Very sad --
The patient was a 64 year old female who presented with a chief complaint of extreme pain and coldness of the right fingertips. After worsening pain over the course of six months, she underwent a thoracoscopic sympathectomy (surgery which involves removal of a portion of the sympathetic division of the nervous system) to relieve the pain at her fingertips. On the second day after the procedure, she developed rapid, shallow breathing and a precipitous drop in blood pressure. A chest tube was seen to drain bloody fluid. The patient died shortly thereafter despite all efforts to resuscitate her.