# Deputy dies after doing mouth to mouth on infant



## Hockey (Mar 18, 2011)

Did it one time on a strangers 8 month old.  Never again.


> ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. - After 11 years on the job, 40-year-old Deputy Sebastian Diana died last weekend in the line of duty.
> 
> But Diana did not lose his life the way most people might think. He was responding to a 911 call, trying to save a baby's life by performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
> 
> http://www.jems.com/article/news/florida-deputy-dies-infection


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## JJR512 (Mar 18, 2011)

This is what pocket masks are for.

No disrespect intended to the memory of this man or to his family. The desire to save a life, is admirable, and let's face it, when it's a child or infant, it's very easy to feel "to hell with the rules or with caution, that's a kid and I'm gonna save it". But is it worth your own life, or leaving your four children without their father?

I've always been taught that my #1 priority is supposed to be my own safety. This has always been presented in such a way that I thought this concept was universally taught to all public safety people.


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## Hockey (Mar 18, 2011)

Not everybody carries a pocketmask on their belt either 

My case, the partner I had should of had the proper equipment but I suppose an adult bp cuff and o2 bag was more appropriate.  But that call was mucked up from the start


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## JJR512 (Mar 18, 2011)

Hockey said:


> Not everybody carries a pocketmask on their belt either
> 
> My case, the partner I had should of had the proper equipment but I suppose an adult bp cuff and o2 bag was more appropriate.  But that call was mucked up from the start



I've never carried a pocketmask on my belt, either. But since I'd be coming off an ambulance, I wouldn't think I should have to.  Of course the deputy isn't coming off an ambulance, nor would I expect any law enforcement officer to carry one on their belt; most probably wouldn't even have room for it.  But I had assumed that law enforcement vehicles carried at least some kind of rudimentary first aid kit, which might have a pocket mask in it. Additionally, if the deputy knew how to perform mouth-to-mouth, he should have made sure that he had some kind of pocket mask available, stored in his vehicle somewhere. And if he didn't know how to perform mouth-to-mouth, he shouldn't have been attempting it in the first place.


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## mikie (Mar 18, 2011)

JJR512 said:


> This is what pocket masks are for.



According to the EMSWorld Article:



> Wearing a protective mask, he conducted CPR on the infant until EMS arrived, said Cpl. Susan Soto, a sheriff's spokeswoman.


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## Hockey (Mar 18, 2011)

mikie said:


> According to the EMSWorld Article:



ooooh hell...if that's true then...


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## JJR512 (Mar 18, 2011)

If that is true, then the mask must have been defective or he wasn't using it right.

To be honest I don't actually know how pocket masks do their protecting. Perhaps this is some new super bacteria that can bypass or defeat the protection. h34r:


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## Veneficus (Mar 18, 2011)

Sometimes bad things happen.

While the article doesn't stipulate whether the cause was the most likely culprits of rheumatic heart disease or subacute infective endocarditis, but either way, it is a pathological variant of normal body flora. 

Especially considering the kid was basically dead to begin with, it really looks like an infective etiology. 

I am not religious myself, but I do like the phrase:

"There but for the grace of God go I."

While unfortunate, this sort of thing can happen to basically anyone at any time under a vaariety of circumstances. 

While it is easy to critisize his not using some type of barrier protection, he probably would have been critisized more severely for refusing to do anything. 

While many of us work everyday with various PPE and it is hard to imagine being without it, in the moment you must decide, it maybe difficult to reconcile either decision later.

If this Deputy would not have become infected we would not be having this discussion at all. 

I don't have the stats available at the moment, but I wonder if the chances of contracting such infection would be much different than say performing mouth to mouth on a family member or any other type of purposeful or accidental contact of oral secretions?

In my opinion, while his death is tragic, he is rightly praised for his decisions and sacrifice for choosing to do his very best to help in what many would find the most stressful situation of their lives.

Coulda, woulda, shoulda, seems irrelevant.


