Between a rock and a hard place

[weasel]

Had further hassles on a job last night, same people involved. Am seriously considering making myself unavailable until I can talk to someone higher up next week (is weekend here now).

[medstudent30]

Here is another piece of some SOUND advice.......cover your ass..........as told in EMS classes..........DOCUMENT.....DOCUMENT.....DOCUMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you have to start making a paper trail........then if it goes legal......ya got some sort of documentation. [/font:7c5e7aeec9]

[Ridryder 911]

Where are you, Nazi Germany? Or communist China? You have rights in today’s western cultures. One of those fundamental rights is not to be discriminated against due to medical illness (BTW flashbacks are a classic symptom of PTSD).

Actually that is not correct. Part of EMS is to be emotional stable and be able to handle stressful events and crisis without compromises. The same is true even with physical disabilities ( not to bring up that damn hearing thing again). Yes, his employer has the right to enforce that he/she should demonstrate emotional stability. If there has been reported complaints of such, the employer has to take action.

Most employers would require an evaluation by a licensed physician or psychologist. After, being released then that person may return to work. Especially PTSD, in this stressful environment.

I am also wondering if your employer was aware of your PTSD, prior to employment?.. I am sure, like all other EMS and health care agencies there is a clause that states " is there any ailments or injuries that would prohibit employee from performing duties ?" .. if you did not inform them of such, they may not be held responsible as well.

Just because a working member becomes ill (albeit physical or emotional) does not exclude them from employee discipline.

The posts describe "The unsafe situation I was put/left in resulted in a minor injury, but it did require documenting at that point I was being told that the injury was my fault and I was 'fatigued' to cause it" so there was a situation.

We are only hearing one side of the story... if employees and administration feels the need to be concern, then I would wonder.

I am not against the poster.. I wish him luck. I would personally suggest to get a release statement from your counselor for proof of ability to return to work and then seek employment else where ASAP before slander to reputation occurs.

Again, I wish you the best of luck, and the hope of healthy life.

R/r 911

[weasel]

I have worked for the same ambulance service for 17 years and the same fire department for 10 years. It was only after a series of events at the end of 2003 and the start of 2004 that I was given the diagnosis of PTSD. The incidents that lead to this were both EMS and fire also my best friend was in the final stages of terminal cancer.

After getting over that period everything was alright until the death of my mother. Sometime after that things crashed again (and I am not sure the exact extent this played other than a significant event). Which was when I confided in a person I trusted who then betrayed that trust.

The incident earlier in the week was a fire incident where I was left on a hose line on my own (a 2 person job) at one point I started to lose control of the nozzle and sustained a injury but was able to regain control and continued to work on my own for a further 20 or so minutes when my SCBA became low on air. I did not withdraw earlier as I was holding my own and basically prior niggles/complications I didn't want to appear weak.

From November last year I have a psychologists report saying that I am not and was not displaying any PTSD symptoms. My service has pretty much ignored this and have taken their own stand.

Which for all my research appears to be wrong. I will be following this matter up after the weekend.

I have had enough of this series of events leaving me feeling both worthless and powerless and will pursue this to an agreeable or non contestable conclusion.

[Arachne]

Does your country have some form of provincial or national safety organization, either general or fire/EMS focused? It might be worth investigating if these problems are in violation of laws/regulations - if they are you may be able to get help from outside your company.