What is a complete fracture?

Choice A reason: Septic arthritis affects joints, causing joint-specific swelling and pain, but this patient’s symptoms center on a fracture site, suggesting bone involvement. Osteomyelitis better matches pain, swelling, and warmth over a bone wound, with fever and chills, so this is incorrect.

Choice B reason: Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic autoimmune condition affecting multiple joints, typically hands and feet, not a single fracture site. This patient’s acute fever, localized bone pain, and wound-related symptoms point to osteomyelitis, not systemic arthritis, making this incorrect.

Choice C reason: Gout causes acute joint pain, often in the big toe, due to uric acid crystals, not bone infections. The patient’s fracture site pain, swelling, and systemic symptoms like fever align with osteomyelitis, not gout, so this is incorrect.

Choice D reason: Osteomyelitis, a bone infection, matches the patient’s severe pain, swelling, warmth, and redness over a recent fracture site, with fever and chills. These are primary signs of bone infection post-trauma, making this the correct diagnosis and symptom description.

Choice A reason: Nerve damage from the prosthetic may cause local discomfort, but pain in the entire absent arm suggests phantom limb pain. This is less likely than neural misfiring, so it’s incorrect.

Choice B reason: Heart attack referred pain typically affects the left arm but is unlikely in a prosthetic limb. Phantom limb pain explains pain in the absent arm, so this is incorrect.

Choice C reason: Muscle strain affects existing muscles, not a prosthetic arm. Phantom limb pain, from neural signals in the brain, explains pain in the missing limb, so this is incorrect.

Choice D reason: Phantom limb pain occurs when the brain perceives pain in an amputated limb, common in prosthetic users. This matches Mr. Jones’s pain in his prosthetic arm, making it correct.