Community Chat

[Pearlee]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/10/28/private-emt-says-was-suspended-without-pay-for-trying-to-save-c...

He and his partner were already transporting another patient in the ambulence (whose condition wasn't life-threatening as this girl's was) when the EMTs were flagged down to try to save a choking girl.  The one EMT who insisted they stop and he tried to help the girl was suspended because it was against company policy.  He said he'd do the same thing again, and I don't blame him for saying that!

[NoelSeven]

I can understand that rule, an EMT should not decide to make an ambulance patient wait. 

Sometimes a few minutes can mean death,

Everyone should learn the Heimlich.  Passers by should know it, as should the person who flagged down the EMT.

[Pearlee]

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@NoelSeven wrote:

I can understand that rule, an EMT should not decide to make an ambulance patient wait. 

Sometimes a few minutes can mean death,

Everyone should learn the Heimlich.  Passers by should know it, as should the person who flagged down the EMT.

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I understand the rule too.  But in this case I think he did the right thing.  

[Karnerblue]

So I guess that will teach him.  Just do your job and don't try to save the life of another.  It's all about $$$ and worrying about a possible lawsuit.  If he didn't stop, they'd say he was wrong for doing that too.  It's a no-win.

[CrazyDaisy]

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@NoelSeven wrote:

I can understand that rule, an EMT should not decide to make an ambulance patient wait. 

Sometimes a few minutes can mean death,

Everyone should learn the Heimlich.  Passers by should know it, as should the person who flagged down the EMT.

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Not everyone is physically or emotionally able to perform the Heimlich or even basic first aid.

Thankfully the EMT was there to help the little girl.

[NoelSeven]

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@Pearlee wrote:

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@NoelSeven wrote:

I can understand that rule, an EMT should not decide to make an ambulance patient wait. 

Sometimes a few minutes can mean death,

Everyone should learn the Heimlich.  Passers by should know it, as should the person who flagged down the EMT.

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I understand the rule too.  But in this case I think he did the right thing.  

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You may be totally right.

[Pearlee]

From the EMT's perspective, I'd rather get suspended or even fired and find another job, than live with the guilt of having driven by and the girl died when I may have been able to save her.   She sounds like she may not make it anyway, but at least the EMT did his best.  If he'd driven by and read later that she died, if he's a good person which it sounds like he is, he'd probably forever feel guilty about it.  

That's why I think he did the right thing - for both the girl and himself.

[NoelSeven]

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@Pearlee wrote:

From the EMT's perspective, I'd rather get suspended or even fired and find another job, than live with the guilt of having driven by and the girl died when I may have been able to save her.   She sounds like she may not make it anyway, but at least the EMT did his best.  If he'd driven by and read later that she died, if he's a good person which it sounds like he is, he'd probably forever feel guilty about it.  

That's why I think he did the right thing - for both the girl and himself.

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What would you think if the person inside the ambulance died because it didn't get to an ER in time... just minutes too late?

[Pearlee]

@NoelSeven  That's a difference scenario.  The article made it very clear that the EMT thought the girl was in much more dire straits.  That all factored into my opinions I expressed on this thread.  Granted the EMT isn't a doctor and technically shouldn't make such decisions, but it seemed clear in this case to him so I'm OK with it.  I doubt he would have stopped if that were the case and he had a patient in the ambulence whose life was in a threatened condition.  But that's all speculation. As I say, I'm not hypothesizing but going by what is in the article.

[Karnerblue]

Possibly the person being transported did not have a life-threatening situation so the EMT made a judgement call.  I think if the person in the ambulance was in any danger of dying, the EMT would not have stopped to help.