Doug Wetzel's Life Saved by Multidisciplinary Team of 200, Including Shock Trauma

A team of about 200 University of Maryland Medical Center providers from many areas worked to save the life of Doug Wetzel, who nearly died after sustaining severe heatstroke in a triathlon. The heatstroke led to organ failure. Doug was flown to the UM Shock Trauma Center, where physician-in-chief Tom Scalea, MD, said he did not think Doug would survive the first night.

Doug did survive -- thanks to doctors and staff from critical care, transplantation, nephrology, surgery and hepatology in addition to Shock Trauma -- and eventually underwent successful liver transplant surgery at the UMMC Division of Transplantation. He continued his recovery at the University of Maryland Rehabilitation and Orthopaedic Institute, like UMMC a part of the University of Maryland Medical System, where he underwent physical and occupational therapy.