Lone Star

My father dropped out of high school so he could help provide for his family. He went back to school 30 years later and got his G.E.D. I graduated in the top 20% of my high school. Neither of my parents are college educated, and no one is 'helping me with my schoolwork', and yet I'm still maintaining a 98% test average. I attribute this 'phenomenon' to the fact that I actually WANT to learn! To further bolster this theory, I'm looking at how I can pick up extra classes next semester and work on a 'dual major', while still working on top of that! Your 'genetics/ethnicity = educational drive' doesn't hold water. It's just another example of how it's far easier to sit back and cry how everything/everyone is against you, as opposed to rolling up your sleeves and actually MAKING things happen. At this point in the discussion, you have yet to provide any imperical data to 'prove' your points of contention. All we've heard in support of your position amounts to nothing more than simple rhetoric. You're scraping the bottom of the barrel, trying to come up with 'justifications' to prove how you're being 'oppressed', and how the 'white man' OWES you. You actually have MORE opportunities now than your parents did, and yet you're still too LAZY to take advantage of them! By making these feeble excuses, you're actually doing MORE to oppress yourself and your race than any race you're trying to blame ever did! You're actually doing more harm by standing around with your hand out, expecting it to be filled. Want a better life than you've got now? Want more opportunities to succeed? GET OFF YOUR LAZY ASS AND MAKE IT HAPPEN!

Congratulations Ruffles!!! I guess by now you've figured out what causes pregnacation! Now that you've got the 'basics' down, next time you can give it that 'little extra' and put the 'stem' on the apple On a serious note, my best to you and Mrs. Ruffles. And a 'best wishes' to the little 'ruffian' too!

The only 'problem' here is that the doctor in question is NOT the patients primary care physician, but a therapist. The doctor that was called by the parent was the patients neurologist, not his primary care physician Unless the patient is mentally incompetent, or the parent has legal documentation to prove DPOA, guardianship/conservatorship; they have no say in the treatment/transport of this patient. Even the therapist and neurologist will have to defer to your medical control physician, and your state/local protocols. Remember, the license you're working under is your medical director's, not the therapist's, and not the neurologist's; and therefore ultimate say is that of the medical director.

Unfortunately, crotchity is too busy spouting rhetoric and excuses to actually address relevant views and pertinent information for meaningful dialogue. It's far easier to sit back and lament that he's being 'kept down', rather than roll up his sleeves and do his part to break the cycle, by taking responsibility for his own actions.

Congrats you two! I can only hope that I have as good luck when I finally get thrown out of My classes!

Ok, that’s an over dramatization! I grew up in a ‘poor home’, and I still knew what things like those were. How? It’s called ‘focusing on education’! If one actually applies themselves, there’s no telling how much they can accomplish! (I didn't know the difference between a salad fork, apetizer fork and a desert fork until I was well into My 20's). And as long as ‘your race’ continues to use this as a crutch, ‘your race’ will NEVER ‘catch up to whites’! It’s a proven fact that a person that doesn’t use crutches can move from one place to another faster than those hobbling along with crutches. As long as blacks sit back and make ‘excuses’ why they can’t ‘get ahead’, the entire race will be held back. How do you explain people like Barack Obama, Thurgood Marshall, George Washington Carver, Elijah McCoy , Booker T Washington, Dr. Charles Drew , Shirley Chisholm, Colin Powell, Madame C.J Walker, Martin Luther King, Matthew Henson, Frederick Douglass, Daniel Hale Williams? Did they reach their height of fame and success by sitting back and crying, “The white man owes us!”? "The prevailing attitude of white supremacy has produced within the minds and hearts of Black people throughout the world, but especially in America, a serious problem in inferiority. This attitude of inferiority has hardened into a system of beliefs and unwritten laws which govern our behavior toward self and others. Therefore, we act in a self-destructive manner, even when we know better. Many Christian preachers, Muslim Imams, Hebrew and other religious teachers, teach our people positive principles upon which to act. These principles, if acted upon, would relieve us of the heavy burden of ignorance, poverty and want in the midst of plenty. However, the unwritten law of Black inferiority continues to permeate so effectively and forcefully that every good teacher and his message ultimately are overcome because they are unable to destroy this inferior mentality." That was written by Louis Farrakhan Now with all your whining and crying about ‘entitlement’ and how whites are ‘keeping your race down’, let me ask this: With all the freedoms that you take for granted, what have you done to EARN them? What part have you played in defending the very country you call ‘home’? What have you done to change the ‘status quo’? Before you can claim 'payback' you yourself have to have been personally wronged. So tell us crotchity, exactly how long were you PERSONALLY enslaved? Judging by your screen name, I'm going to logically deduce that you were either born in 1986 (which makes you 23 years old, or by some off chance that you've been in EMS since 1986, that would put you somewhere around 41-43 years old. That being said, it seems that you were born at least 100 years too late to claim any rights to 'payback' for slavery! If things are so 'bad' in America, then by all means; exercise your right to GET OUT!

