DOA's

[brentoli]

How does your service handle the DOA? Do you do morgue transport? Is PD required at all DOA scenes for you? What about the family, do you have any special training in helping the family?

Here, we make contact with the coroner, who asks questions to establish if he must respond to the scene or not. Then we wait for the funeral home, or a local service that does morgue transport.

[StickEm]

We go in, look it over, and call the coroner. Then PD stays to wait for the coroner.

[itku2er]

We pick them up and take them to the hospital where the ER MD pronounces them. Then depending on the supspected cause they either go to Ronoake for an autospy or they go to the funeral home.

[Happiness]

We go in, wait for the rcmp if not present, they will get in touch with the coroner, If there is no coroner on island then the closest one will be called and we chat on the phone and I answere all her/his questions. If it is determined the cause of death and the coroner isn't required on scene we take the body to the mourge. If a coroner is required then we wait for them as we will transport to the morge. As for the special training we are taught to look at the people around us because you may go to a scene and aquire new patients. I always just like to talk to the people who may have found the person and make sure they know were to go and encourge them to go for help. I just had one of these yesterday and the two that were on call hadn't had a DOA I went to make sure that someone showed them how to do the call and the paper work. I hope I was able to show them that being a paramedic isn't always about savings lives, it's also helping the ones left after the ones you couldn't help.

[fallout]

We respond to scene and determine if the patient presents with the common criteria for withholding resuscitation. If so, we release the scene to PD and go back in service.

[Richard B the EMT]

If FDNY EMS responds to an obvious death, say, with rigor and dependant lividity, cold to touch and negative respiration and pulse, we have the authority to pronounce "Assumption of Death," and the Medical Examiner's office usually uses our time of pronouncement for legal records. If not already on the scene, we request the NYPD respond to "protect" the deceased, leave a copy (multi page ambulance call report) with them, provide some emotional support, to best of ability, to the bereaved family, and go available for our next assignment. Official wording is, "DOA, left with PD, not removed.

We used to have a policy, if the patient was not in public view, we would leave the deceased as just described. If the patient was in public view, we would either make attempt to treat, while removing to the nearest appropriate ED, or, with PD authorization, remove to the morgue.

Now, all DOA removals are done by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, or, if the patient's doctor states willingness to sign a death certificate, the body will be released to a funeral home. There are specifics I am not fully aware of regarding this.

[spenac]

Call the funeral home, the police, and the JP. When either arrive we go home.

We comfort family best we can. If we have some HFS(hysterical female syndrome) we may wait around a little longer if we do not get another call.

[riskynremtp]

Confirm S-10, Call Coroner, Coroner arrives, back in service.

[travis]

i was on 3 in one week once on two we went in saw the person was doa and called the funeral home on the other we called the funeral home and stuck around to help move the body out of the house pd was never involved

[p3medic]

If we declare a patient dead, we notify the medical examiners office, give a brief report of our findings and fax them a copy of the report. We also will fax a copy to the district police station. Once I've written my report and contacted the ME, police will remain on scene until either the ME or funeral home takes custody of the body. I did drive a burned 5 yo f to the morgue once several years ago, but that was a unique situation. If your declared dead, you don't get a ride with me.