Adam Shiroff

I would say dying from complications of rib fractures is twice that in the elderly population compared to the younger population, it's not necessarily the broken rib that causes these patients to do poorly. It's the underlying pulmonary mechanics that is the problem.

That's about right, there's an old saying : Once you get over a couple of rib fractures, it's about a 10 % risk of dying per rib.

A patient like the justice, having three rib fractures, will likely be observed in the ICU, so that's a profound difference and underscores the impact of being elderly.

The baseline physical condition is incredibly important, and it lends itself to how much reserve she has, if she's active, that bodes very well, compared to someone who doesn't.

People tend to breathe less with broken ribs, and that leads to multiple other problems, including a high risk of pneumonia, because they're not taking deep breaths.