Unsafe scene encounters

[AnthonyM83]

Just a few to throw out there:

-EtOH Vietnam vet patient snaps out of his daze while transporting, puts my in a finger lock, and says we're not going to hospital. He was drunk enough he got out of it, called for driver to stop ambulance, gave "harsh" verbal warning, then continued to ER 30 seconds away.

-Psych call. Pt non-violent, no weapons. Elderly mother says she's in backyard. She comes running at us with a very large kitchen knife. We run out a gate on the side-fence.

-PCP patient handcuffed to gurney brakes free during transport. Deputy tazes him, but ineffective. We pull off at next exit (so PD backup can more easily reach us and we don't get hit when jumping out of the back or if fighting on side of road).

-A guy I worked with said he was holding c-spine on a shooting victim, when shooter came back (through police lines) and emptied rest of his clip into patient's head (gun held inches from EMT's head).

-There's been a few police standbyes that went bad (none that I've been on)...but involved PD hair dragging 12 year old AK-47 victim through mud to ambulance.

-A few instances where bystanders rushed the scene to get to victim. They ended up being friends, but the point was they got through police line very quickly even though scene was "secure".

-EMTs go to supposed medical call, patient attempts to steal ambulance, fight ensues.

-Couple instances of posting at "safe locations" where EMTs were robbed at gunpoint.

-And pretty much everyone's been in several to countless restraint/wrestlings with psych patients or altered trauma patients.

[Just Plain Ruff]

got called on a car wreck, sort of car on its side. Occupant pinned in the car by the legs under the door.

He's got his hand in his pocket

We arrive, pd arrives and fire gets there.

Patient is sort of out of it but not due to trauma, just sort of there and no emotions if you get what I'm trying to say.

The smell of gasoline is really really strong.

We ask fire to check the gas tank of the car and they say it's not leaking.

hmmmm why is the smell so bad near the patient and the interior of the car.

The police then get a radio report that this person was trying to commit suicide, that witnesses say he poured gas all over the interior of the car and was gonna wreck the car to start a fire.

The cop comes over to tell us this information and when the patient hears this he pulls a bic lighter out of his pocket and starts to try to light it.

Well the fight was on, he did get it lit but apparantly there wasnt enough gas vapors near the lighter.

It took three of us and the car to keep him subdued and to get the lighter.

Turns out that after we got the car off the guy his pants were covered in gasoline as was the interior of the car.

I can't imagine what would have happened if he had ignited the gasoline like he wanted to.

[mshow00]

We (BLS truck) got a call (non-emergant) for a Pt who was having trouble going to the bath room. It was in the middle of a heat wave in July. We came on scene to receive a report from the nursing staff of: Pt has a hx of paranoid schizophrenia, DM, aggrestion and agitation. She came on with he had been refusing meds for three days, refusing food and drink for two days. The Pt had been outside all day (in the extreme heat) and they call because he is not going to the bathroom. I walked up and introduced myself to the Pt to be greeted with "Take another step and I'm gonna f*** you up!" Needless to say we had to call for PD back up and the Pt almost got himself tazed.

[Dustdevil]

I walked up and introduced myself to the Pt to be greeted with "Take another step and I'm gonna f*** you up!" Needless to say we had to call for PD back up and the Pt almost got himself tazed.

Good point. You really have to be like a TSA agent with verbal threats. No matter how innocent or joking it sounds, never assume that they are joking. All even remotely threatening words are to be taken deadly serious with no benefit of the doubt. If somebody says, "I'll kill you", even while laughing, believe them.

[Laura Anne]

Laura's most recent tango with danger.....

Staging for a shooting call in Norristown....

Pull up next to a PD who is also staging to block off the street who tells us to proceed in due to scene secured.

Male in 40's unconscious with GSW to forehead and chest lying at bottom of 3 steps at front door of residence on sidewalk.

I walk up, look at him and say....sh*t, he dead! :shock: 8)

Place monitor on him and he's got a rate of 80...WTF?!?!?!?!?!? :evil:

Hear cops start shouting in residence while back boarding Pt. Cops are screaming for persons in residence to drop their guns NOW!!!!

Look at partner and say, F*CK.... :shock:

On scene time: 4 mins.

Moral of story: even if cops say scene safe, WATCH YOUR BACK! 8)

[captainstandup]

I believe a lot of times providers make a scene worse. Of course there are armed situations and domestics where we simply must leave or delay response, but I have seen many Paramedics make a situation much worse.

