Personal question

[Connie31079]

Not necessairily the "grossest" thing I've ever seen, but certainly the most heartbreaking to me, so far, in my 16 years in EMS......and it's happened to me twice.

Just finished talking to friends, and then called shortly thereafter to respond to a motor-vehicle accident, and it's my friend who I just finished talking to 10 minutes before.

I dunno, I can't help but think if I had talked to them for another few minutes, they'd still be here? But I guess it was their time to go.....still doesn't make it any easier though.

You know how hard it is to work a traumatic code on one of your best friends?

[EMT-B 55]

1971 in Vietman, 19 yr old with unexploded RPG in abdomen plus shrapnel everywhere

[Michael]

To those who took the original poster to task for having asked, I would cut him some slack. He has said in other posts that he is considering changing careers in order to become a paramedic. Those who work in this field may forget, or else they never knew, how ignorant John Q. Public is about what it entails. Many people have only fleeting or no encounters with emergency service providers. In another thread it was stated in passing that a pt. expects to have two EMTs show up, but until I learned the routines, I didn't know that, and although I have had to call 911 several times for family members, it never occurred to me to "expect" any particular number of people to show up, nor could I have guessed what their levels of training were. In a hospital room when the red light and siren went off, there were suddenly eight people crowded around a bed. Why eight? Why two? The public doesn't know unless it asks. My guess is that all most people want is to get the care they need, and they're at an advantage if they don't believe what they see on TV, if they watch TV. And TV won't show what actually awaits EMTs.

Before starting a costly training in a new field, it makes sense to inquire after the facts in order to assess whether one's stomach is or can become strong enough to manage it. Before I stared to train, I asked the same question of a friend who was an EMT, and then asked several other informed people. If I didn't happen to have known an EMT, I might have found this site and asked here, where a broader spectrum of responses is available. It seems rational to want to learn the worst aspect of a prospective activity. How dangerous is it, how distasteful is it, how will I be called upon to grow to meet what's demanded of me, can I do it? Someone considering working at a pistol range should ask how loud does it get in there; someone considering applying to law school may not know whether lawyers are required to defend the actions of someone they "know" to be guilty. I'm sure judges, prison guards, sanitation workers, high-school teachers, soldiers, and babysitters field such questions regularly without taking offense.

I don't sense that morbid curiosity drove the question here, though outside this context it certainly could, and I'm sure y'all would handle that occurence gracefully and redemptively. The tone of Holocene's several posts at this site suggests something other than ghoulishness, so I wouldn't want to tar him with the same brush.

[Ridryder 911]

I agree, but as a person interested in this field, one should be aware it is not the "gross" things that apparently have the long lasting or emotional impact. True, curiosity is understandable and allowed.

R/r 911

[hammerpcp]

To those who took the original poster to task for having asked, I would cut him some slack.

I am not sure anyone took the poster to "task". I did indeed question his motives though.

Once you have been asked this question by every other person you meet (who are not asking because they want to become involved in the field), you may also question them. For the most part the question displays only a complete lack of insensitivity on the askers part.

This is a difficult job and there is a lot of human suffering involved, both witnessed and experienced. Simply by asking "what is the grossest thing you've seen" a person is devaluing the importance and effect of this pain and suffering. They are not empathizing with the difficulties of this job, or with the patients or families of pt's that are actually experiencing unpleasantness of one form or another. They are not appreciating the self that is put into it. They are assuming that we are unaffected. They are assuming that our pts are unaffected. The asker has a distance from the actual humanity of any event. It is like TV to them. It isn't real; it's of no real consequence. They want to know for shock value. They want to know for the same reasons people are fascinated by violence on the news, why people slow down at accident scenes to get a better look. It isn't empathy that motivates. It isn't a desire to help. I for one do not like to be entertainment for people who think so little of others as to even ask this. I do accept your explanation for this persons possible motivations and that is fine. However, the vast majority of the time there are no higher motives.

I think that this question also displays a degree of ignorance about EMS. They assume that we deal with blood and guts all the time, that every call is a trauma call. This is also a display of disregard for others, since they have not bothered to learn about the profession in any way shape or form before asking stupid questions meant only to entertain them. If a person even thinks on the nature of EMS for a minute, they would realize that the majority of our calls are medical. It is only logical. And a lot of the time we are called simply because someones own coping skills are overwhelmed. I do a hell of a lot more then scrap body parts off the road. And like Rid said, those are often not even the events that have the biggest emotional/psychological repercussions.

Get it?

