We were swamped one day, had a 15 victim MCI early in the morning, six or so other calls between 8am & 10am. I just got the rig back together and we got tapped out for an MVA, car vs. utility pole. The police had pulled the driver out ( :angry: I really wish sometimes they would just stay in their car and watch). The driver was ontop of the passanger. The pass was unconscious and was tagged a class 1, my partner was working on her w/ a firefighter and I was working on the driver. She was fully conscious, alert, no obvious injuries just some "pain around her ribs". She was collared and on a board, complaining about how uncomfortable it was; had the oxygen on just b/c it was protocol. She didn't think any of it was necessary. We couldn't transport because we only had a QRV left, and were waiting on a volly squad and a chopper. So I had done everything necessary and we were just sitting there along the road talking and laughing, it was a warm sunny day. It was perfect, I hooked her up to the monitor just because we had two and it was sitting there unused. All her vitals were great. She started talking about her kids, and how it was her daughters birthday and they had a "big surprise for her".
Its heartbreaking now that I think of it all. The helicopter had landed, als rig arrived; other patient was coming around. They did the ALS on my patient, she was talking and cheerful as could be. Then she told me she was having a sharp pain in her chest, no marks or obvious* fractures, sinus on the monitor... So they decided they could put her in the chopper too, and it would be more quickly treated. They started to take off, then they circled the field and sat back down. I knew something was wrong b/c the chopper was just fine. They sat there for about ten minutes, and opened the doors. I asked if they had troubled, and they said "We can't do anything for her, call the coroner", the OMC called it". I figured it was the class 1 trauma victim. It was my patient. She went from sinus to flat line w/ no warning. Flight surgeon drew 40cc's of blood from her pericardial sac, and said there was nothing they could do. A doctor called her time of death over the cell phone. Her ribs weren't completely fractured, one had "splintered" and caused a small puncture to her heart. They think it was from the force of the air bag hitting her chest, then being thrown backward against the seat. It was completely unexpected, she was such a nice young girl, so full of energy even after such a bad crash. That call sticks w/ me alot, I guess you could say it "flashes back". That call "opened my eyes" to how things really are in life.
