Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Accident?

Very few cases split the staff at the ER. Usually there is a very clear right and wrong to what our patients have done that has caused their need to be there.

Police bring in a 20's female after an accident car VS pedestrian. Female was the driver and during triage she admitted to having been drinking earlier along with smoking chronic and being non complaint with her IDDM so her blood sugars were in the 400's.

Triaging her was extremely difficult as she was crying hysterically about the situation, I initially thought she was distraught over having hit someone... but I was unfortunately very wrong..

She was yelling and screaming and crying threatening to hurt herself because one of the paramedics had been mean to her.. Mean to her? One of our paramedics had packaged up her victim and prepared her for airlift to the major trauma center in the big city in critical condition..after completing this the paramedic was responsible for checking the driver... Seeing that the driver was under the influence was the last straw and let the driver have it.. Telling how she was going to go to jail for the rest of her life because her victim was not going to make it.

She had no sympathy from me. I hoped the book was thrown at her as well and I fully supported the paramedic. Other staff felt sorry for her and felt her " accident" could be contributed to her high blood sugar and thought the paramedic was wrong. I felt otherwise. There is no excuse for driving impaired whether drunk, high, or having uncontrolled DM, and in her case she was all three...

The driver during her stay got more and more worked up finally demanding to talk to the fire chief about his paramedic violating her rights to good care... Understanding the paramedics frustration I told her the only right she should be concerned about is the one for an attorney as she had killed someone..her victim had died.

I hope she writes a complaint-I will gladly except it.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

OMG. Some people don't deserve to live in society. I'm with you; sympathy for the drunk who neglected her DM was misplaced.

I'll bet if she'd been a little less impaired, she'd have left the scene before the paramedics arrived. Happens around here all the time.

Anonymous said...

And another thing: The penalty for vehicular homicide should be MUCH STIFFER!

Drama>Trauma said...

The sad part is she might only spend a couple years in jail if she doesn't get off for having a "medical emergency" with her by choice uncontrolled DM.