My medic friend was in a restaurant recently and heard someone yell "Call 911!" He found an 84 year old woman slumped deeply in her chair. She was unresponsive. Skin color was gray/ashen, respirations were described as "death rattle". She was not choking on food and her companion told my friend that she had an "arrhythmia". I believe my friend said she had no radial pulse (not sure) and he was just about to start CPR. At this point she spontaneously had some amount of recovery. She was probably not quite alert and oriented.
By this time ALS arrived and took over the scene and my friend went back to his dinner. Shortly after, he saw the medics walk this patient out the door. No stretcher, no stair chair, no O2.
My friend, a 20+ year veteran, instructor, and intensly passionate about his job ....well.... lets just say he had some SERIOUS objections to what he viewed as inadequate patient care.
I suppose if she was alert enough to walk, she'd be alert enough to refuse a stretcher. So I guess I have two questions. One, if she didn't adamantly refuse, were the medics (and they were medics not BLS) wrong to walk her out with no O2? Two, if you were faced with someone in a restaurant who maybe was embarrassed about getting on a stretcher, how hard would you work to convince them otherwise and what would you try to do?
By this time ALS arrived and took over the scene and my friend went back to his dinner. Shortly after, he saw the medics walk this patient out the door. No stretcher, no stair chair, no O2.
My friend, a 20+ year veteran, instructor, and intensly passionate about his job ....well.... lets just say he had some SERIOUS objections to what he viewed as inadequate patient care.
I suppose if she was alert enough to walk, she'd be alert enough to refuse a stretcher. So I guess I have two questions. One, if she didn't adamantly refuse, were the medics (and they were medics not BLS) wrong to walk her out with no O2? Two, if you were faced with someone in a restaurant who maybe was embarrassed about getting on a stretcher, how hard would you work to convince them otherwise and what would you try to do?