Question

You are sitting on a jury listening to a case involving a serious traffic accident. The accident occurred at a very noisy and busy intersection of town. It involved a red mini-van and a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. The accident occurred during the early evening and the streets were slick from a recent ice storm. The sun had just set and it was getting dark.

During testimony, the following descriptions of what had happened were given. The motorcycle apparently hit the driver’s side of the minivan while turning left. The driver of the mini-van apparently lost control of the car due to the ice and started spinning. The car completed several revolutions before going straight through the intersection. An eyewitness stated that the mini-van was spinning clock-wise. All the members of the mini-van and the motorcyclist were taken to a nearby hospital for examination

1. Based on the description how do you think the following sense organs were involved in the accident?

Retina:

Semi-circular canals:

2. Choose one of the sense organs above. How would you verify that something was wrong with this organ using tests that we used in lab?

At the hospital, the intern first looked at the motorcyclist and found that he was going to survive. He then turned his attention to the driver of the mini-van. He asked the patient to follow his finger. The intern reported that neither eye moved. When asked how many fingers the intern was holding up, the driver responded with "two", even though there was only one. The intern also noted that when the driver heard a noise they spun around to see what had made the loud sound and experienced severe vertigo (i.e. loss of balance). The right patellar reflex was negative (meaning no response) and the left was fine.

3. The driver was reportedly seeing double when the doctor held up one finger in front of his nose. Since you are the physiology expert for this case, explain to the rest of the jury how one can see two images even though there is only one object.
4. As the intern moved his finger closer to the driver's face, what should be happening to the lens of the eye?

1. Flattening
2. Rounding up
3. Stretching out
4. Becoming more convex
5. Nothing
6. Explain how the spinning mini-van and response of the driver to the loud noise might be related.

6. Should the intern have expected both the right and left patellar reflexes to be the same? (0.5 pt)

1. Yes, because the reflex is consensual.
2. No, because the reflexes are ipsilateral.
3. Yes, because they are connected by the spinal cord.
4. No, because the brain is the integrating center.
5. Yes, because they were testing the same reflex.

         

7. The jury is in deliberation.

• Who is at fault? The Motorcyclist or the Minivan Driver?
• What convinced you to choose this person?

Answer 1