Slavery was first introduced to the United States in 1619, and was abolished in 1865. Segregation was ended in 1954. Now, 55 years later, you're STILL trying to use slavery and segregation as an 'excuse'! The actions that ended slavery and segregation, provided for the right to vote, were not actions of only the black race! I think that it's time that this cry of 'entitlement' be dropped. It's time that the African race start accepting the consequences of their actions! Yes, slavery was an 'abomination', just as the holocaust was for the Jewish. The main difference is that the Jewish do not use it as a 'crutch' to expect everything to be handed to them! Let me guess, these statistics from the US Department of Justice are proof of the whites 'keepin the black man down' too......

Thnkas for kepineg on my teos! ahh..you're just jealous that you're not the one getting the lashings!

Can't do well on standardized testing because of slavery? How much of this bullshit do you REALLY expect us to swallow? Face it, minorities have had the same educational opportunities that whites have. What is done with that opportunity decides whether you succeed or fail! I get so damn sick and tired of people claiming 'entitlement' because of their skin color! In this country, if you want to accomplish something, you MUST 'work for it'. The days of the 'tokens' are over! If you want to get ahead, then work hard for it like everybody else! Why is it that the only race that can be 'racist' are the whites? If white folks had the same organizations, groups and charities that the 'minorities' have, the whole country would be up in arms! And for the record, MY 'people' never owned slaves! My great grandfather came from Germany somewhere around 1920, became a naturalized citizen, joined the U.S. Army and was sent back to fight the Germans.

Since they're referring to something that the 55% CAN do, as opposed to the 45% that CAN'T; the logical conclusion would be that they're referring to the 'upper 55%'. 50 more lashes for not using logic

..... and people wonder why stupid people shouldn't multiply!

I realize that 'superior' means 'above' and 'inferior' means 'below'... I was working off the definitions that were supplied by the book, and why I had a problem with their usage. Being as this ain't My first 'go around' with EMT-B class (like I said, I'm only doing this to get relicensed and move on to medic), this could prove confusing to the new students.

It's not that I'm having a problem remembering what the terms mean, but rather having a problem with the 'reference points'. Superior = closer to the head Inferior = farther away from the head To say that the nose is closer to the head than the mouth is, is redundant. Both structures are PART OF THE HEAD, so how can one be 'closer to the head than the other? Brady's defines the head as: Cranium- the sides, top and back of the skull Face To say that the nose is superior (closer to the head) than the mouth is; is like saying that two people riding in the front seat of the same car, one person is closer to the interior than the other. Proximal - closer to the torso Distal - further away from the torso This would be a better reference because the nose is distal to the mouth (further away from the torso) I realize 'this is how its always been', but I guess this is another example of the new monkeys doing things 'the way they've always been done', for fear of being beaten by the other monkeys. They don't know WHY they're doing things this way, they just know that they don't want to be beaten by the other monkeys!

wrmedic82, By no means am I trying to make this anything less than a civil discussion, nor am I 'beating a dead horse' here. It's unfortunate that you're in this position, I'm just trying to see things from all angles. The reason I asked for more information on this 'mysterious exception' was because I was under the impression that you had spoken to the supervisor that told you about it. I was just curious as to his 'explanation'. ERDoc makes some valid points. I especially have to agree with the statement about it being the medical director's job to deal with these types of issues. The etiology/pathology statement wasn't directed at you personally. I could see that you were merely responding to the questions being presented. I only mentioned that to keep the thread on topic. Herbie, Under the current structure of EMS systems, we are a designated agent of the medical director, and our authority to practice is an extension of their license. In this case, even though the 'neurologist is an MD with far more training than we have', I'm sure that the medical director would have the final say; since it is their license we're working under.

