3 Times She Put us In Jeopardy

MedicPrincess

MedicPrincess

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You know, just about every single shift, at one point or another something happens that causes my partner and I to be in a potentially unsafe scene that can be directly related to something she has said or done. Yesterday, it happened not just the usual once...but 3 TIMES!!

First, we have a "unconscious" guy outside the local detox facility. He is laid out on the side walk responsive to "deep painful" only. When he does come up, he comes up fighting so that our two FF and I are holding him down as I am on our radio calling for LE to expidite, until the trainee we have with us can get the stretcher near. We get him onto the stretcher before LE can get there (its shift change afterall), he is mostly calm, but still playing his selectively unconsicous game. As I get enroute to the hospital, she starts screaming at him that he better wake up, if he wants to be unconscious she has something for every hole in his body, he's full of crap, blah blah blah. Well about 3 minutes into transport, he comes up fighting with her in the back. Throw the truck in park, call for LE again, and into the back I go. He has her pinned against the wall, and she is still screaming at him. I get on my cell phone and call one of the PD officers I am friends with and tell him we have called for them, where we are, and start heading our way (it takes a minute for our dispatch to contact their dispatch, and for them to send someone). He and another LE officer get there, help us to secure the patient to the stretcher. As I am getting in to drive he says to me, "You know that was her fault. She shouldn't be back there antagonizing him if she can't handle whats going to happen. Why should I put myself in danger caused by your partners actions?" What can I say? He gave me a hug, told me he'd help me out anytime I called, and he'd see me later. As I am getting in to drive again, you can hear her screaming at the patient again, about how he got taken down by 2 girls and he's not so tough now. Before I could get it in drive, she's telling me to get our PD officers back, the patient just spit on her. She wants them to take him instead of us. So I get out, call my guy back over and tell him what happened. He opens the back doors, looks at her and tells her he won't be taking the patient, if she would just shut the ** up, the patient wouldn't do that to her. He then shut the doors and told ME to control HER! Oh we'll talk, but it won't do any good. Never does. Again, a hug and he'll help me whenever I need and off to the hosptial. Afterwards, I tried talking to her...and as suspected it did no good at all. She's right, she always is.

The very next call, we were called by PD for a M with a laceration to the lip. Its my PD officer and another. The patient does indeed have a lac to the lip, however he doesn't speak english and will not talk to us anyway. His girlfriend arrives on scene and agrees to drive him. I pull my PD guy off to the side and make a deal with him to let us call this a law enforcement matter and not make us take a refusal on him (we're already down 12 reports by this call). He is still po'd at my partner over the last call and really doesn't care if she has another report to do or not, but we come to an agreement we can both live with and its a law enforcement matter. Keep in mind we are in a known drug neighborhood, with numberous people standing around in groups, so we are finishing up, our Trainee that was with us is putting the stretcher away and I am talking with my PD guy what happens next is like in slow motion. From about 20 feet away, another officer is walking towards us carrying his "find" from the vehicle he was searching (a crack pipe), when my partner comes up behind him and puts her hand ON HIS GUN!!! I think we can all surmise how well that went over. She ended up on the ground crying, the PD officer was a cross between furious and apologetic...but crap! WHO GRABS A LEOS GUN!!! Who does that!!! So in the truck, on our way to meet with our shift cpt over that, and again, she's right...he was wrong...he should have somehow magically known it was her. Before we can get to where our shift cpt is, we get dispatched for an Interior HazMat at a local national retail chain store.

An unknown substance had been released in the deli section, with multiple patients complaining of respiratory issues. Our trainee is driving and I am in the back. As we pull on scene, I can see her pass the SO vehicles, then the IC vehicle. I put my head through and say, "This is a HazMat scene, shouldn't we stop and check in with incident command." She responds with "there isn't one." And directs the trainee to continue PAST THE FD's Engines and Ladder Truck! So, we parked right in front of the store. As she gets out, she says she knows right where the deli section is, come on. I stop, and tell her Nope, I'm not on board with her on this one. I'll be over at IC ready to treat any patients AND HER once the FD brings them out. So now she's ticked b/c I contradicted her in front of our trainee. Well you know what...I wear a blue polo shirt that says EMS! If the FF are in full bunker gear and SCBA upon entering a scene....I sure and hell am not going in, as I don't think my little surgical mask isn't going to do a dang bit of good.

It does no good at all to talk to her about any of it. She is right. Plain and simple, no amount of arguing or explaining or anything can make her believe she made a mistake. I just know that every shift I am exhausted by the end, and not because we run our butts off. But because every call, in addition to everything else, I am the only one worried about whether or not we get out of there alive.
 