[Timmy]

I agree with hammerpcp its not only the trauma we see but it can be the patients last words, or when the little kid looks you in the eye or when there’s nothing you can do for the patient, those hurt the most.

Last year when I was on holidays with my family we stoped at an MVA cars vs semi trailer. You couldn't tell that it was a car, you couldn’t tell if the occupants inside were human, there was that much destruction.

When the ambulance finally arrived, the medic jumped out and ran over to the car screaming. It was his whole family. He'd lost his wife, kids and brother. That medic unfortunately took his life. Things like that are just devastating,

You can also have ‘what could I have done better to help that patient’ or ‘did I do that right’ playing over and over in your head.

[tniuqs]

Quote:

"Michael"]To those who took the original poster to task for having asked, I would cut him some slack.

Michael: I can't see where anyone here has been too harse at all, I think that you may be a bit over sensitive to the comments provided. I think Holocene got exactly what he asked for..... education and in-sight, dare to ask hard questions dare to receive hard answers, in fact he apologized for asking because the realizing that this can be a very sensitive topic for some that in itself speaks volumes, I don't believe that he needs someone to defend him at all. A lot of these posts really spoke from their hearts and please don't think of it as easy but in fact it could be very therapeutic for some to get it out, put it on paper, and hit SEND.

Just a premature conclusion by myself but the "gross" things persay are not really the most difficult situations for EMS providers. In fact its the humanity side of things that is the real trend here..... quite reveling....... hey EMS workers are actually humans too! WOW!

Quote:

quoting Micheal:I don't sense that morbid curiosity drove the question here, though outside this context it certainly could, and I'm sure y'all would handle that occurence gracefully and redemptively. The tone of Holocene's several posts at this site suggests something other than ghoulishness, so I wouldn't want to tar him with the same brush.

Just to be crystal clear here:

Quoting myself: I believe its blatant morbid curiosity, edit (its a human trait) but agreed totally it is annoying and quite rude to my way of thinking. edit (the point here) I have often been at a social gathering when someone asks the standard question.

I think R/r and hammerpcp summed this up nicely. I too have had some nightmares "that wake me up in a cold sweat" that I (can't remember) when I do wake. How about 8 arrests in one shift and not one survived....hmm.....I was the last person to ever talk to those good folks........ How about 16 burned to death in a train wreck, then 96 more to give care too with some being the living relative's....don't think that haunts me? I rarely get into this type of topic because one just can't explain this to the lay person, or even an ex wife :roll: Then someone decide's to post their religious values or beliefs believing that their way is the only way, now that does frost me to be certian.

... so like I was saying back to the free shrimp and doubles.....cheers.

[dropdeded]

3 year old little boy. 2nd and 3rd degree, 60 % , mostly above the waist, degloved himself (both hands) before we arrived.

ed

[rat115]

The ones that would qualify as the grossest that I've seen would either be the farm hand that got electrocuted working on a center pivot. The smell was something never to be forgotten and the poor guy drove himself to the highway while talking on the cell phone to dispatch with 2 badly burned hands. Or the truck driver who got his hand degloved and some of his fingers amputated by an auger.

The worst....I had a call that ended up with the husband of a friend of mine having a MI due to a clogged artery and I was first on the scene. Looking into her eyes and knowing that I couldn't do anything for him......

Ranking right up there as second place would have been the morning of the 4th of July. We had some kids go to a party, get drunk and start carsurfing. One got ran over, one fell off of the top of the vehicle as it was stopping. EMS arrived on scene about 30 minutes after the actual accident because of how far out it was and the fact that the others in the vehicle too a long time pulling together to call for help. The boy (20) who was run over was in code and was never able to be revived. As we were finishing cleaning up from taking the other "surfer" to the airport for transport to a higher lever of care, the father of the kid who didn't make it came up and asked if we (those of us still at the shed) at been on the call that morning and tearfully thanked us for what we did. I'll never forget the sadness in his eyes or the lack of hope in his voice.

[Rezq304]

One call stands out in my mind:

1-Two vehicle MVC, head on collision. Honda Accord vs. older motor home. First sight out of the patient compartment onto the scene looked like a war zone. The motor home was mostly wood and had splintered on impact into a million pieces. The accident involved a total of six patients including two 5 year old girls & a 21 year old driver 3 months pregnant. To make a long story short, the driver was pinned by the sterring wheel and she didn't make it. One of the 5 year olds didn't make it either. Of the other 4 patients, 3 were flown. Out extrication time on the female driver was 30+ minutes. When we took the female to the morgue. As we were wheeling in the stretcher, the doctor is doing the autopsy on the 5 year old. That is an image that will always be with me.