For 2008, of the 52,398 EMS runs in which patients needed medical care, 67 percent were taken to the hospital needing advanced life support and 33 percent needed only basic care. Also last year, squads responded to about 50,000 calls where they weren't needed at all. Plus, the city has to consider that the Fire Division is able to bill private insurance companies and other government bodies more for advanced-care transports to the hospital than it can for basic care. Columbus could lose that revenue by switching to a lesser system. The city could consider a two-tiered system, as is used effectively by other major cities, including Seattle and Boston, both known for excellent emergency care. In those cities, dispatchers can send the type of squad appropriate for the injury or illness. Another consideration would be to figure out how many responders they're sending out per medical call. I'm sorry, but pulling an engine, a squad and a supervisors vehicle at minimum on every EMS call is a bit of 'overkill', and is a waste of manpower and fuel; not to mention wear and tear on the vehicles that aren't needed! Since the article stated that 67% weretaken to the hospital needing ALS care, cutting back on the level of care seems insane! I'm sure there are other areas that the city can 'cut back in' without having to sacrifice a 'quality of life measures'. Another thing they could consider is billing the 'bullshit calls' for wasting the time and resources responding for absolutely no reason!

I for one would like to know what this mystical 'exception' to the law is. Since the patient was being seen for psychiatric problems, I would be curious to know how it affected the patients competence in this matter. I'm also curious as to how your local protocols define abandonment, and what they say about refusal of care. Did the parents have guardianship or conservatorship over the patient? Had the patient been found mentally incompetent in a court of law? The etiology/pathology of the seizures is irrelevant. The main point is that since care was terminated without the proper transfer of care to someone with an equal or higher licensure, the patient was abandoned. Let's not 'muddy the waters' by throwing etiology/pathology of the seizures, or a discussion of the patients medical history.

CB, It's been said many times that there's tons of information floating around these forum pages, and all one has to do is read; and they'll learn something if they're not careful. I thought about starting a thread here in the forums thanking EMT City in advance, for getting me kicked out of EMT class. No, it hasn't happened yet; but I'm sure that my instructor is getting rather 'aggrivated' when they say something that I know isn't correct, and I comment about it. I've already gotten a 'stern talking to' about asking questions that are 'too complex for where the class is at this point'. The 'problem' as I see it, is that since I know better, the students that are taking this course for the first time need to be taught correctly from the begining! If you teach them bogus information, then they'll carry this 'bogus information' with them into the field. As I told the instructor, I dont 'know it all' and never professed that I did. But why teach information that has been PROVEN as incorrect? Why not alter the course to include only ACCURATE information? http://www.emtcity.com/index.php?showtopic=14924&hl=

Spenac, Like I said in my post, I'm a firm believer in the right to carry. Unless you can get a CPL (Concealed Pistol License) that allows you to carry in 'no carry zones', there's not alot that can or will be done to change things. In addition to that, if you have to use that firearm while on duty (whether justified or not), why should your employer have to bear the brunt of your actions? In Michigan, there is the 'Castle Doctrine Act' that simply states that any place you have a legal right to be armed, you have the legal right to use that weapon to defend yourself. There WILL be an investigation, you WILL be arrested, and if it's determined that you were NOT justified, you WILL be charged with a criminal action. If you're found to be justified in your actions you will not be charged, and you will not be liable for civil damages. The question then remains, will your employer be as 'exempt' as you are if the justified shooting happened while on duty? If I remember correctly, you were one of the ones speaking out against badges on EMS uniforms because of the associated problems for being mistaken as a law enforcement officer. How many more problems will the EMT (without regard to license level) face by showing up with a pistol on their hip, and looking MORE like a law enforcement officer? Like I said, I've worked in some of the roughest parts of Detroit while unarmed. Not having a shiny badge on my shirt, or a pistol on my hip allowed me to get into these areas, work unharrassed, and get me, my partner and my patient out without incident. Another thing that has to be taken into consideration is this: With as many people that are against handguns (for whatever reason), how are you going to treat a patient if you show up to a home that won't allow you in the door as long as you're armed? (the homeowner has that right as well). If you secure your weapon in the rig, then enter the house, now you're unarmed anyway; in the very place that you claim that weapon will protect you.... Imagine having to shoot someone while defending yourself. Do you REALLY think that person is now going to give you expressed consent to treat the very wounds you inflicted? I highly doubt that will happen! Above all that, we come back to the moral/ethical obligation to 'do no harm'. Putting one or more bullets into someone kind of violates that moral/ethical obligation, doesn't it?

