicero vs Rappaport

Mrs Locicero presented to the hospital with a severe headache. The provisional diagnosis after a neurological examination was that she had a bleed in the brain. Prior to sending the patient for a CAT scan which was the diagnostic test of choice because it is noninvasive the ER physician performed a lumbar puncture. The CAT scan would have confirmed that the patient had suffered an inter- cerebral bleed and alerted the physician that the lumbar puncture was not necessary and that it posed a risk of herniating the brainstem. Following the performance of the lumbar puncture the patient became unconcous. She never regained concoiusness and remains in a persistant vegitative state