Traumatic Arrest Auto vs Motorcycle

LACoGurneyjockey

LACoGurneyjockey

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My and I were driving on the freeway after clearing from an IFT when we saw what looked like a fender bender on the other side. We turned around to confirm no one was injured. Arrived to find a sedan had struck a motorcycle. One rider is ambulatory with minor road rash, and the driver of the car is uninjured. Walk to the front of the car and find one person entrapped under the car. 6 inches of her lower extremities exposed and the rest of her under the vehicle.
Get local FD enroute and start assessing, manage to reach under the car and get a weak carotid pulse at 30, not breathing. By the time fire extricates she's got no pulse and they start transporting as a traumatic full arrest. Knowing the survival rates I concluded she was dead. Finish up spinal for the second rider and get him transported.
That was my first traumatic arrest and it was bothering me throughout the day. I couldn't get the image out of my head of the blood and vomit dripping from her airway underneath the vehicle. It was just so frustrating to be unable to extricate, and unable to do any real patient care with her entire body under the car. And knowing she had a pulse when I checked and was dead by the time fire extricated.
Then today my partner sent me this
http://www.pasadenanow.com/main/mot...n-after-210-freeway-accident-saturday-morning
Given, she's still critical, but that just made my day.
 
Careful linking news to your post as it reveals more than you want on the intertubes.

Always think about multiple causes, a patient trapped under the car could have a traumatic arrest from major internal hemmorage and multisystems trauma, or they could have simply been unable to maintain an airway allowing emesis and oral bleeding to cause a respiratory arrest. The latter is more correctable than blunt trauma arrest. Not that either etiology (or another) would have allowed you to take any more action.
 
The city where this happened is well outside our normal service area, nothing too revealing. Plenty of companies run IFTs in Pasadena.
 
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LACoGurneyjockey said:
The city where this happened is well outside our normal service area, nothing too revealing. Plenty of companies run IFTs in Pasadena.
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The issue is your're potentially violating HIPAA by linking the incident with a first hand account.
 
usalsfyre said:
The issue is your're potentially violating HIPAA by linking the incident with a first hand account.
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Come on, you of all people should know this isn't true? Does anywhere show a working diagnosis *and* identifiable information?
 
exodus said:
Come on, you of all people should know this isn't true? Does anywhere show a working diagnosis *and* identifiable information?
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He offers a first hand account of the incident including appearance (blood and vomit in the airway) and his guess at survival rates as AN INDIVIDUAL INVOLVED IN HER CARE. He then links to a news article that includes a ton of identifying information related to the incident. From there it's not hard to get a identify a specific pt. This is iffy at best. It's very potentially a HIPAA issue.
 
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usalsfyre said:
He offers a first hand account of the incident including appearance (blood and vomit in the airway) and his guess at survival rates as AN INDIVIDUAL INVOLVED IN HER CARE. He then links to a news article that includes a ton of identifying information related to the incident. From there it's not hard to get a identify a specific pt. This is iffy at best. It's very potentially a HIPAA issue.
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I have read the HIPAA online articles and from my understanding they have to electronically bill the patient.

Since it was not in the OPs response area they most likely did not bill the patient.

Or is my understanding of HIPAA wrong?
 
DesertEMT66 said:
I have read the HIPAA online articles and from my understanding they have to electronically bill the patient.

Since it was not in the OPs response area they most likely did not bill the patient.

Or is my understanding of HIPAA wrong?
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You don't have to electronically bill THAT patient. You just have to participate in the electronic billing system used by Medicare/Medicaid.
 
CHP declared a sigalert?
 
Why was she transported?

Blunt traumatic arrest = dead.

If you're dead set on doing something drop bilateral needles, of she decompressed and comes back you saved a life...if not, nothing else you could do.
 
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Robb said:
Why was she transported?

Blunt traumatic arrest = dead.

If you're dead set on doing something drop bilateral needles, of she decompressed and comes back you saved a life...if not, nothing else you could do.
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They have to be blunt arrest with no narrow complex rhythm along with pulseless/apneic in LA County.
 
firecoins said:
CHP declared a sigalert?
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CHP will often declare a sigalert. All it means is one lane of traffic (sometimes more) are closed for 30 minutes or more.

usalsfyre said:
You don't have to electronically bill THAT patient. You just have to participate in the electronic billing system used by Medicare/Medicaid.
Click to expand...

Ahhhh that clears it up. Thanks.
 
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