How many of you carry a traumma bag in your POV

[Sasha]

I am an atheist so you can say your higher power will judge me til the cows come home. That doesnt strike any fear in my heart.

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[Handsome Robb]

You really feel that when you go to work everyday you are "risking your certs"? I have never felt that way and I'm pushing the 20yr mark.

Why does providing quality care within your protocols and scope of practice make you paranoid and feel that you are "risking your cert"?

I agree with you on this point. If your within your protocols and providing good care, even with a properly reported mistake you are fine. It's the people that are too cavalier in the field and try to play doctor that are risking their certs while on duty. Even if your on duty and you are negligent your employer wont be there to catch you and clean up your mess, they are going to protect themselves.

The golden rule is awesome, but in the litigious society we live in it just isn't how it works. People always look for somewhere to place the blame and an off duty EMS provider is a prime target. You don't see a construction worker pulling off the highway to fix something when he isn't working...ok :censored::censored::censored::censored:ty example but you get my point.

I agree with helping people but your not gonna see me stopping at an MVA unless its way out in the boonies and looks really severe. In town sure I'll help out if something happens in front of me but I will never ID myself to someone as an EMT/Medic and I will never go beyond very very basic 1st aid or CPR.

"What momma doesn't know wont hurt her"

 

[Handsome Robb]

I am an atheist so you can say your higher power will judge me til the cows come home. That doesnt strike any fear in my heart.

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You would want the cows to come home...dang vegetarians.

 

[Sasha]

You would want the cows to come home...dang vegetarians.

Actually there are cows on my street. They can stay out all night if they take the donkey and the rooster with them, theyre so noisy!

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[Tigger]

Your not going to lose your, "cert, job, financial stability, or go to jail" because you showed compassion and a willingness to help in an emergency. Sure, anyone can get sued but that doesn't mean the case has any substance.

No need to be paranoid.

On the whole, I think EMS is a bit paranoid when it comes to fear of lawsuits.

That said, I am personally fearful of lawsuits. It does not matter if a case has substance or not, if you become a plaintiff in a lawsuit you are in for a ride in many cases. You'll need a lawyer and time to go to court, both of which could potentially cause a great deal of personal and financial anguish. Being found not liable doesn't mean you get off scott-free. Often times a counter-suit is needed to pick up the costs of a frivolous lawsuit, costing you even more time. I think this aspect of our legal system is horrifying, but in the absence of significant change, being named in a lawsuit means you will be losing some amount of money.

If anyone chooses to make the argument for not-rendering aid off-duty based on the above, I have zero problem with that.

I have no rule for how I act in these situations. If I'm a rural area and no one's on scene, odds are I'll stop. Even if I cannot care for the person, it's easier to tell 911 whats going on when you're still there and not 5 miles away. I would never, ever stop if Fire or EMS was on scene. I have stopped at the same time LE arrived, and the cop gleefully gave me his first in bag and promptly left me and some other untrained bystanders to manage the patient for 20 minutes until the ambulance finally arrived.

Oddly enough the last two times I've on-sighted anything and held c-spine the crew insisted I take the head for the c-spine process, which was a bit unexpected. I'm happy enough to give a report and get out of there.

 

[Tigger]

In town sure I'll help out if something happens in front of me but I will never ID myself to someone as an EMT/Medic and I will never go beyond very very basic 1st aid or CPR.

"What momma doesn't know wont hurt her"

Would you identify yourself to the responding crew?

The last time I told the crew I was an EMT the medic threw his EMT student a c-collar and was like "the dude on the head will teach you how to put it on." I thought that was a little odd, and kind of wished I hadn't told him I was an EMT so I could have left a little earlier instead of having to help board and extricate someone from an outdoor sculpture...

 

[Fish]

This is crazy, I can't believe a EMT or Paramedic would watch someone die instead of helping out of fear of the possibility of a Law Suit.

Your at church, or a concert or something and someone goes into Cardiac arrest. Your telling me you wont do CPR until someone else arrives with Medical Gear?

Your on an airplane and the fellow next to you starts to have an anaphlatic reaction from Peanuts, your not gonna ask for the Medical kit on the plane and help this dude? Your just gonna play dumb and watch him die?

You driving home from a Movie, and see a bad wreck with no providers on scene with people screaming for help, your not going to pull over and see if there is anything at all you can do to help while you wait for help to arrive?

Your shopping at Walmart, waiting in the line at the cash register and someone starts seizing. Your just gonna wait for an on duty EMS crew to arrive instead of assisting people to back up. move stuff away from the patient and do what you can to protect them while transport arrives? Your just gonna sit there and watch?

Your at your sons little league game and someone falls down in the bleachers next to you and somehow cuts an artery in their arm bleeding profusely. Your just gonna be all, ew that looks like it hurts. Instead of directing pressure or maybe applying a turniqut? Instead you'll watch them lose an extremely large amount of blood while you all wait for someone else to arrive?

If you answered yes to these, then that just blows my mind.

 

[Fish]

On the whole, I think EMS is a bit paranoid when it comes to fear of lawsuits.

That said, I am personally fearful of lawsuits. It does not matter if a case has substance or not, if you become a plaintiff in a lawsuit you are in for a ride in many cases. You'll need a lawyer and time to go to court, both of which could potentially cause a great deal of personal and financial anguish. Being found not liable doesn't mean you get off scott-free. Often times a counter-suit is needed to pick up the costs of a frivolous lawsuit, costing you even more time. I think this aspect of our legal system is horrifying, but in the absence of significant change, being named in a lawsuit means you will be losing some amount of money.

