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This Week in EMS: A Recap for Jan. 13 - 19, 2007
The most read about incidents on EMSResponder.com this week were both the kinds of calls among a responder's worst nightmares.
The top article was on the discovery that a "dead" patient was not really dead.
A Vancouver, Washington firefighter-paramedic wrongly determined that a suicidal man was dead, only to learn that others later found the man still breathing. The incident occurred in December but only came to public light this week.
The medic admitted he did not follow protocols when he suspected the patient was dead. As a result, this Tuesday he was suspended from the Vancouver Fire Department for 30 days without pay, and he lost his state paramedic certification. He will be able to come back to work as a firefighter only, but will be on probation for three to five years.
The patient in the incident reportedly survived and has since been discharged from an area hospital.
These cases are thankfully rare, but they are not unheard of, and they illustrate the importance of following protocols no matter how unlikely survival appears. For more details read the full article: Dead Man Alive; Washington Paramedic Suspended.
The second nightmare incident of the week was one in which a medic responded to a call and tragically discovered that the fatality on scene was a close family member.
Paramedic Scott Coppolo of St. Joseph's Hospital responded to plane crash in suburban Wayne, NJ. He found that the plane was his father's Beechcraft, and that his father had perished in the fiery wreckage.
To read more visit: New Jersey Medic Responds to Father's Fatal Plane Crash.
In more heartening news this week, a New York EMT was hailed for rescuing a woman as she tried to jump into the path of an oncoming subway train.
Daniel Fitzpatrick, an off-duty EMT, had just been attending a paramedic training session at Brooklyn's Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center. A bystander alerted him that a woman, who was wearing a bracelet from the hospital, appeared ready to jump.
Fitzpatrick tried to talk to the woman and gain her trust, but soon found himself gripping her in a bear hug to prevent her from jumping. The woman put up a fight and as he struggled to hold her, the bystander held his back to protect it from the passing train.
In a follow up interview, Fitzpatrick recalled yelling to the onlookers to call 911. Instead, he said, people held up their cell phones and snapped photos of the unfolding drama.
To read more visit: New York EMT Describes Subway Save.
This week also saw a resolution to the uncertainty surrounding Oklahoma's EMSA, the regional provider for Tulsa, Oklahoma City and surrounding communities. Tulsa has joined Oklahoma City in deciding to continue with EMSA, rather than switching to individual fire-based systems and thereby dismantling the regional system.
For more on this visit: Tulsa Joins Oklahoma City in Continuing with EMSA.
Finally, the other top feature this week on EMSResponder.com was the latest editorial cartoon by Paul Combs: The FREQUENT Flyer.
News You Can Use:
An independent website, now in its 12th year, has emerged as one of the most powerful surveillance tools for protecting public health. ProMED, short for the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases ( www.promedmail.org) follows reports of mysterious illnesses and emerging infectious diseases around the world.
Although disease monitoring is also performed by the CDC and WHO, proponents of ProMED consider it to have several advantages. For one, the site immediately shares unverified reports of suspected outbreaks, unlike the CDC and WHO. In addition, because the site is independent from any government, it faces no pressure to delay the public reporting of a potentially embarrassing or economically costly outbreak.
To read more about this resource visit: Website Becomes a Top Disease Surveillance Tool.
Other top headlines on EMSResponder.com this week:
