Man dies after 911 calls go for naught

[Wassit3]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100228/ap_on_re_us/us_snow911_death

[Jeffy25]

obviously very sad.

Obviously tragic, obviously no one's direct fault, other than mother nature.

But I would like to quote the widow.


"I'm very angry, because I feel they didn't do their job like they supposed to," said Edge, 51. "My man would still be living if they'da did they job like they was supposed to ... They took somebody that I love away."

Yeah, let's blame everybody else.

It sucks, but come on...keep it in context....and I bet Bingle would love this grammar.

[Jeffy25]

but that doesn't change this:


• Details of Mitchell's calls weren't passed on from one 911 operator to another as shifts changed, so each call was treated as a new incident.

• Twice, ambulances were as close as a quarter-mile from Mitchell's home but drivers said deep snow prevented the vehicles from crossing a small bridge over railroad tracks to reach him. Mitchell was told each time he'd have to walk through the snow to the ambulances; in neither case did paramedics walk to get him.

• Once, an ambulance made it across the bridge and was at the opposite end of the block on the narrow street where the couple lived — a little more than a football field's length. Again, paramedics didn't try to walk.

[Jeffy25]

This


Edge and Mitchell met eight years ago in an emergency room. Both were getting their medications under control for their mental illnesses, she said. He was being treated for depression; she has bipolar disorder.

Reminds me of the Hushpuppy shuttle driver, who drives drunks to a strip club on the east side of Cape after bar's close to where his wife works as a dancer.

Makes you wonder how some people meet.

[rockiesfan4ever]

I do like what the Safety Officer said about how the Paramedics failed

[dps]

The 911 operators not passing on the info to the next shift is bad procedure, but in and of itself probably not that big a factor. The ambulance crews not walking to the residence when they were a quarter of a mile or less away is inexcusable.

[SirKodiak]

The government will protect you, they promise.

[Jeffy25]

The government will protect you, they promise.

:rolleyes:

[guidi2009]

The government will protect you, they promise.

Saying this about local paramedics? come on. Not even Rush would say this.

[filihok]

Saying this about local paramedics? come on. Not even Rush would say this.

Perhaps what she should have done was started her own ambulance and snow plowing services. That way her husband would be alive AND she could have employed a few people like a true American hero.

The taxes were probably too high though

[guidi2009]

Perhaps we can have a bidding process when someone needs an ambulance. Four different trucks could show up at the location and family members can haggle them down. This would create competition and drive prices down.

[TheNamelessPoet]

Perhaps we can have a bidding process when someone needs an ambulance. Four different trucks could show up at the location and family members can haggle them down. This would create competition and drive prices down.

literaly lol'd at that one.

But seriously... it was bad on their part that they didnt walk when they said it was the other end of the block... BUT... look at the flipside... if they were unable to carry him due to risk of more injury to himself OR or themselves...


no matter the situation it doesnt look good

[HoustonGM]

BUT... look at the flipside... if they were unable to carry him due to risk of more injury to himself OR or themselves...
They couldn't know that unless they actually got to him to assess the situation.

[filihok]

I wish StreetMedic would grace us with his presence here, but I guess that I'll have to do.

I had my EMT license for 2 years (never renewed) and volunteered with the DPS at a community nearby to where I lived. It was a small community and I never got to run any really exciting calls but I got to talk to some guys who did

Rule #1 was take care of yourself. Having 2 patients is never better than having 1 patient.

I don't see how this situation was particularly dangerous though.

It doesn't snow a lot in NM but the most similar call that I remember hearing about occurred at the top of Sandia Peak. There is a tram that takes about 20 minutes to carry you up to the top of the peak where there is a restaurant. You can also drive up, but you have to go around to the other side of the mountain and it takes a long time.

So, there's a call for something up at the restaurant. The EMT's don't have much choice but to take all their gear up on the Tram to the patient (the chopper was off doing other things). If these guys can take their gear up to the top of a mountain it seems these guys could walk a block.

I'm sure SM could shed a lot more light on this than I can though.

[filihok]

Yeah, let's blame everybody else.

I didn't read this the first time


"We failed this person," said Michael Huss, the city's public safety director.

To be sure, Mitchell's ordeal unfolded as the storm dumped nearly two feet of snow on Pittsburgh; the 911 system was swamped with more than twice as many calls as usual and overall emergency response was hampered.
Regardless of how deep the snow was, Huss said it was unacceptable that paramedics didn't walk to help Mitchell. If they had, Huss believes Mitchell may have survived.

