Nepal — As word came over the radio that a Sherpa had been struck on the head by a falling rock high on Everest, the three doctors at base camp jumped into action, fully aware that saving him would be a life-or-death race against the unpredictable mountain. Wary of the fading light that would ground the medevac helicopter overnight, they administered emergency treatment on the helipad where the chopper brought him in — enough, they hoped to give him a fighting chance of surviving the 20- to 30-minute onward flight to a hospital in Lukla, down the valley. "He was bleeding, so we had to stop that and then get him down," said Suvash Dawadi, one of three doctors who has spent the last two months at the Everest ER.
The doctors staffing the sole emergency room on the roof of the world battle high altitude, freezing conditions and violent weather every climbing season to save the lives of sick and injured mountaineers. Medics running the tent clinic at 5,364m must compete with medici...
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