Scott if you injure yourself bad enough to go to the ER, it wouldn't matter if you were on Coumadin or not. Honestly, your not as fragile as an eggshell when anticoagulated. Take a look at what some people are doing in the Active Lifestyles forum. Biking, Skiing, Tae Kwon Do, Karate, the list goes on and on. People have to get over this irrational fear that they'll bleed to death if anticoagulated. It's simply not true. Lord knows the medical profession makes it sound like that, but in reality, if your compliant, stay within your range, your not going to have any problems. You'd have to have a major major accident before having to go to the ER.
As far as what to expect should you have to go: Expect everyone to have a different opinion about what should be done. Doctors are not on the same page and most have no idea how to manage an anticoagulated patient. Organized chaos is what I call it. Things are beginning to change with the new doctors coming out of school, but most of the older ones were taught old, outdated concepts and simply taught it to the future doctors. One thing, if your INR is way over range, say 8+, they will give you fresh frozen plasma or Vit K to rapidly reverse the effects of warfarin. You'd have to be extremely noncompliant to run into that predicament.
Give you a little visual here. A normal persons blood begins to clot in about 10 seconds. Anticoagulated, it's 19 to 34 seconds. It's not that you'll bleed out, it's that it takes a little longer to stop the bleeding. It will stop unless you lop off your head, arm, leg, or other member, in which case you'll be going to the ER or to the morgue.
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