John Ledoux, MD

A 33-year-old woman with a history of severe asthma requiring multiple intubations was brought to the emergency department. She had completed a 14-day course of prednisone 3 days earlier. Since then, she had had increasing dyspnea that acutely worsened after she used her albuterol nebulizer that morning. Her other asthma medications were theophylline and fluticasone. Her history included one episode of bilateral pneumothoraces secondary to barotrauma, which required chest tube insertion.