# Misanthropy and EMS



## steveshurtleff (Apr 5, 2011)

First, I did do a search and did not find a previous thread quite like this one, though I did see it mentioned in one post during the Atheist thread.

I got into a discussion with an appreciable # of my classmates and was somewhat surprised to learn that we could all be called "misanthropes".  Of course none of us would let that sway our patient care, but since everyone here, aside from the other students, are far more experienced, I am wondering how many other misanthropes are here.

The obvious question here is:  Why go into EMS if you don't like people?

Easy.  I think I'd be good at it and, if my grades so far are an indication, I might be right.

Thoughts?


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## usafmedic45 (Apr 5, 2011)

I went into EMS liking people.  This job made me develop a new perception.


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## Medic2409 (Apr 5, 2011)

I can't see a lot of new EMS'ers being misanthropes.  Most of the ones I went to school with liked people and wanted to help.

Now, though, well, I still like most peop....err....some peo.....errr.........hmmmm.........


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## steveshurtleff (Apr 6, 2011)

Medic2409 said:


> I can't see a lot of new EMS'ers being misanthropes.  Most of the ones I went to school with liked people and wanted to help.
> 
> Now, though, well, I still like most peop....err....some peo.....errr.........hmmmm.........



As new EMS students go, I'm older than most and have already been through a career in IT, so maybe it's just a matter of exposure.  However, some of my classmates are also already less than fond of humans.  We got into a discussion about it during a study session and started calling ourselves "non-discriminating racists", LOL


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## usalsfyre (Apr 6, 2011)

I'm not sure it's possible to work in any acute care setting and not lose some of your faith in humanity.


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## firetender (Apr 7, 2011)

*I plead Guilty!*

According to Wikipedia:



> *Misanthropy is generalized dislike, distrust, disgust, contempt or hatred of the human species or human nature.*



,,,but I learned this in Catholic grammar school where, beside being routinely beaten by nuns, I spent a chunk of my life "ducking and covering" in anticipation of a nuclear attack on Brooklyn, close enough to Ground Zero's Manhattan to not matter. I've had a generalized all of the above of human nature through my whole life. Sorry to say, there's just a lot of stuff about us that's nuts!

EMS didn't make it any better, but you know what? It sure helped me see how I carried some of the worst traits of the very human beings I despised!

How often do we forget that we ARE human nature and as capable of doing anything as anyone else -- given the right circumstances? The adage that we hate most in others what we see in ourselves applies here. If you think for a second you're immune, you really haven't seen too much of the truth.

I've come to the conclusion that we are a sick species in need of major healing; especially of the misanthropy that most of us who've been around the block a few times often act out.

EMS not only makes it somewhat easier to become misanthropic, but it provides opportunities to act it out in the privacy of the back of the ambulance.

Sometimes, the hardest part of the job is -- for the well-being of your patients -- to have to continually and consciously choose AGAINST misanthropy.


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## Sasha (Apr 7, 2011)

usafmedic45 said:


> I went into EMS liking people.  This job made me develop a new perception.



Thats so sad.


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## Handsome Robb (Apr 7, 2011)

I don't mind people. I like to think of myself as a pretty friendly human being, but there are definitely people out there I have run into before that I wonder how or why they can be as rude or inconsiderate as they are. However, as the Jackson 5 said, 'One bad apple, don't spoil the whole bunch...'


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## EMTBHillbilly (Apr 11, 2011)

Why would a misanthrope go into EMS?  Makes no sense unless you want to brutalize, torture or taunt people in the back of the truck.
I love that I am helping people get though their crisis, whatever it may be or no matter how trivial it may appear to me.


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## mycrofft (Apr 12, 2011)

*Practicing medical arts is contestibly a form of sadism.*

A "good run" is one where someone was jacked up, and if the night is "too slow" we feel cheated. Especially when we are young and invulnerable.
Too deep to wade into. We get the opportunity to see people at their worst and their finest, and it's the bad ones we remember..


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## usafmedic45 (Apr 12, 2011)

> Why would a misanthrope go into EMS? Makes no sense unless you want to brutalize, torture or taunt people in the back of the truck



Give it a few years and you'll understand why that judgment is beyond retarded....