"... You get out of that damn truck and you walk to the residence," Huss said. "That's what needed to happen. We could have carried him out."

[TheNamelessPoet]

I didn't read this the first time

I dindt read the article.
nice catch fili

[haveacigar]

Yeah, let's blame everybody else.



WTF? What the hell is that? Who were they supposed to blame, the person who got sick?

[gRYFYN1]

I beleive this man has previously commented on this subject ,,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-y7f6no-_8

[Jeffy25]

I didn't read this the first time

I know, I was just talking about her verbage...but in my next post, I also add, that it doesn't change all the negatives that were other people's faults.

[haveacigar]

I know, I was just talking about her verbage...but in my next post, I also add, that it doesn't change all the negatives that were other people's faults.

I'm not sure my sentences would be very grammatical if someone I cared about just died.

[filihok]

I know, I was just talking about her verbage...but in my next post, I also add, that it doesn't change all the negatives that were other people's faults.

I'm really, honestly, not trying to to be a dick or rehash our ugly moment from the other day but...what?

[Jeffy25]

She just sounds like she is ready to blame everyone else, when mother nature had a lot to do with the tragic loss.

It doesn't change the fact that the paramedics didn't come and get the guy, when it sounds like they could have.

If I was her, I doubt I would go on record saying that they took him away from me....that's all I really saying...because it does sound like she is directly blaming them....when I believe other factors were present.

Fili, you said it yourself, don't create a second patient....maybe factors were too extreme that the paramedics couldn't get to him that the article didn't state?

[guidi2009]

She just sounds like she is ready to blame everyone else, when mother nature had a lot to do with the tragic loss.

It doesn't change the fact that the paramedics didn't come and get the guy, when it sounds like they could have.

If I was her, I doubt I would go on record saying that they took him away from me....that's all I really saying...because it does sound like she is directly blaming them....when I believe other factors were present.

Fili, you said it yourself, don't create a second patient....maybe factors were too extreme that the paramedics couldn't get to him that the article didn't state?


:rolleyes:

[SirKodiak]

Saying this about local paramedics? come on. Not even Rush would say this.

Nah, I am not talking about paramedics, or any people in emergency services. It was a general reference to the mentality of people who expect the gov't to always be there, and don't understand why some people take measures to protect themselves. Was probably a bad place to make the comment.

[haveacigar]

She just sounds like she is ready to blame everyone else, when mother nature had a lot to do with the tragic loss.

It doesn't change the fact that the paramedics didn't come and get the guy, when it sounds like they could have.

If I was her, I doubt I would go on record saying that they took him away from me....that's all I really saying...because it does sound like she is directly blaming them....when I believe other factors were present.

Fili, you said it yourself, don't create a second patient....maybe factors were too extreme that the paramedics couldn't get to him that the article didn't state?

People usually speak very rationally immediately after losing a loved one.

[StreetMedic]

Sorry I'm late to the party on this, guys.

(And thanks for the nod, Fili. :) )

I've witnessed, over the years, the pitfalls of Monday-morning-quarterbacking some second-hand version of a call being related, say, at shift change. There always seems to be some mitigating factoid that gets left out that would make things less damning than they appear at first blush. I said something similar here (http://www.sportsmogul.com/vbulletin2/showpost.php?p=1422845&postcount=6), a couple months back.

But, anyway, yeah, assuming the story (like the one in that other thread) can be trusted in its entirety, I'd say it's a ginormous fail by the responding crews.

I have gotten out of the truck and trudged through freakin' waist-high snow banks, or down a street that proved impassable for our truck, or across a highway that was (quite literally) a sheet of ice.

My partners and I have sat at the bottoms of hills, called our dispatcher ("fire alarm") to tell them that we could not get up the street (on foot or otherwise), and requested a plow or sander truck to our location. Then we've stood by there, still attached to the incident, until the appropriate agency showed up to clear or treat the surface so we could get to our patient. Most municipalities I've worked in have pretty decent public works departments, at least to the extent that if they know emergency crews are trying to reach the scene of a call, they'll make equipment available right away (hell, in conditions like that, it's all usually already out there working, anyway), shoot them over to where we need them, and then get back to their previous business. Sure, it delays your response a bit, but it gets you where you need to go and (equally importantly, usually) safely back out again. It's never really been a big deal, in my experience. Not sure why it was, in this case.

That's all I'll say for now, as this thread's been stagnant for a few days. If it percolates back to life, I'll discuss. ;)