Wow. I couldn't handle working in that situation, but kudos to you. :)
 
You know Matt, my partner is a really nice person. She just has this "it won't happen to me" and "the world should adjust because I say its so" attitude that has me really surprised she hasn't been hurt before.

But you know what....there are only 70 actual days/13 class days left until I finish my medic school!!! Then I am my own Para-traumatic and I'll have my own EMT to worry about. :D :D :D :D
 
Ya know Princess............. we have all had partners like that at one time or another. Just hand in there. You don't have too much longer to go. Reading stuff like this reminds me of this thread..........

http://www.emtlife.com/showthread.php?t=3988

Sometimes it is our partners that need to get some from us!
 
I missed your original post Kip, and I am sorry I did. You know, its very rare that I have a hard time with our "homeless drunks." Many medics, FF, and PD Officers in my area actually tease me a bit, because more than one of our regular drunks will ask the ambulance coming has "the pretty one" or the "nice lady" or "my future wife" or something to the same effect on it.

All of my regulars understand the "rules." They don't get to touch me (read: feel me up), but I will hold their hands if they want. And they don't always lie to me. I never get the "2 beer" line. They tell me what they've drand and how much. We sit and talk, and by the time we get to the hosptial we are usually laughing and they are an easy transfer to the hospital staff. Every now and then, I get and intoxicated person who is angry or beligerant. 99% of the time, by the time we get to the hospital, they might still be pissed at the world, but they "love me."

I guess its because I try and treat everyone of my "just BLS" patients like people. Whether we have picked them up drunk off of a sidewalk for the 10th shift in a row, they are calling for a ride to the hospital because they have no where else to go, or they are 99 years old and just old. I try and talk to them. I find out about them. In short, I try and treat them like the people they really are. Even under all that dirt and abuse of the system. I don't pawn them off on law enforcement. I don't talk down to them. I have one homeless guy that wants to me to sit and pray with him on the way to the ER. So we sit, and he prays.

I figure I have 2 choices when I get in the back with them. I can be ugly and treat them bad, talking down to them, telling them they are a waste of my time, ect...somehow making myself...what..a better person than them? Or I can sit with them for the 10 minutes we're together and talk with them, so someday when they are actually having a medical emergency and need me, we have a positive repore and I can more effectively treat them because they already trust me.
 
EMTPrincess said:
I guess its because I try and treat everyone of my "just BLS" patients like people. Whether we have picked them up drunk off of a sidewalk for the 10th shift in a row, they are calling for a ride to the hospital because they have no where else to go, or they are 99 years old and just old. I try and talk to them. I find out about them. In short, I try and treat them like the people they really are. Even under all that dirt and abuse of the system. I don't pawn them off on law enforcement. I don't talk down to them. I have one homeless guy that wants to me to sit and pray with him on the way to the ER. So we sit, and he prays.

I figure I have 2 choices when I get in the back with them. I can be ugly and treat them bad, talking down to them, telling them they are a waste of my time, ect...somehow making myself...what..a better person than them? Or I can sit with them for the 10 minutes we're together and talk with them, so someday when they are actually having a medical emergency and need me, we have a positive repore and I can more effectively treat them because they already trust me.
Click to expand...

I like your philosophy, EMT Princess.
 
Soap and a sock, just remember, soap and a sock.... ;)
 
I'll echo what Kip said about partners. When they put you at risk, you need to take a more pro active approach to your safety. Namely, not letting your partner get away with malfeasance and neglect of basic safety rules. It almost sounds as if you back down when she gives her side of the story to the boss. As much as being a team player is important, you are not doing her, or her future partners, any favors by letting her get away with this behavior. Besides putting herslf and you at risk, she put a law enforcement officer at risk by distracting him on a scene, she put fire fighters at risk by creating asset to manage at a Hazmat scene.
 
That just means its time to get a new partner,lol.
 
I just hope to hell you wrote this all up for your bosses the way you did for us. That gal is a catastrophe looking for a place to happen and you don't want to be that place.

Be safe,
Trailpatrol
 
Your partner is an idiot, but that is not why I am taking the time to respond to your post. I only write when I get my panties in a twist (ask my wife). Parts one and three of your story need to be addressed quickly before she gets someone killed. On the other hand part two is all about you up until the idiot touched the gun, what a dumbass.

Let me paint you a picture:

You had an uncooperative, ESL patient with obvious facial trauma and you didn't feel like treating him because you were behind on your paperwork. So you worked out a little deal with your officer friend to keep from treating this patient so you won't be inconvenienced. You may be "the pretty one", or "the nice one", but you are starting down a very slippery slope.

