What to do with morphine?

[hammerpcp]

If we are looking for the easiest solution to this problem and the least painful to you (hypothetically), you would lock that narc box back up, with the narc in it, and never speak of it again. A spilled or cracked vial is easy to explain but heaven forbid someone did a miscount somewhere along the way! Having extra of a controlled substance can often lead to more of a pain in the ass then having some missing. That supervisor or whoever is getting their ass chewed out for this is going to do his utmost to shift the blame to the underlings, namely you.

PS Admin your spell checker sucks

[Connie31079]

I agree with hammer on this one. If I was the only one who opened up the narc box, and was the only one who saw the extra vials of morphine there, I'd lock the narc box back up, and forget I saw anything.

If I didn't put it there, then I ain't touching it!!

[Michael]

Here, use this.

[DwayneEMTP]

I'm confused about the issues involved.

From the outside looking in it seem pretty clear.

I don't report it, and when it is discovered some day I am guilty of, at least, not being thorough in my job (Am I responsible for the contents of my ambulance? I'm not sure) Or I become one of a list of suspicious employees that might have put it there. Negative outcome all around.

I report it, and an attempt is made to resolve the issue by finding the breakdown in the procedures that allowed this to happen, possibly leading to hard times for the guilty party(s), if any should happen to exist, which is a positive outcome it seems. Of course management then showers me with praise and a huge raise...another positive outcome.

So turning it in seems to be a no-brainer.

The only thing more obvious than the above is that people I respect are saying it's not that obvious, so I don't know what the hell I'm talking about.

So what are the politics/issues involved?

Dwayne

[becksdad]

The way I originally saw this scenario was definitely a no-brainer. But consider the circumstances that define the world where this scenario is taking place. I probably can't really imagine a war torn country with anything approaching accuracy, but I will try. Imagine having lost every posession - your home, everything in it, your vehicles, etc. Imagine the people lost - parents, children, friends, neighbors. Of course, I'm sure this doesn't apply to everyone, but I want to set the stage. The local community hospital is gone - part bombed out, roads destroyed, no utilities to run anything anyway. The only medical facility is an impromptu facility built by and staffed by people foreign to this country, and they constantly have their hands full anyway.

Now, lets say you work with this medical facility and you come to know and befriend some people that have always lived there. You learn about them, they learn about you. You find out that the father or mother of this friend is gravely ill with, lets say, pancreatic cancer - end stage. My Dad died of pancreatic cancer, and I can assure you that it is an excruciatingly painful way to go. Your friend cannot get regular care, there's just so little to go around - the casualties consume nearly all the medical resources anyway. It is very near the end for your friends parent, but without analgesia, the pain is so bad.....

Now what are you going to do with that morphine?

Of course, this little scenario I just made up is very dramatic, but it is just to illustrate that there are possible circumstances where I think any decent human being would pause to consider....??????

[hammerpcp]

I'm confused about the issues involved.

From the outside looking in it seem pretty clear.

I don't report it, and when it is discovered some day I am guilty of, at least, not being thorough in my job (Am I responsible for the contents of my ambulance? I'm not sure) Or I become one of a list of suspicious employees that might have put it there. Negative outcome all around.

I report it, and an attempt is made to resolve the issue by finding the breakdown in the procedures that allowed this to happen, possibly leading to hard times for the guilty party(s), if any should happen to exist, which is a positive outcome it seems. Of course management then showers me with praise and a huge raise...another positive outcome.

So turning it in seems to be a no-brainer.

The only thing more obvious than the above is that people I respect are saying it's not that obvious, so I don't know what the hell I'm talking about.

So what are the politics/issues involved?

Dwayne

You use far too much logic to work in any EMS system I have ever encountered. And Becksdad, you are making a lot of assumptions about the situation.

[becksdad]

Not really assumptions. The story is pure fiction. Just saying I could envision possible ( although highly unlikely) circumstances in a world very different than the one I work in, where the answer to this scenario is not completely cut and dried.

[Michael]

The story is pure fiction. Just saying I could envision possible ( although highly unlikely) circumstances in a world very different than the one I work in, where the answer to this scenario is not completely cut and dried.

Right, Teddy. That's exactly what you said on July 25, 1969, and we believed it then. What would you know about dried?

[Dustdevil]

You use far too much logic to work in any EMS system I have ever encountered.

LMAO! Touche'!

And Becksdad, you are making a lot of assumptions about the situation.

He's not the only one. Despite my clear disclaimer that YOU are the ONLY person on earth who knows about this morphine, people are still assuming that it must be planted or missing from their stock or something else. I think so many people just live with so much guilt that they can't imagine a situation like this one. And, as Becksdad said, there are worlds that are just so completely different from the ones we work in back in suburban US and Canadia, that we can't imagine a world where there isn't a DEA agent physically tracking every vial of morphine on the planet.

Becksdad is right. This isn't cut and dried at all, from my perspective. It's not in any book I've ever seen. It's not a procedural issue. It's a moral dilemma. What can you do that will cause you and/or your co-workers the least grief? What can you do that will bring the most good to somebody who needs it? Or, as Connie understandably stated, why do anything at all? Let somebody else figure it out.

Change the commodity and see if it changes your thinking. What if it were four hundred dollar bills instead of four vials of morphine? None of your co-workers admit to having lost any money (well, except for the one firemonkey who swears it's his money, but takes a guess at it being $50 bucks. ). Nobody else has access to the ambulance. Whatcha gonna do? Turn it into security and let them put it in the "general fund" (assuming the bastards don't keep it themselves)? Split it among your crew? Keep it for yourself? Give it to the Iraqi... uhhh, I mean "Spanish" interpreter who works for you whose home was destroyed by terrorists last week, so he can start to provide for his family again? Just leave it there and let one of your co-workers find it later and make the decision?

Yep, there are no easy answers.

[Cookie]

And no easy button either