- New Delhi: For 21-year-old Bhawana, what began as an ordinary evening in her village turned into a fight for survival after she was dragged by a moving tractor, suffering massive blood loss and multiple internal injuries.
A resident of Chiksoli village in Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura district, Bhawana was brought to Sarvodaya Hospital in Faridabad, Haryana in critical condition after her clothes became entangled in the tractor wheel. By the time she reached the hospital, she was in haemorrhagic shock, with dangerously low blood pressure, severe abdominal pain, breathing difficulty and uncontrolled bleeding from her right leg.
Doctors soon realised that the injuries were far more complex than appeared on the surface.
“This was a very challenging situation because she had multiple life-threatening injuries and had already lost a significant amount of blood,” said Dr Arjun Goel, Senior Consultant and Head, General and Minimally Invasive Surgery, Sarvodaya Hospital, Faridabad.
The accident had ruptured her intestine and torn the diaphragm — the muscle separating the chest from the abdomen. The force of the trauma had pushed her stomach and part of her colon upwards into the chest cavity, affecting her breathing. She had also suffered extensive damage to the skin and tissues of her right leg.
The trauma team had little time to lose. The woman was taken up for emergency surgery, which lasted nearly three hours.
Doctors repaired the torn diaphragm and moved the stomach and colon back into the abdomen. Surgeons removed the damaged portion of the small intestine and reconnected the healthy ends. Surgeons inserted a chest tube to drain fluid and air, then removed damaged tissue from the badly injured leg and used vacuum-assisted therapy to support healing.
The extent of the injury made the case particularly difficult. Trauma specialists said abdominal organs move into the chest after a severe accident in fewer than 1% of trauma cases.
Injuries like these can be hard to recognize at first. The patient may have multiple problems occurring together, such as blood loss, organ damage, breathing trouble, and shock. In Bhawana’s case, doctors had to assess and address these complications simultaneously.
“Any delay in surgical intervention could have resulted in irreversible shock, multiple organ failure, and death,” Goel said.
The emergency operation, however, was only the beginning of her recovery. Bhawana spent time in intensive care and required multiple blood transfusions and close monitoring. Her condition gradually stabilized. She was eventually able to resume oral feeding and carry out her daily activities independently.
For the young woman and her family, the recovery brought relief after an experience that could easily have ended differently.
“After the accident, I was in unbearable pain and was struggling to breathe. I am extremely grateful to the doctors for giving me a second chance at life,” Bhawana said.
Cases such as this also underline the importance of organized trauma care, particularly when patients arrive with multiple injuries. The first few hours after major trauma can determine whether a patient survives and how well they recover.
Dr Rakesh Gupta, Chairman of Sarvodaya Healthcare, stated that the case highlighted rapid diagnosis. It underscored timely surgery and coordinated trauma care.
For Bhawana, however, medical terminology and statistics matter less than what came after the accident. She aims to sit up again, eat normally, and return to everyday life.