In a couple of years you will understand why cutting corners like this gets people in trouble. If I was your supervisor after I was done reaming your partner, I would be all over you. I would hope you knew better, but a little rolled-up newspaper therapy can be good for the exponentially-expanding attitude of the new paramedic. I would explain to you how you opened up a can of worms around a flock of litigious birds of prey. Lawyers love paramedics like you, so do the taxpayers who get to foot the bill for your failure to treat a patient. When we (EMSers in general) read your story we think, "Hey, I've been there and it sucks", but when John Q. Public reads this it shows your lack of compassion and sensitivity to the needs of the ESL community. When I.P Freely Esq. reads this he sees dollar signs. Why? Uncooperative, facial trauma, probably anxious (all those police and a fight)equals state-funded head injury that went undiagnosed and untreated because the uncaring and unsympathetic ambulance crew violated national, state, and local guidelines about dealing with victims of trauma. This undiagnosed head injury is now causing his client excruciating pain which will lead to a permanent disability for his client and a generous monetary settlement of which Mr. Freely attorney-at-law will glady take one third for his efforts.

Now Mr. Lip Boo-boo is probably not a productive member of society, and his net worth is more than likely the contents of a Wal-Mart bag, but does he deserve less than your best efforts? What you showed us is when you're behind the eight ball you'll cut corners. That's not who I want treating me or my family. A refusal was the only thing on your mind, possible outcomes be damned. Read the third paragraph of your post:

"I guess its because I try and treat everyone of my "just BLS" patients like people. Whether we have picked them up drunk off of a sidewalk for the 10th shift in a row, they are calling for a ride to the hospital because they have no where else to go, or they are 99 years old and just old. I try and talk to them. I find out about them. In short, I try and treat them like the people they really are. Even under all that dirt and abuse of the system. I don't pawn them off on law enforcement."

You pawned this guy off because you were behind on paperwork, period. The officer went along because of his being a friend. Hopefully his friendship for you would hold up in court, but I doubt it. See he can't testify as to what a competent emt or medic should have done in that situation. Nope the plaintiff will bring in experts (read paramedics and med-control physicians) to testify about all of the bad things that could happen due to your negligence.

They will never paint you and your actions in a good light, so why give them the oppurtunity at all. Defend yourself both physically, mentally, and legally in this job, because when you hear the interpretation of your actions by a disinterested (yeah, right) third party, even you will want to make you pay.

Not trying to rain on your parade, and actually wishing you the best as you start your career. Just remember there are two sides to every story (even your partners). Always consider how something can be interpreted or misinterpreted before you do it. Takes a second but it can save years of worry.
 
Oldschoolmedic-

The patient in the second scenerio was not coming with us. He didn't want treatment from us, and the lac to his lip was not significant enough to require stitches. He was left in the care of his girlfriend, who had agreed to take him to the hosptial later if he wanted to go.

The only thing I saved us was a full patient refusal. Either way, I am so particular about reports, I still do a short version that documents the call was turned over to law enforcement.

There wasn't a refusal to treat. He didn't want treatment from us. We both attempted to examine his lip, and he turned away from both of us. If he had wanted it, he'd have been in the back of my truck faster than someone can say "sign here."
 
OldSchool... you raise a good point... Princess is in a gray area that has potential to bite her... big time.

I'd handle said patient one of 3 ways:
1. I get there... Pt. didn't want EMS and had NO obvious injuries. (not the case here) - Recall, No Services Required.
2. I get there... PD is "interviewing" Pt. and PD feels Pt. has no need for EMS. - Recall, PD Matter.
3. I get there... Pt. has an injury, but doesn't want to be seen, and refuses to let me assess... I call Command, and work with LEO's to document the situation.


Princess... as for your partner... Can you trade them in for a newer model? Talk with your Capt... her behavior is dangerous for her, you, and everyone else she might work with/near. She needs to be counciled and assisted... and perhaps even let go if she can't rehab herself. You shouldn't be put in more risk because of a partner's ego.
 
Jon said:
Princess... as for your partner... Can you trade them in for a newer model?
Click to expand...

Yep...in 64 days when I finish Medic school and take my state test...then I'll get me a brand new shiney EMT to play with.... :P
 
The incident needs to be documented with your superiors. Otherwise, when she does cause someone, or herself an injury, the company can say "We had no idea this problem existed and no one ever mentioned a problem with her before." A written description of those events delivered to your supervisor as 'informational only'. I would also encourage the LEO from the gun incident (WTF was she thinking?????) to write up a similar report to her superior. I mean, how will you feel if she does cause some sort of injury to herself or another and you had the opportunity to draw attention to the problem but didn't?
 
I worry that with her track record that you have briefly detailed for us, it is only a matter of time before something bad happens to you, her or a patient.
 
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