> I love that I am helping people get though their crisis, whatever it may be or no matter how trivial it may appear to me.



....right about the time that feeling fades.


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## mycrofft (Apr 12, 2011)

*It wasn't the pt's who burned me out.*

1. Lying unsupportive admin busy telling the emperor of the year his new clothes look MAH-velous.
2. Thieving lazy racist coworkers.
3. Oh, yeah, I suppose some of the pt's....


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## Meursault (Apr 12, 2011)

Don't forget that there's a difference between despising humanity and hating each of its individual constituents.


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## steveshurtleff (Apr 12, 2011)

EMTBHillbilly said:


> Why would a misanthrope go into EMS?  Makes no sense unless you want to brutalize, torture or taunt people in the back of the truck.
> I love that I am helping people get though their crisis, whatever it may be or no matter how trivial it may appear to me.



Being misanthropic really isn't the same as being sociopathic.


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## Sasha (Apr 12, 2011)

mycrofft said:


> 1. Lying unsupportive admin busy telling the emperor of the year his new clothes look MAH-velous.
> 2. Thieving lazy racist coworkers.
> 3. Oh, yeah, I suppose some of the pt's....



Yeah. I am occasionally finding myself a little bitter.. And although some patients really grate my nerves, it is more my company, some employees and the family members of some patients that are doing it.

One thing that makes me especially bitter is the selfishness of a family refusing a DNR on a patient who would seriously benefit from dying.

or being told the LBS stretcher isn't available, just "Make it work" (As in it doesn't matter how uncomfortable the patient is or how unsafe it is, just get them on it and get them to their nursing home.)


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## MultiCross (Apr 15, 2011)

I'm still learning and so far, based from what I've heard from my Instructors, they have become desensitized then misanthropes. I'm already detached but not to that extent but I have dealt with death and the feeling of not being able to do anything. But I do agree that others who come in with the "love" for others will have their perspectives changes. You can't save them _all_.


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## mycrofft (Apr 15, 2011)

*There is a difference between professional detachment and misanthropy.*

Also, it's only human to get exasperated with your clients once in a while, maybe more often if many of them are gamers, and if you are not sheltered from them by your admin.

"Black humor" is not necessarily a sign of rampant unprofessionalism or misanthropy, it is a sign of a culture of free expression (maybe excessively so) and solidarity among coworkers in a given situation. Plaintiff's lawyers love it. If you listen to it, you can tell the wry jokes and the funny ones from the dark ones, and the people making them can be judged thereby.


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## Veneficus (Apr 15, 2011)

mycrofft said:


> "*Black humor*" is not necessarily a sign of rampant unprofessionalism or misanthropy, it is a sign of a culture of free expression (maybe excessively so) and solidarity among coworkers in a given situation. Plaintiff's lawyers love it. If you listen to it, you can tell the wry jokes and the funny ones from the dark ones, and the people making them can be judged thereby.[/FONT]



Is also a recognized positive coping mechanism psychologically.

If I was a plantiff attorney, I would really hate to make my case out of the "evil" healthcare provider only to have that little gem sprung on me in defense arguments which could easily cause a jury to sympathize with the provider.


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## mycrofft (Apr 16, 2011)

*Vene, dark humor (Any humor) is easy to twist.*

(Otherwise we'd all post out correct names and pictures right?)
Lawyer quotes or paraphrases humor sarcastically, looks the defendant in the eye (or the jury), and asks "Do you think THAT's funny?".

And you ought to hear lawyers get going with their version.


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## VFlutter (Apr 16, 2011)

usafmedic45 said:


> ....right about the time that feeling fades.



Took me about 4 hours.. My first day on the ambulance I was already frustrated with the non emergency calls.


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## usafmedic45 (Apr 17, 2011)

If you last in this field, you will come to despise (if not flat out dread) the emergency calls and welcome simple things you can fix.  That's the difference between a rookie and a veteran.  A rookie *****es about not having interesting calls.  A veteran just *****es about having calls period because of the realization that a call means someone is hurt, ill or otherwise suffering.  

I may be a misanthrope but the only thing I despise more than people is seeing people suffer.


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## mycrofft (Apr 17, 2011)

*Hear hear.*

And the longer you are at it the more you realize that most of the time you can be of assistance.


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