n. The
situation whereby a medical or medical/psychiatric condition causes a "domino effect" of other dangerous symptoms and conditions ensuing.
Named after the Rube Goldberg "contraption"
machine, any
machine that uses a chain reaction of events to achieve a final, trivial goal (in this particular case, possibly death).
After my
brother had that bout with strep, it apparently got to his stomach and paralyzed it, giving him a nasty case of acid reflux, which in turn began to launch acid clear up into his throat and mouth, not only severely damaging his teeth... he'
s also he'
s worried he'
s going to get cancer one day from all that acid where it'
s not supposed to be. And to say nothing about all the dental surgeries he'
s gonna need... talk about a case of Rube Goldberg Syndrome!
(No really, it has happened.)