Just a friendly reminder to make your patient wear his seatbelts

[Dustdevil]

Vollies kill another one...

http://www.star-telegram.com/local/story/1914110.html

• Justin man dies after jumping from ambulance, officials say
  
  Posted Friday, Jan. 22, 2010
  
  BY BILL MILLER
  wmiller@star-telegram.com
  
  A Justin man died late Thursday from injuries he received while jumping from an ambulance that was taking him to the hospital, according to reports.
  
  The 29-year-old man died at 11:12 p.m. at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth, the Tarrant County medical examiner reported.
  
  The Star-Telegram generally does not report the names of suicide victims.
  
  Denton County Sheriff's deputies were called at 9:17 p.m. Thursday to the man's home in Justin, said Tom Reedy, sheriff's spokesman.
  
  The man, reportedly gripped by anxiety, had cut himself in the chest with a butcher knife and was running down the street, Reedy said.
  
  The man's grandmother called his sister, who then called the sheriff's deputies, Reedy said.
  
  Deputies found the man and then put him into an ambulance from the Justin Volunteer Fire Department, Reedy said. He was compliant and alert as he communicated with deputies, Reedy said.
  
  He said medics were taking the man to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Denton to be treated for the cuts and to evaluate his mental health, Reedy said.
  
  The ambulance traveled about half way on the 20-mile trip to Denton, Reedy said.
  
  But, while a medic was communicating with people at the hospital, the man "unbuckled the belts holding him to gurney, opened the door, stepped on the back bumper and jumped out," Reedy said.
  
  That happened on Farm Road 407 near the overpass for Interstate 35W, about 11 miles southwest of Denton.
  
  The man, Reedy added, suffered severe head injuries.
  
  He was taken by helicopter ambulance to Harris in Fort Worth, but he could not be saved, Reedy said.

[scubanurse]

Why do you feel the need to make the distinction vollies? Why not just say an EMS crew kills another one? Plenty of paid people make mistakes as well not just volunteers.

[P_Instructor]

This is why you should be looking at your patient while giving a radio report and not just looking at what is written on some form. Either way, who knows if the medic had enough time to grab the patient or notice the unbuckling to hinder the deathly egress.

[Niftymedi911]

ScoobyKate, he can bash them if he wants to, tis a free country. I find it comical sometimes. This issue and a majority of issues found with cases concerning vollies is plain and simple.... lack of medical oversight. Paid services have people who do that 24/7 (QA/QI). The paid services obtain training for their employees to be able to handle these types of calls. Just by reading what the news reporter wrote. The use of restraints was indicated with this incident. He presented with a classic case of agitated delirium, caused harm to himself (stabbed himself), and ran from authority. He's now a threat to himself, a threat to me, a threat to my partner, and a threat to anyone else on the road, while my partner is navigating the route. The unpredicability of mental patient's like this requires you to counteract that unpredictability and plan ahead. This guy wouldn't of step foot inside my ambulance without being restrained. Had the guy been properly restrained and monitored this would of never happened.

Oh crap I forgot to clarify restraints..... soft wrist restraints with police escort following behind the rig. Ativan or IN Versed at the ready just in case.

Edited January 26, 2010 by Niftymedi911

[spenac]

Well that was misleading, he was wearing seat belt. Now he should have been secured with cuffs and a cop in the ambulance as well. That is where this fail occurs, not with seat belts.

[Dustdevil]

Well that was misleading, he was wearing seat belt. Now he should have been secured with cuffs and a cop in the ambulance as well. That is where this fail occurs, not with seat belts.

Exactly. Cops do not dictate my practice. And if they are taking control of the patient, then they need to actually do so. Cop fail for not doing it. Volly fail for allowing it.

[WolfmanHarris]

And don't try to fart around fighting with the guy. As soon as the pt. looks like they're going to try to bail, have your partner pull over and stop and have to two of you deal with the issue. Whether that be having PD secure the pt, sedation, restraints or all of the above. I would way rather have to explain why my pt. took off running from a stopped vehicle, then why my pt. is a red smear on the road after jumping from my moving vehicle.