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“...One day finds me in Rehab waiting my turn and feeling sorry for myself. It’s hard not to spend some time in self-pity though I usually can keep such feelings at bay. As I sit in my chair a gurney is wheeled into the room and parked behind me. I turn and observe a young guy lying on his back, bare-chested and wearing a “halo.” Halo is the name given to a full neck brace that locks to the head with metal screws through the skin to the skull and secures to the shoulders. It is definitely a serious gizmo and makes me queasy when I see one since about the only thing not broken in my accident was my spine. The guy wearing it lies motionless and because I can’t see his face don’t know if he is awake. When my therapist arrives to accompany me to the Crip Board, I ask about the young guy lying silently on the gurney. I learn that one night a week or so ago he drank a six pack and then thought it would be great fun to take his motorcycle out and see how fast he could go through the city streets. He ended his ride with some superficial cuts and bruises plus a fractured C2 vertebra the same injury actor Christopher Reeve suffered in his horse-riding accident. The guy with the halo is 20 years old and can now look forward to being paralyzed for life, baring any unforeseen medical breakthroughs. I suddenly feel not so bad...” — “What I saw After The Crash”

Yes,it's very worthwhile to also mention what can happen *short* of death.Our ER was a “Level One Trauma Center” which means that it's certified to take the very worst,the most complicated trauma cases.In a city like NYC there probably aren't more than a half dozen Level Ones and in a state like Wyoming there might be one or two.IOW,they're the cream of the crop when it comes to emergency care.Another adage in ERs concerns burn patients.Our hospital had one of the finest burn units in the country so we saw lots and lots of burns flown in from all over New England.That adage is that with burn patients the *lucky* ones *die* and die quickly.The unlucky ones either die slowly..over days or weeks (not uncommon)...or don't die at all.The same is true of bike accidents...many of the victims would probably be wise to hope for death.