Misdiagnosed Man Struggling to Breathe Gets Lungs ‘Washed’

Robert Epperson had a lung lavage. He was fitted with a chest percussor, a vest that shook his chest, while doctors intubated him, allowing one lung to breathe for two, and literally washed the other lung with a saline solution, cleaning out the excess surfactant from his air spaces. Then they switched lungs and washed the second one, all in the same procedure.