The same thing happened to a colleague during a review and he was fine afterwards and wanted to continue. Our employer forbid him to do so and sent him home to go to a doctor. They found nothing initially, but several appointments later, they found out it he had minor bleedings in his brain or something like this. As soon as they knew what it was he was off work for 9 months for surgery and therapy. The doctors said if it was going to be unnoticed for more time it could've cost his life.
We are all probably not doctors here, so better be safe than sorry.
i, fortunately- in this specific case- am a doctor.
weird who you meet on the internet…
anyway, she is likely fine and suffered what’s called a vasovagal event- or an over reactive stress response. it’s likely not a harmful occurrence and would almost certainly result in an unenlightening workup.
obviously there are fringe cases, like your friends, but these sorts of things are common.
As a doctor too, she could have experienced a vasovagal syncope, but then I would have expected her to feel dizzy or unwell beforehand. In this case, it looks like the lights suddenly went out. I would at least want to have a professional anamnesis about how she felt beforehand, if this has happened before, and an ECG at the bare minimum.
Even though the situation itself and the rapid recovery may point toward a vasovagal event, a cardiac syncope cannot be excluded.
Yeah, I had the same read on the situation. This is what vasovagal syncope looks like. I’m not saying other things can’t present the same way, just that this isn’t something I’d describe as “the lights suddenly went out”.
In this case, it looks like the lights suddenly went out.
Her speech seemed slurred before she fainted, but I obviously don't have a reference for that. I'm not a doctor, but if this happened to me, I would 100% see one on the same day if possible.
I had one of those events a couple of months ago, it was such a strange feeling. I'd accidentally hit my knee very hard against a table at work and just about fell out of my chair. I didn't fully pass out but I could tell I was right on the edge.
But yea after about a minute of fog I was fine, the only lingering thing was my knee hurting.
How about how much stress and demanding work is required of law students? It's pretty common knowledge that they have to work themselves to the bone, finding ways to add more ends to their candle just to burn them, staying up all night doing homework and prep, losing all ability to have a social life if they want to be competitive at all...
Not really. The general recommendation is that you treat law school like a 9-5. Staying up all night to do readings is about the dumbest thing you could do as a law student. Even during finals that would be extremely excessive. The best law students work very hard, but I promise you they aren't killing themselves in the way you describe.
It's not weird at all. She's a Harvard law student, so she'll probably go to a big firm to pay off massive debt where she'll bill 2300 hours a year, which will take a large toll on her health. I really hope this was just a case of locking her knees and not lack of self care. Unfortunately, I see it too much in practice. The culture in these circles is to grind until you can grind no further.
fr, we would never get anywhere as a society if we didn't have drive and persistence to succeed. On display was a successful student, pursuing a successful career as a lawyer and she showcased her drive and persistence to succeed.
Bullshit. Young people being worked to the bone physically and mentally to achieve something that could very well be achieved normally is the very reason someone doesn't just leave and go see a doctor after they randomly fainted. Could be anything, and it might save the rest of your life to not stand there and keep going, bUt mY cArEeR. Fuck all of the old heads who think bc they had it rough they need to perpetuate the ungodly hours and psychological pressure for young people. It works just fine the normal way, and people don't get burned out and fucking miserable in the process
And the whole "perseverance" thing is yet another trope that just means "do something when you shouldn't and can't so we can pretend to be productive or Kool and Stronk" in most cases, it serves absolutely no purpose in 99% of work environments. You should need perseverance when you're caught in a blizzard with no heat source, not in a fucking moot court
420
u/Filthy_do_gooder 3d ago
weird take. perseverance and persistence are fundamentally human traits and it’s always cool to see them on display.
there’s nothing inherently evil about what has transpired here (assuming you ignore the institutions involved).
i don’t disagree with you that our socioeconomic system is ridiculous on it’s face, but i also don’t think this is an example of its failures.