Doctors working to raise boy's core body temperature after he fell in lake

Doctors at Children's Hospital and Clinics of Minnesota are working to raise the body temperature of an 8-year-old boy who survived a plunge into a frigid northern Minnesota lake on Friday.

Isaiah Risland was sailing with his father and two younger brothers when the 10-foot boat capsized. His brothers both died of hypothermia.

James Miner isn't treating Isaiah, but he specializes in emergency medicine at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis. Miner joined The Daily Circuit Tuesday and said that in cases of hypothermia, doctors must raise a patient's temperature very slowly.

"Or even better what we do with a really sick child is we warm them up internally," he said. "We put tubes in that we can use to exchange gradually increasing warmer water, getting the center of the body up towards the normal temperature."

Doctors will often put warm fluid into the person's stomach or bladder or get warm humid air into the lungs, Miner said.

Children's Hospital in Minneapolis isn't releasing any information on the boy's condition, but the Bemidji Pioneer reports that he remains in critical condition.