Why do we transport dead people?

[Off Label]

1 hour ago, scubanurse said:

True, I'm not talking about the extremes or rare cases here though.  I'm talking about the 80 year old who's spouse woke up and found them not breathing.

This would indicate they got pulses back though, correct?  Therefore they would not be transporting a dead person.

Oops...ya got me! Good job!

[Gkipp]

On December 27, 2015 at 10:20 PM, Off Label said:

cold water drowning, any hypothermic arrest. A colleague of mine took care of a young lady who went for a walk in 15 degree weather after drinking too much one evening and was found at sun up the next day... her clothes were literally frozen to the ground. Brought to the hospital in full arrest, placed on cardiopulmonary bypass and slowly rewarmed. She didn't miss any school as it happened on Christmas break. 

Not to be a dick here but I'm glad out of all of that she didn't miss any school days cause that's the important issue at hand  lol 

[Just Plain Ruff]

I think what Off Label was meaning was that it was amazing that she suffered minimally.  To suffer a cardiac arrest, go on bypass, slowly rewarm, and survive.  She was able to walk out of the hospital and return to school and not have missed any days, and all you got out of it that you were glad she didn't miss any school????  

 

I think you missed the entire forest for that Seqouia that your bus hit head on.  

 

The amazing result was that she didn't miss any days of school. In the not too distant past, she would have missed months and months of school and had to relearn everything she had ever learned if she had survived, but that she survived and didnt miss any school and was able to return to school is the amazing part of it all, all because of what they were able to do for her with medical advances in care.   

[Off Label]

5 hours ago, Ruffmeister Paramedic said:

I think what Off Label was meaning was that it was amazing that she suffered minimally.  To suffer a cardiac arrest, go on bypass, slowly rewarm, and survive.  She was able to walk out of the hospital and return to school and not have missed any days, and all you got out of it that you were glad she didn't miss any school????  

 

I think you missed the entire forest for that Seqouia that your bus hit head on.  

 

The amazing result was that she didn't miss any days of school. In the not too distant past, she would have missed months and months of school and had to relearn everything she had ever learned if she had survived, but that she survived and didnt miss any school and was able to return to school is the amazing part of it all, all because of what they were able to do for her with medical advances in care.   

Well, I think the comment brings up an interesting point and that is why do we do what we do in the first place. People usually come up with lofty answers like "to serve humanity" or "make the world a better place", but ultimately we all do what we do to restore our patients to the level of functioning that existed just prior to the event that got us involved. That is how we should measure what we do, I think, and that is all patient's can expect of us, given the circumstances.

The bar is set pretty high in some cases and not so much in others but at the end of the day, if someone can go back to school or a job or being a parent intact, it was a three point landing.

[Just Plain Ruff]

Yes, your bar was set that day extremely high, and yes he stuck the landing.   

[rock_shoes]

http://www.bcehs.ca/about/news-stories/news-roll/new-canadian-cardiac-resuscitation-system-trial-begins-in-bc

This is why we're starting to transport certain "dead people." For those meeting inclusion criteria (primarily prolonged VF/VT in a relatively young patient) a mechanical CPR device is applied and the patient transported for ECMO.