Bill just had surgery on a severely broken leg. he has a cast from his hip to his toes. he was in the hospital for about a week and has been home for a few days. bill's recovery was going well until he suddenly complains of dyspnea and chest pain and is coughing up blood. what disease might bill have? what is the probable cause of the disease?

This is a case of pulmonary embolism. In a patient treated for a broken leg, immobilization of the affected limb is strongly advised; although immobilization imposes a risk to develop deep vein thrombosis or the development of clot most commonly in the popliteal veins. This clot or thrombus can be dislodged and can travel to the right ventricle then pumped into the pulmonary circulation; causing dyspnea, chest pain, and hemoptysis.

Pulmonary embolism. Bill had a blood clot in his leg that broke loose and traveled to his lung where it is blocking an artery.

Pulmonary embolism is a blockage in one of the pulmonary arteries in your lungs. In most cases, pulmonary embolism is caused by blood clots that travel to the lungs from the legs or, rarely, other parts of the body (deep vein thrombosis).