Ken Kamler: Medical miracle on Everest

http://www.ted.com When the worst disaster in the history of Mount Everest climbs occurred, Ken Kamler was the only doctor on the mountain. At TEDMED, he shares the incredible story of the climbers' battle against extreme conditions and uses brain imaging technology to map the medical miracle of one man who survived roughly 36 hours buried in the snow.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/translate. Watch a highlight reel of the Top 10 TEDTalks at http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/top10

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Ken
• Kamler
• TEDTalks
• TED
• talks
• TEDMED
• medicine
• Everest
• climb
• fMRI
• MRI
• medical
• miracle
• mountain
• mountaineering
• snow
• hypothermia

[Fullcontact83]

Better to live 1 day as a lion then 1000 days as a sheep ..... RIP.

[rafaravioli]

Meh. It's hard to find sympathy for anyone who dies doing something so exceedingly dangerous for no good reason. And shame on the guy who was about to have a kid.

[spittingbloodhc]

I respect the dead who died in a test of character, whether they died on my level or 29,000 feet above it. I hope that as decent human beings, despite not understanding why they tested their character in such a way, you all find it inside you to respect the fact that these people died in what is considered one of the ultimate tests of human strength.

[JedaqiaAngel]

I don't understand some of the hate. Everybody have their own personal purpose. If you don't, then you probably don't understand why climbers do what they did.

[zchamu]

He was not the only doctor on the mountain. Outright falsehood.

[colmcq]

@Fullcontact83

damn straight. I'm climbing everest in 2013. hell yeah!

[mrbenderson005]

I would think it terribly cruel to put your wife through the grief, you know... assuming she loves you. Otherwise, go for it!

[senetiinsanity]

@rafaravioli

That guy was called Rob Hall, he was one of the best mountaineers in the world and he would have survived had he left one of his clients behind to die. Plus, he did this for a living, guiding people up Everest was his source of income. Furthermore they set out in perfect weather conditions and there was literally no reason for them to believe that this storm would come up.

Please do some research first next time you speak badly about dead people.

RIP all great mountaineers.

[Arrktopyis]

@rafaravioli

it's not for no reason. some people like to break the limits of possibility, to do the impossible. I am pretty sure that this way of thinking is not even their fault. humans are design to be that way. this is how we evolved. i am not saying that trying to climb the Everest is a good evolutionary choice, but that breaking limits and surpassing ourselves is. those people died doing what they liked and there is no point in saying they're stupid now. lets just respect the dead .

[altruisticly]

@rafaravioli Yeh ! No sympathy for anyone who dies on a space mission as well !! Its called human endevour.And " the guy" was a person called Rob Hall who you might want to find out about before showering your judgement on him.

"Into thin Air" covers most of it and was one away from the pulitzer.

[roidroid]

@myfriends8008 you pee on Everest

[roidroid]

@GrudgyDiablo Not taxes. Climbing everest is expensive - the climbers pay plenty for climbing equipment, survival gear, keeping base camps running etc. AFAIK that's all paid for by the climbing expeditions (i mean who else pays for it?), not taxes.

The climbers can pay for this as well.

It could even be run as an privatized ultra-successful self-sustaining private charity. Everest climbers are rich people - save lives every season and it would pay for itself with grateful donations.