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The nearly undeniable urge to murder an innocent bystander.
An accident occurred behind me in traffic today, 18 wheeler vs car, luckily just a glancing blow to the front quarter panel.
I called the accident in to dispatch and began assessing the patient to the best of my ability, Concious (Although I believe she may have just regained concious after a brief time when I reached her vehicle) confused (Where am I, what happened) but speaking very clearly. no visible head injuries, no complaints of head pain, a complaint of shoulder pain, a notch/dent that looked to me like a possible broken collar bone and no other visible injuries. The vehicle was stable, sitting in the grass off the road and no visible fluid leaks or other immediate concerns. The patient also appeared pretty stable and was trying to exit the vehicle. I asked her if should would please just stay seated for now until the medics arrived to check her out and she agreed. A bystander had run up at the same time as I did and was standing nearby during this.
I asked him to just stand there and if there was any change in her alertness or how she looked let me know right away and I headed over to check on the truck driver who I had yet to see emerge from the truck. I got 15 feet from the car and looked back to see that the bystander had pulled the patient from the car, was supporting her by the left arm (Remember the possibly broken collar bone) and nearly dragging her to another vehicle. I could see in her face that it was excruciating. He made it to the other vehicle before I could intervene and when I asked what the hell he was doing he said "The air bag started to catch fire" I tried to explain that some dust or what appears to be smoke is not unusual but he told me the airbag was actually on fire (It wasn't) I resisted the urge to choke the living crap out of this guy for causing this poor woman this excess pain and potentially doing further damage to her, waited for PD, City fire (I'm with the county department and this one was in city limits) and EMS to arrive, explained to the PD that I had not seen the actual accident and that guy over there is a f'in moron and asked to be released and was on my merry way.
The more I think about it the more I want to go back and punch that guy.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mark Oomkes on
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Exactly.
Wasn't aware of your certification or lack of.
Either way, you did the right thing.
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Permalink Reply by WestPhilly on
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Eric,
The untrained civilian bystander saw "smoke" coming from the air bag and believed the car was on fire - just like they always are on television and in the movies. He did what he thought was right. I can really hold that against him.
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Permalink Reply by Eric Gregory on
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I wasn't aware of the abandonment issue after a bit of research I understand it now. The county here is working on getting a training class together to get some of us certified as medical first responders. I'm sure I'll learn more about that then.
Thanks for the input. I came here to vent and learned a valuable bit of information.
Thanks
Eric
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Very true, I don't blame the guy, but it was just very frustrating to see that lady go through that extra pain and possible additional injury when it was unnecessary. I guess I learned that perhaps I need to be a little more clear with bystanders if I'm going to have them stand by like that.
Thanks for the input.
Eric
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Permalink Reply by Ernie Scheinert on
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I am not a medical responder either, although, I am hoping to get into an EMT-B course if they offer one nearby soon. The issue of abandonment was discussed in our FF Cert. class so that we were aware of the legal ramifications, for us and our respective departments, if we were to begin treatment, or even physical assessment, and leave the patient before EMTs arrive.
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I meant to say, I can't really hold...
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No sweat.
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