A Scientist Spilled 2 Drops Organic Mercury On Her Hand. This Is What Happened To Her Brain.

Happy Medical Monday (which isn’t every Monday, and sometimes isn’t on Monday, but I try my best) 👨‍⚕️👩‍⚕️🚑 PS Why do people in these videos have 2 letter initials for names? It’s a didactic tradition in presenting case reports. It lightly de-identifies the patient while upholding their humanity. They are, and will always be, more than just “the patient.” Thanks for watching :)

"dimethyl mercury" me (a chemist): what the hell, why wasn't she wearing proper protection for that...oh.......oh so she's the one who warned us. Here's to you KW, I honor you for protecting all those who came after you (including me)

Her name was Karen Wetterhahn, and she was an extraordinary chemist. She worked at Dartmouth College, where she established the Women in Science Project, doubling the percentage of women pursuing science degrees. She was exposed to a lethal dose of dimethylmercury in 1996, and less than a year later, in 1997, the scientific world lost one of its brightest and most inquisitive minds. Her legacy lives on in both her efforts to involve more people, especially women, in the sciences, and her colleagues' efforts after her death to increase workplace safety and the regulation of harmful chemicals. Karen Wetterhahn: Oct 16, 1948 - Jun 8, 1997.

Nothing worse than being an expert in a field, seeing the symptoms and slowly realising that you know exactly what is happening and what's to come. The description of her appearing to be screaming, then back to no response... That is terrifying... either she was suffering from some type of locked in syndrome, or briefly comes back to sentience, like dying multiple times. This is just absolutely terrifying.

I took a bioinorganic chemistry course last semester and our professor had personal connection with her, sharing her story as we learned about heavy metals. RIP

Karen Wetterhahn was her name, rest in peace

NOTE: This video is about DIMETHYL MERCURY LIQUID and not mercury metal. Comments about mercury metal are as irrelevant as comments about mustard would be to a video about "mustard gas"!

7:47 That got me. That's incredibly sad and horrifying to think about: "There's someone inside, but that person is trapped in a prison of her own comatose body." Nothing less than a tragedy, I can only hope that with the awareness brought by this case, lives have been saved. Thank you for your work, Professor Wetterhahn.

The fact that she knew... and the possibility that there could be even a glimpse of a moment in which she was fully cognitive on the inside but felt the limbs and senses started to become unresponsive is literally making me walk around the room in fear of what such moment would feel

"Upon autopsy" I always get so heartbroken when I hear that. So many of Emu's stories make it to recovery, it always hurts to hear about the ones who don't.

Thank god I only tend to eat 64,000 kgs of salmon in one sitting... I wouldn't want that to happen to me

I think it would have been ok if you mentioned her full name,—-Karen Wetterhahn, a renowned and amazing scientist.

My mother has had classic MS, which attacks the milan sheath of the nervous system since she was 31 and she’s now 91. The thought of suffering such a fate compressed into mere months is horrifying. My mother is finally in a wheelchair, but she and my 94-year-old father still enjoy life together as they finally wear out.

A man got rejected from a art school... This is what happened to Europe

This is a well-known story to us chemists. She's a hero too. Essentially okayed every form of experimental medicine and procedure that was known at the time, called medical teams super early in advance knowing she was basically going to die once it was found out that the glove type used was actually NOT good for the chemical used (contrary to what was understood at the time). A lot about mercury poisoning was learned from this case to be applied to future medical cases. It also changed procedure in how to grade PPE used for toxic organomercury compounds and other heavy metals.

I love how you also explain the meaning behind the words by using their stems. It makes the terminology so much easier to understand for us non-medical folks!

I think this is so fascinating yet still heartbreaking at the same time. KW (aka Karen Wetterhahn) was a great mind and inspiration to many other scientists, especially female scientists (which were not common fields for women then). This just goes to show how dangerous certain chemicals can be, and in general, just how dangerous it is to be a chemist. To all of my fellow chemists, always always always always be very cautious. And to Karen Wetterhahn, thank you for the sacrifice and knowledge you have given this generation. Rest well Professor.

One of her former students said that "Her husband saw tears rolling down her face. I asked if she was in pain. The doctors said it didn't appear that her brain could even register pain." Wetterhahn was removed from life support and died on June 8, 1997.

The scary thing is that she was still conscious, but neurologically trapped and unable to act.

Karen Elizabeth Wetterhahn, also known as Karen Wetterhahn Jennette, was an American professor of chemistry at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, who specialized in toxic metal exposure. She died of mercury poisoning at the age of 48 due to accidental exposure to the organic mercury compound dimethylmercury.