Police telling EMS to "Stand down" RE:MVA

[mobey]

OK we have all heared the stories of people walking around with broken necks

EMS/Fire/Police dispatched to single vehicle rollover. Police are first on scene, Pt. is walking around no coplaints. Police inform dispatch to cancel all other services. We return to base only to hear the next day the Pt. went to the hospital the next morning comlaining of neck pain. ER does an X-Ray....yup cervical fracture.

Can Police in your area cancel ems responce?

[Fluffpaw38]

The volunteer FD service that I am a member of actually has more power on the scene of an accident then the police does. They cannot tell us to leave. :shock: thats wierd.

[spenac]

They have the guns so they do what they want.

Actually yes they can turn us around. If problem comes up its their neck not ours. If already close I still usually stop and verify they don't want treatment and get signatures.

I have heard of some LE agencys that carry ambulance refusal forms to protect themselves from lawsuits.

[GBFDEMS174]

PD can cancel EMS but not FD in my township.

[brentoli]

PD gets to 95% of accidents first. Why shouldn't they be able to? In my county, we have 3 diffrent dispatches. 10-50 PI, 10-50 PD, 10-50 Unkown. We only dispatch it as a PI if an occupant in the accident requests ambulance, or if a passerby sees obvious injuries. Only dispatch as PD if an occupant in the ambulance says no injuries in both vehicles. PI and Unk's both get Police/Fire/EMS response.

On arrival if everyone in the accident requests no ambulance, a PD officer can call in and advise PD only. I don't know what type of paperwork they have to fill out for that however.

[Chief1C]

We don't start inter-service pissing matches, but we make it clear that we're neutral in terms of the crime and only there for the health and safety of the victims. If the cop has an EMT #.. They can recall us, or if they are willing to take responsibility for the life of the victim, they can. However if there is any reason to second guess their decision, we continue in, and ask that the in-charge officer sign something.

If it's a situation where no services are needed, at all, a non-reportable crash, we'd cancel. Either way, we rolled/stood by/canceled, still have paper work to do.

[firedoc5]

I don't think we ever had a problem with being turned around and not being needed. Most officers we worked with would not turn us around if there were even the slightest hint of an injury, no matter how minor it appeared to be.

One halloween night we had a MVA where when we got there was up walking around and refusing treatment of any kind. And the gal with him kept trying to convince him of at least being looked at. He kept rubbing his neck and said he only had a little headache that he had before the accident. But when the officer started talking to him about DUI he decided he needed to go to the hospital. Sure enough, 3 c-spine fractures. Guess he thought if he went to the hospital he'd get out of the DUI. Wrong...Actually went on another call that concerned him. He was playing cards and one of the kids threw something and hit his halo. Guess when that happened it actually knocked loose one of the screws going into his head.

[AnthonyM83]

PD can cancel the request for EMS prior to our arrival, but once on-scene FD checks in with patients to make sure they don't have a complaint. Our ambulance itself can ONLY be canceled by FD, either on-scene or their dispatch calls our dispatch.

I remember our EMT instructor telling us a story of an abandonment case (not sure if won or lost) where PD called FD for unconscious on park bench. As FD is rolling up, PD waves them away, "It's okay guys, he's just drunk." Pt ended up having some medical issue and FD got in trouble for it.

[Boolancedriver911]

PD should not have that so, thats the same with fire scenes.... seen them get burned before.

[itku2er]

Here the PD can cancel EMS but the dispatchers always add the "continue at your own discretion ." So most EMS always goes on to the scene.