Several years ago i was working with another medic, this guy was a real jerk, and was arrogant. He was unkind to his partners and certainly to the patients. We responded to a call for back pain at a local hotel. Upon arrival we find a construction worker who was VERY intoxicated. This fellow was jovial and wasn’t causing any trouble, but he kept trying to light a cigarette. I was trying to get him on the stretcher and he finally moved over to the cot. (The pain was non-traumatic)

This fellow put another cigarette in his mouth and I told him we had to get him on to the hospital and that he couldn’t smoke at the time. The guy was arguing with me but in a comedic manner and he was harmless and just drunk but my partner, who was trying to become a cop at the time, was so mad that he finally began cursing and actually reached over and snatched the cigarette out of the patient’s mouth. In a split second the patient open handed slapped the crap out of my partner against the left side of his head. I was laughing so hard I couldn’t do anything to help! The paramedic was so mad he turned the stretcher over and pinned the guy to the floor.

Law enforcement was called and felony assault charges filed against the patient. The sheriff’s deputy contacted me to testify and I refused. I told them to subpoena me, but reminded my idiot partner that if I came to court I was going to tell the truth. I never heard another word and the charges were eventually dropped.

This is but one example of how arrogance and self importance combined with poor character worsened a situation. This is the same Paramedic that wouldn’t stage for law enforcement when instructed to do so. He was finally fired a year or so later.

[ncmedic309]

I’ve got one to tell…

I had just got my EMT certification and started volunteering with a local rescue squad. I was partnered up with a more experienced EMT for the shift who happened to also be a close friend that I went to high school with. We were BLS first responders and had just got cancelled off a lower priority call and re-assigned to a higher priority call in the area. My partner was driving and as we were in the process of making a u-turn to get started to the higher priority call, we were t-boned by an intoxicated motorcyclist with his sister on the back. I only remember hearing the engine of the bike revving up and then feeling the impact and watching two bodies fly over the hood of the truck. My partner was initially trapped in the driver’s seat due to the damage to the door on his side. It took me a few moments to get my bearings and then go to work. Neither my partner nor I were significantly injured but the male driver was unresponsive on the pavement and his sister was sitting upright on the pavement crying.

Within minutes additional help was on the way and I was able to free my partner from the ambulance. We both went to work on the two patients that collided with our vehicle. The male had regained consciousness but was intoxicated and combative. The female patient was stable, just banged up pretty good from hitting the ground. Apparently the two patients lived only a few houses down the street and it wasn’t long before their intoxicated parents were at the scene. I remember the mother being very frantic and attempting to get to her son that was down on the pavement. I never saw the father until I turned around and saw an off-duty LEO taking him to the pavement. The intoxicated father had come up behind us with a large pocket knife in hand and appeared to be in attack mode by the description given by that officer. If he had not been there, I would have likely taken a knife to the back or elsewhere. I never saw him coming, never expected it. We were very fortunate that the officer was in the right place at the right time.

We both kicked ourselves in the rear over and over again after that incident. The motorcyclist had apparently crossed a double-yellow line and passed several vehicles that had stopped behind us. He crossed into oncoming traffic and collided with us as we in the process of doing the u-turn. There wasn’t anything we could have done to see him coming or avoid the crash, if he had yielded to begin with as the other vehicles had – it wouldn’t have even happened. It was more upsetting that we both could have been killed in an act of violence and we weren’t prepared for it. I know our guards were down, we had just been in the accident and our emotions were already running high. I’ve had many other incidents in my career that have turned violent, I’ve been assaulted and had to fight more than one patient. This one sticks out though – it was a tough lesson for my first week on the streets.

[Richard B the EMT]

Ncmedic309 describes a bad call by saying

This one sticks out though – it was a tough lesson for my first week on the streets.

You must be (either) dedicated, (or a glutton for punishment) because you are still hanging in there!

[firedoc5]

A number of times I've been on extrications of vehicles that were so mangled that I myself, and sometimes one other, would be inside the vehicle with the patient and they just cut everything away from us. A lot of metal and glass flying. Even though you have some tarps or some kind of covering over you, you still get peppered by stuff.

One day we had the usual flip over with the car settling on all fours but the roof was needing to be cut back. Another Paramedic and myself were inside the car and stabilizing the patient and doing what pre-packaging that we could. To make a story a little shorter, to peel back the roof you sometimes have to "crease" it. Some rookie stood on top and "WHAM", used a sledge hammer to dent the roof. When he did he caved in the roof right above Marc's head. If Marc didn't have a helmet on he would have been cold cocked. Needless to say that by the time the patient was extricated and we had got out, that rookie was no where to be seen. Marc is one of those types that will get in a fight with a Coke machine, and win. Geez, come to think of it that rookie is a police officer now.

[stretmediq]

Got called for a shooting victim in a convertible. PD directs us in next to car PT is in. We get out walk over to see whats up when the cop who directed us in tells us the guy is sitting on a bomb!

Supposedly this idiots boyfriend said he was going back to his wife but he didn't want her to find out he was gay so he shot him then put a pipe bomb with a pressure switch behind him.

Well we called in the bomb squad and they said the "bomb" was just an empty box and it turned out this guy shot himself in the abdomen and made the whole thing up.

But the moral of the story is if your directing someone where to park DO NOT put them next to the bomb!