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Before you all jump on the crew, how about you all research what the FDNY EMS Command policy is.

Here, I have it for you, since I worked in the system. Those who currently do can back me up.

If you have a stable or potentially unstable patient in your truck, and are flagged down while enroute to the hospital, you stop and render care. If you have an unstable or critical patient, you call the job in and continue on your way.

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Before you all jump on the crew, how about you all research what the FDNY EMS Command policy is.

Here, I have it for you, since I worked in the system. Those who currently do can back me up.

If you have a stable or potentially unstable patient in your truck, and are flagged down while enroute to the hospital, you stop and render care. If you have an unstable or critical patient, you call the job in and continue on your way.

While this is what I was taught as well, I can not find documentation to back it up. Do you have it ? You will also run into the argument that a 9 month old seizure pt is under C or U of the CUPS status

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Before you all jump on the crew, how about you all research what the FDNY EMS Command policy is.

We've been asking for just that ever since the topic began.

A paediatric seizure patient -- even if not actively seizing -- is not stable in this sense. Extremely poor judgement.

And, the story said nothing about them being "flagged down."

As I said before, this means that FDNY policy sucks arse, which I suspected to begin with.

And, of course, since he was just following orders, it is even further proof that there was nothing "heroic" about it. He stumbled onto a guy with a gun through his own dumb luck and ran like a bitch. Not my definition of a hero.

Had that been my wife and daughter in back, I'd be looking to shoot this guy too! He had absolutely no right to place them in danger like that. None. And I'd like to see the timeline on this from the dispatch tapes. How long did it take to finally get their patient to the hospital from when they started the transport? Way too farking long, I can tell you that much! And for what? Stupid whackerism, plain and simple.

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Not much else to say except Dust is right. I can't ever see a 9 month old Seizure as stable. They shouldn't have stopped plain and simple. Nobody is over reacting when they say that. The liability they opened themselves up to is beyond their comprehension. And they are "heros?" lol. Unbelievable, I would lose my job if this crap happened.

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Let me get this straight. You have:

Yourself

Your Partner

A Paramedic Student

1 mom

1 dad

1 9 month old patient

Thats six occupants in ONE ambulance. There is absolutely no justification for putting six people in danger. The main person at fault, the driver. He made the choice to stop, even if his crew was yelling at him to do so. The solution is just so very simple.

ALS Unit 123: " ALS Unit 123 to Dispatch......Be advised that there is a MVC on the right side of RT 10 just north of ABC landmark. Unknown injuries, unknown number of occupants. We're unable to stop because we already have a patient in the back. We'll be continuing our approach to XYZ hospital."

Dispatch: " Dispatch received. We'll be sending some units to check it out."

END OF STORY

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If the contents of this article are true, this would be my stance on the situation.

This is exactly why you don't allow occupied ambulances to stop and render care. You never know what circumstances will arise. This guy had to evacuate his ambulance and hide his F'n patient in a deli.

Not good, especially since I am assuming he didn't bring any equipment with him in his hasty retreat. Then the kid seizes again loses his airway and he is stuck underneath a table with no equipment and his thumb up his ass.

I guess you can spin a story anyway you want for the public. Those of us on the inside know the truth.

His actions could have resulted in severe consequences for the people that entrusted him with their care. You want to be a cowboy do it on your own time.

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In years gone by, sometime between 1978 and 1980, working a non-911 provider ambulance service, I had a dialysis patient on board, enroute for scheduled dialysis treatment. I was with another EMT who was the "wheelman" on that ambulance.

We were flagged down (OK, already a different situation from the one described) by an NYPD cop, who pointed out a patient collapsed in the middle of the street.

My patient told me to see if I could do anything for the person down in the middle of 5th Avenue (again, a different action from the described one), and when I did, also having been told by the cop that EMS/911 was supposed to have been on the way, discovered the street job to be a cardiac arrest. I commenced CPR with a Bag Valve Mask (BVM).

Roughly 5 minutes later, the "Muni" ambulance pulled up, and the crew took over patient care. My partner, who had stayed with our dialysis patient, resumed driving to the dialysis center.

We had kept our dispatcher appraised of the situation, and arrived at the dialysis center roughly 10 minutes late.

On arrival back at my base, the owner told me, while it was possibly, and probably, good publicity, he had no way to bill for services rendered on the street job, and mentioned that, under NYS DoH rules, on which I have still not seen documentation, due to me having a patient already on board, I could have told the cop that I had one already aboard and couldn't stop.

Now, today, as I understand the FDNY EMS/NYS DoH rules and regulations, I could be going to a Priority One Cardiac Arrest, but if someone at the door to the building stops us, requesting medical aid, we are to either take care of the new patient while radioing for an additional unit to take care of the original Pri 1 patient, or split the team with one going up to start care on the original pri 1 patient until the arrival of the backup unit, again while radioing in for that backup unit.

I will be calling up the FDNY EMS Academy tomorrow, Monday, and ask for a clear cut answer, at least under the FDNY EMS/NYS DoH rules, regulations, and protocols, and should have an answer posted within 48 hours of this posting.

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What was the severity of the seizure patient? Was it febrile seizure that was already over, everything else stable? Was that patient actually abandoned at anytime? Did the medics know the driver had a gun when they originally stopped? What are their policies?

Seriously, I think people are blowing this up into a huge deal on BOTH sides of the argument

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