ABSTRACT
History A 76-year-old woman is brought to the emergency department having fallen on the ice. She remembers slipping over and stretching out her right hand in order to ‘save her fall’. She describes significant pain around her right wrist. Fortunately, her only other injury is a minor graze on her forehead. She says she has previously had a heart attack in her 60s. She takes atenolol, ramipril, simvastatin and aspirin. She also has a history of essential hypertension and she had a hysterectomy for menorrhagia when she was 40 years old. She is the sole carer for her husband who suffered a stoke 2 years ago and is bed-bound. She is anxious to get back home to look after him.