If anyone chooses to make the argument for not-rendering aid off-duty based on the above, I have zero problem with that.

I have no rule for how I act in these situations. If I'm a rural area and no one's on scene, odds are I'll stop. Even if I cannot care for the person, it's easier to tell 911 whats going on when you're still there and not 5 miles away. I would never, ever stop if Fire or EMS was on scene. I have stopped at the same time LE arrived, and the cop gleefully gave me his first in bag and promptly left me and some other untrained bystanders to manage the patient for 20 minutes until the ambulance finally arrived.

Oddly enough the last two times I've on-sighted anything and held c-spine the crew insisted I take the head for the c-spine process, which was a bit unexpected. I'm happy enough to give a report and get out of there.

Right, I agree stopping when Fire and EMS are already on scene is not needed. Just when no one else is around. And as responders do walk up and you say, hey guys I am so and so and I am a Paramedic which such and such and this is what we have got here. They listen, they let you lend a hand, and they are appreciative.

 

[RocketMedic]

By some of the responders here, you wouldn't even help to lift a burning car off of a person. That's despicable. The lack of caring for others here is why our society has become so petty.

What ever happened to helping others?

 

[RocketMedic]

Right, I agree stopping when Fire and EMS are already on scene is not needed. Just when no one else is around. And as responders do walk up and you say, hey guys I am so and so and I am a Paramedic which such and such and this is what we have got here. They listen, they let you lend a hand, and they are appreciative.

Same here. Heck, in Culberson County, they'll have me do it all.

 

[Fish]

By some of the responders here, you wouldn't even help to lift a burning car off of a person. That's despicable. The lack of caring for others here is why our society has become so petty.

What ever happened to helping others?

Right, I wonder how many people would "just drive by" a car with a small fire in the engine compartment that is starting to spread with an unconscious person in it instead of stopping to pull the person out so that they don't burn. All because of a fear of a lawsuit, or fear of responding Fire crew egos, or fear of getting in the way, or "I am not on shift so I am not obligated"

 

[jjesusfreak01]

Would you identify yourself to the responding crew?

The last time I told the crew I was an EMT the medic threw his EMT student a c-collar and was like "the dude on the head will teach you how to put it on." I thought that was a little odd, and kind of wished I hadn't told him I was an EMT so I could have left a little earlier instead of having to help board and extricate someone from an outdoor sculpture...

Hahaha, this is great! Throwing his student into the fire...awesome!

 

[bigbaldguy]

A man who dies because someone wouldn't do anything is a man who died needlessly.

 

[Fish]

Hahaha, this is great! Throwing his student into the fire...awesome!

Sounds like the precptor I had when I was a student, whats that Doc you have a gun shot to face lots of blood and vomit, 400lb guy a near impossible tube coming in from another Medic unit? Cool, make my student do it.

 

[Sasha]

Right, I wonder how many people would "just drive by" a car with a small fire in the engine compartment that is starting to spread with an unconscious person in it instead of stopping to pull the person out so that they don't burn. All because of a fear of a lawsuit, or fear of responding Fire crew egos, or fear of getting in the way, or "I am not on shift so I am not obligated"

I wouldnt stop because i am not gonna get my butt all burned up or explodey.

I dont want to do fire for a reason.

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[RocketMedic]

In my line of work, we call that cowardice.
That's one thing I'll miss about the Army.

Seriously, you'd let a man burn to death because of the chance you might get burned? I hope you never work in the same state as me.

 

[Altered Mental Status]

I ditched the crappy first aid kit in my car and carry a mini jump bag for friends and fam, mostly. I have the choice in my state (AL) to stop and assume DTA or to drive on by. I have a child and frequently drive long distances. I'd rather be more prepared than less and make the choice in-between.

 

[Fish]

I wouldnt stop because i am not gonna get my butt all burned up or explodey.

I dont want to do fire for a reason.

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3 instances last year where people pulled victims out of vehicles on fire that were fully invovled by the time FD arrived, they saved those people lives and we call them heros. If I drove by and was scared of "getting my butt all burned" I'd call myself a coward. It doesn't take much to break out a window and pull someone out of the car, non of these heros suffered injuries. They were just glad the victim was out of the car. I know you are only 23 and haven't been doing this long, but when you hear someone screaming in a car that is on fire as they burn to death I think you will change your mind about how you would act in that situation. Now, obviously if a car is fully invovled by the time you see it, well then there is nothing you can do. But if it is just starting and spreading and you have time to save this life, why would you not? Pulling somoene out of a vehicle while off duty does not "make you a FF" it makes you a concerned human being. I am not a FF, and will never be. But I would never drive by this of no one else was on scene yet.

 

[epipusher]

I'm far from 23, been in EMS for many many years, and a father of three. I would be proud to wear a big, red, capital "C" on my shirt, all day, every day. IF everything I have stated makes me a coward, then I embrace it completely.

 

[Fish]

I wouldnt stop because i am not gonna get my butt all burned up or explodey.

I dont want to do fire for a reason.

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Lemme ask you this, if you were a regular lay person and not in the Medical field. Would you still drive by this car that has a fire spreading to the drivers compartment or would you stop to help?