To the Editor.—
I would like to alert your readers to the potential for serious injury that exists in the use of vacuum toilets such as those found on cruise ships.
Recently, while on a Greek-registered cruise ship moored near Vancouver, British Columbia, to accommodate the hotel overflow from Expo 86, I responded to an emergency call over the ship's loudspeaker and was asked to administer first aid to a woman who had sustained a serious pelvic injury.
A 70-year-old, slightly obese woman was in her cabin lying on the bunk in the right lateral recumbant position. She was alert and responding verbally but in obvious distress, moaning in pain, diaphoretic, and apprehensive. Protruding behind her on the bed were several feet of small intestine with omentum attached.
The woman stated she had flushed the toilet while still seated and the suction had "pulled everything out." Apparently, her buttocks and
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