Critical Condition S05E05 - Episode 5

Forty-two-year-old Robert is rushed into Royal Stoke after a cardiac arrest at home. While paramedics have re-started his heart, it's his crippling stomach pain that worries Trauma Team Leader Richard Hall the most. Learning that his patient has had the pain for nearly a month, Richard rushes him to the scanner where the team discover a perforated bowel is leaking faecal matter into Robert's body. Without emergency surgery, Robert's leaking bowel will poison him to death. Now the race is on to get him to theatre for an emergency operation – before it's too late.

A severe pain in the abdomen is also the concern for Matthew. He has been slammed into his BMX's handlebars after a high-speed accident. As Matthew's pain levels soar, Trauma Team Leader Julie Norton suspects that Matthew has significant internal injuries. But it's only when she sees the extent of the damage to his spleen after a scan that she realises just how seriously injured her patient is. Living without a spleen would mean a lifetime of powerful antibiotics and risk of infection.

When Mario is rushed into resus, his injuries are obvious. His legs have taken the full impact of an explosion from a gas canister and now doctors must open his wounds to remove dozens of dangerous clots before the circulation is severely compromised. Unless they act quickly, the risk is that Mario could lose his leg.

Finally, Jean is admitted after a fall down her stairs at home. She has excruciating pain in her back, but that's not what worries the medical staff the most. Each time they take her off oxygen, Jean's blood pressure drops dangerously and now the race is on to find the cause before her condition deteriorates further.