VOX IN THE BOX

Dear Vox in the Box: Last semester during a torts class at UCLA Law School, my professor described a hypothetical case about a person getting pulled out of freezingcold water after flailing for several minutes. I diverted the discussion by questioning the practicality of such a hypothetical situation, having heard from my novice rowing coach at Dartmouth that humans quickly die in water that is near freezing. Do you know how long a person could live if they fell into the Connecticut in early spring? KELLEY HART '97

"It depends a lot on the individual and factors such as any underlying diseases, medication use, alcohol use, nutrition status," says Dr. Lee Witters, professor of medicine and biochemistry at the Dartmouth Medical School. "The key that decides survival is the patient's core temperature when he or she is pulled out." When core temperature falls below 78 degrees the chance for survival drops. The victim experiences all sorts of nasty symptoms, from poor muscle function and cardiac arrhythmia to kidney and pulmonary failure. Getting the core temperature to fall below 78 degrees could take as little as 15 minutes in water that cold, according to Witters.

Under different circumstances, survival time can increase. "If the person was wearing a life jacket that kept him afloat, he could live longer. I would guess in the range of 90 minutes," says Norman Yanofsky, medical director of the ER at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. VOX