I'm still trying to figure out the sudden 'desire' by some EMS personnel to carry weapons while on duty. I'm a firm believer in people taking a proactive stance in their own defense, but let's get 'real' here.... If you REALLY want to carry a firearm while on duty, look into a career in law enforcement, or enlist in the military! EMS is NOT law enforcement, and we have no business strapping on a 'hog leg' and going forth to defend the world! Our job is MEDICAL INTERVENTION! While guns are nothing more than a tool in our 'self defense tool box', they ARE 'lethal force'. Lethal force is contrary to 'medical intervention'. As VentMedic has pointed out, hospitals in most states are on the list of 'no carry zones' for firearms. Even if you're allowed to carry concealed, these are still 'no carry zones'! Have you ever noticed that 'in house security' and private security companies that have personnel at hospitals are NOT armed? This means that even if you ARE allowed to carry a firearm on duty, the hospital is STILL a NO CARRY ZONE! Since you can't carry a firearm into a hospital, you have to be able to secure the weapon BEFORE entering, which means that you have to secure the weapon in the ambulance. If that weapon ends up as 'missing', then you could be held liable for improper storage, and ultimately, if someone gets injured or killed it's YOUR FAULT. You may not be prosecuted for it, but morally because you didnt secure your weapon properly, you were the cause of someone getting shot and possibly killed....can you live with that? I've worked unarmed in some of the roughest area of Detroit, MI; I've never had a problem with worrying about my safety, but have been in some situations that the mere presence of a handgun could have made the outcome VERY different! If you're concerned with your safety at a scene, CALL LAW ENFORCEMENT, thats their job! If you're going to quote one side of the story, you should also look at the 'other side' as well.... http://www.ignatius-piazza-front-sight.com...y-a-bit-blurry/

I can only hope that when this comes back to haunt the OP, (and it WILL), that the 'bite' isn't too painful!

I can only reiterate whats already been said. Remember that unless you see valid/legal documentation, the DNR, DPOA/Guardianship does NOT exist! Since the patient is no longer a minor, it's their decision EXCEPT when you cannot determine that they're CAOx4 (Concious, alert and oriented). The patient's 'neurologist' only got a 'scene overview' from the parent, not the medical professionals on scene. This tells me that the neurologist didnt get a complete assessment of the patients condition. Furthermore, the neurologist ISN'T the patients primary physician, nor the online medical direction; therefore they have NO INPUT to the situation. Knowing that the patient is not completely alert and oriented, and therefore UNABLE to make an informed decision; by definition, your partner breeched his duty to act and abandoned the patient. Since you did nothing (by your own story) to be the patients advocate, you're just as guilty as he is. It's my considered opinion that you should have contacted online med control to confirm this, and notify a supervisor about the issue, and your partner's lack of treatment and willingness to abandon the patient. The only thing I see that you can do now is write up an incident report, and hope that this whole situation doesn't come along and bite you in the ass. Ignorance of the law and protocols is NOT a valid defense in court!

Those that know me, know that I'm back in school to get relicensed. I'm having a bit of a 'problem' with some information presented in a test that is associated with the book we're using for the EMT-B portion of the course. Currently, we're using Brady's "Emergency Care: 11th Edition" Part of my course materials is a 'subscription' to an online service called "Course Compass". This is where the instructor is able to post study material, testing, etc. Recently, my instructor posted a 60 question test ( multiple answers). One of the questions on the test dealt with directional terminology. The book describes the body as being broken down into its simplest parts: the torso and the extremities. It goes further to describe the torso as the thorax and abdomen. Further, it states that the terms 'proximal' and 'distal' are used to describe locations on the extremities. Since the head is not included in the description of the torso, it's a logical conclusion that the head is considered an 'extremity' based on the above definition. 'Proximal' is defined as 'closer to the torso', and 'distal' is defined as 'further away from the torso'. With all that being said and accepted by the books definitions, the following statement SHOULD be a valid statement: The mouth is proximal to the nose. Unfortunately, when I picked that statement to be 'true', the computer marked it as a wrong answer.... Is there something wrong with My logic, or is this an example of 'bad information'?

Actually, the first line of the text said that. Fifty-five out of 100 people equals 55% 50 lashes for Donavan for poor comprehension and retention!

MDCH (Michigan Department of Community Health) answers the following question: What happens if my license expires? If your license is not renewed on or before the expiration date, you have a 60 day grace period after the expiration date to renew with paying an additional $50.00 late fee for a total of $75.00. If it is not renewed within those 60 days, your license will lapse. If your license expires, you cannot practice your profession, nor will you be able to identify yourself as being a licensed EMS professional. Working without a valid license is considered a felony under Michigan Law and will result in legal proceedings. http://www.michigan.gov/mdch/0,1607,7-132-...00.html#Expires Contact MDCH: General Information Telephone: 517-373-3740 Mailing Address: Capitol View Building 201 Townsend Street Lansing, Michigan 48913 Personally, since you have nothing to do with this company, I don't see any ramifications for notifying MDCH.