A holy shit moment but again here's the media

[Just Plain Ruff]

Again, the media is making this out like it's a HUGE world ending story.

http://www.jems.com/video/news/family-blames-new-mexico-medics-fall-cot

And the reported made sure to put in that both employee's will be drug tested.

Plus not once in the cell phone video does is the family seen by their grandmothers side.

And one other thing, why did the ambulance service who dropped her get to transport her back to the hospital.

if this was my grandmother, I would be on the phone with 911 asking for the emergency provider in my area to respond.

[island emt]

Looks like the family is more interested in a lawsuit than what happened to cause this.

If grandma has been living with them for 6 yrs and is in a hospital bed: my guess is there are underlying medical conditions.

Just saying

[Ridryder 911]

This is an unfortunate incident. Yes, there was definitely an incident, now ... did this cause ALL those stated problems? I doubt it.

Yes, they will sue the EMS.. and yes, they will probably settle out and or win. I did not hear if the patient was immediately taken to examined to the ED, etc...?

YES, the family appears to be already counting the money. Yeah, mamma appears to be post stroke state and WHO knows how long, she has not been NORMAL?..

It was an occurrence, something unfortunately (or similar event) we or hear that happens daily within EMS or anytime a patient so happens to be on an object that has wheels. So let the lawyers start the bidding war, let the QI review if all the straps were on appropriately, the stretcher did not malfunction and so on...

.

I will comment for the most part, the medics appeared to keep their composure and start appropriate CYA treatment.

Best of luck for the transport company, and the medics and re-training..

R/r 911

[triemal04]

Ouch, shitty situation to be in. While I think it's highly unlikely that the fall was the cause of the change in the grandmother's mentation there could technically have been cause there, so this may not have a happy ending for the EMT's and the company.

Even with the state that the lady was in prior (and from a couple of comments at the end of the clip it sounds like she always had little intertaction with family), if she really was back at the house within "30 minutes" of the incident, nothing was really done for her at the ER, so proving that no additional damage was done would be hard. It's only a guess that she was transported, but I can't imagine that after falling from the gurney a company with any sense wouldn't transport her to the ER free of charge just as a CYA.

I'd be curious to hear what exactly happened from the EMT's who were there, but it looks like the gurney fell over on it's side; why is up in the air, but even with all straps on, that'd still be a problem. I'll reserve judgement until all the info is out (which is unlikely), but I'm unfortunately leaning towards this being caused by operator error.

[Just Plain Ruff]

yes I agree on all counts Triemal.

this is a teachable moment for all in EMS, your cot is not infallable and it can fail and most of the time will fail at the most inoportune moment, especially the moment when the family will see you and turn on their camera phones.

This I am going to bet will not end well for the transport company nor the emt's in question. They might want to start polishing up their resume's and try to find some good wordings on how to polish the turd that they were given when they dropped poor ole gramma.

But there is really no way to shine a turd, it in the end is still a turd and in the end, they still dropped granny and that's all any good ole compassionate jury will see if it gets to a jury.

[island emt]

There is always a risk when moving a pt with the stretcher in the up position.

Hit a small hole and drop a wheel it's all over unless you & your partner have a solid grip on it.

They are inherently unstable in that position as the center of balance is high and the small footprint of the wheels makes it easy to tip.

One of the reasons old time ferno 's where always on the ground and dead lifted up into ambulance.

Then they figured out that that was a cause of numerous career ending back injuries for the providers doing the lifting.

At some point in the video someone says they hit the curb?????????

Edited March 18, 2014 by island emt

[triemal04]

Likely bullshit medical claims aside, the biggest problem being faced here is that it's very likely the fault of the 2 EMT's. While real gurney malfunctions do happen, just by design and how they are used it's much, much more likely that the patient ended up on the ground due to operator error.

I've had a couple times that when front wheels of the gurney hit a small obstruction (in one case a floor mat just inside the ER that was folded over on itself) and due to how the gurney was loaded and where the weight was, it started to tip forward...caught it easily both times, but if I hadn't...guess who's fault that would have been...

Just another take home lesson that moving someone around on a small wheel-base while they are 4 feet in the air can have bad consequences if you aren't paying attention.

[Just Plain Ruff]

Likely bullshit medical claims aside, the biggest problem being faced here is that it's very likely the fault of the 2 EMT's. While real gurney malfunctions do happen, just by design and how they are used it's much, much more likely that the patient ended up on the ground due to operator error.

I've had a couple times that when front wheels of the gurney hit a small obstruction (in one case a floor mat just inside the ER that was folded over on itself) and due to how the gurney was loaded and where the weight was, it started to tip forward...caught it easily both times, but if I hadn't...guess who's fault that would have been...

Just another take home lesson that moving someone around on a small wheel-base while they are 4 feet in the air can have bad consequences if you aren't paying attention.

Yeah, but how many of us wheel the patient from place to place in the full upright position. It's how I was taught and experience is often the best remedial tutor. (I speak from expereince but not as bad as this one). So maybe we should be teaching our colleagues that the cot should be at a lower level rather than at the fully extended height.

[triemal04]

Unless the ground is rough or unstable or it's an...exceptionally...large...person I keep the gurney fully raised all the time. It really isn't the safest and is more dangerous, but it's also the easiest and safest way for the people pushing/pulling it. Like I said, while catastrophic failures of the gurney do happen, most likely it'll be operator error.

The problem is there isn't a great solution; while the gurney should be keep low if the ground isn't smooth, pushing or pulling while bent over is much worse for the back...so....damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Which is why not getting complacent is so important.

[ERDoc]

I think we will be seeing more and more of this as our pts get bigger and bigger. That center of gravity will keep moving higher and become more unstable. We will get to the point where the slightest breeze will push them over.