East Norriton
It’s Time to Get (Dead) Serious About Sleep Apnea
In November, 2016, a Hoboken (NJ) commuter train crashed into the station platform at double its allowable speed causing falling debris and the unfortunate death of a woman standing on the platform. About 100 were injured. Just prior to the crash, the train reportedly sped around a curve at over 80 mph. The speed limit was 30 mph.
A few months later, a train on the Long Island Railroad crashed into the end of a track at the Atlantic Terminal Station in Brooklyn causing 108 injuries and over $5 million in damages.
In 2013, a few years prior, a Metro-North Railroad Hudson Line train (New York City) crashed into a curve at a speed 3x the allowable limit causing 4 fatalities, 61 injuries and $9 million in damage.
The cause of all three train crashes was sleep apnea.
During a recent office-based sinus surgery, the husband of my patient fell asleep in the exam room. She told me that he often falls asleep when he sits down. He was a bit embarrassed when we woke him but we assured him that he need not worry. I asked him if he is frequently tired during the day, to which he responded “Doc, I’m 70 years old. Of course I get tired!” His wife interrupted to add that they haven’t slept in the same bed for years due to his snoring. The interesting thing is that he is a hearing loss patient of BergerHenry ENT but never mentioned his daytime fatigue or snoring. We discussed a sleep study but he decided against it.
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