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## JJR512 (Mar 18, 2011)

Veneficus said:


> In my opinion, while his death is tragic, he is rightly praised for his decisions and sacrifice for choosing to do his very best to help in what many would find the most stressful situation of their lives.
> 
> Coulda, woulda, shoulda, seems irrelevant.



And I did praise him.

The "Coulda, woulda, shoulda" is irrelevant to this deputy, but what I've been saying is more of a note of caution to those who are still currently living. If you ever ask yourself "What's the worst that can happen" when you're contemplating being lazy about using PPE, remember this story.


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## Epi-do (Mar 18, 2011)

The way I read that second article, the use of the mask during CPR was actually from a second run he was on of an infant/child not breathing.



> The boy died, and the illness Diana contracted trying to save the baby's life claimed his on Saturday, the Sheriff's Office said.
> 
> Diana joined the Sheriff's Office in 1999, and had previously served in the U.S. Army, officials said. According to a paid obituary, he was stationed in Panama, Germany and Fort Hood, Texas, during his six years of Army service.
> 
> ...



Regardless, it is a shame that this deputy lost his life trying to help another.  My thoughts go out to his family, friends, and coworkers.


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## Hockey (Mar 18, 2011)

Epi-do said:


> The way I read that second article, the use of the mask during CPR was actually from a second run he was on of an infant/child not breathing.
> 
> 
> 
> Regardless, it is a shame that this deputy lost his life trying to help another.  My thoughts go out to his family, friends, and coworkers.



Negative, poorly written article.  It was from the 06 incident per the SD that the mask was used


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## firetender (Mar 18, 2011)

*Exposure!*

I don't know if anyone ever told you this but the work you do puts you in harm's way. Some of you will die in the line of duty, others will go home and die from what you were exposed to. 

When it comes to true carnage, however, we don't get killed by the BIG stuff so much, though it happens. We wither away and die in our minds and hearts over all the little stuff that we just don't know what to do with. Some of us, without visible scars or identifiable disease are little more than corpses rotting from the inside and don't even realize it. People will try to point it out, but we are blind to it much in the same way they didn't figure this guy had been negatively exposed until he died.

When you use a pocket mask, all you are doing is _*something *_to reduce the odds of you being negatively affected. Beyond that, it's up to the Great Whatever.

The very best we can do is be vigilant when it comes to our awareness of the scenes we are in, and do what we can to protect ourselves while we attend to the people in our care.

Some of us slip though the cracks while doing what we are called to do. My heart goes out to his family.


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## zmedic (Mar 18, 2011)

wait, how do they know that he caught the bacterial infection from the kid he was doing CPR on? He could have gotten sick from something else, and since it was around the same time they thought it was the CPR.


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## Veneficus (Mar 18, 2011)

zmedic said:


> wait, how do they know that he caught the bacterial infection from the kid he was doing CPR on? He could have gotten sick from something else, and since it was around the same time they thought it was the CPR.



I suppose if they did an autopsy on the kid they may have been able to match organisms at a later point.

If not, it falls under protecting your own. It was related because there are better death benefits if it was in the line of duty.


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## BtoPin2012 (Mar 30, 2011)

JJR512 said:


> I've never carried a pocketmask on my belt, either. But since I'd be coming off an ambulance, I wouldn't think I should have to.  Of course the deputy isn't coming off an ambulance, nor would I expect any law enforcement officer to carry one on their belt; most probably wouldn't even have room for it.  But I had assumed that law enforcement vehicles carried at least some kind of rudimentary first aid kit, which might have a pocket mask in it. Additionally, if the deputy knew how to perform mouth-to-mouth, he should have made sure that he had some kind of pocket mask available, stored in his vehicle somewhere. And if he didn't know how to perform mouth-to-mouth, he shouldn't have been attempting it in the first place.



That's interesting. I know many police officers, including my brother, and ALL of them carry at minimum a face shield on their duty belt. I understand that we live in different areas of the country but, I can't recall ever seeing a police officer anywhere that didn't carry cpr equipment (i.e. mask/shield, and gloves). Here where I live all police officers must attend a 40 hour first responder course. That being said, my thoughts and prayers are with this child's family and the family of this brave officer. God bless


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