Rule of acquisition 285: No good deed ever goes unpunished.
"I call a cab 'cause a cab will come quicker." - Flavor Flav
Fun fact. I slashed my wrist with a broken bottle at a party once. Had someone call an ambulance. They said nothing major hit. Wrapped me up. Asked if I wanted a ride.
I said no cause it's dumb money. Then I asked how to pay them. They said they only charge for rides. It blew my mind. My potentially life saving call didn't cost me anything. (Its over $1,000 for an ambulance ride).
I told them I'm good now and got a ride to the ER. Expensive stitches after waiting for hours. I should've taken off the bandage and walked in dripping blood.
It blows my mind that calling an ambulance could ever cost money.
When you need an ambulance, seconds could mean the difference between life and death.
Putting a decision in front of it that could financially ruin you or the person you're helping is absolutely bonkers.
Yep. I was 20 years old nearly living check to check. A medical bill of $1,000+ on top of the hundreds for the ER would've stung bad.
"I SAVED YOUR LIFE !"
"You ruined my death"
Incredible
is that a quote from somewhere cause i swear it sounds familiar
First responder here. The DNR doesn't mean a damn thing until it is literally in your hands. Until that time you respond as though there is no DNR. If you're wrong and they did have one but just didn't have it on hand then you accidentally save someones life, you're still legally in the clear, and I guess they can just die sometime later. But if the DNR turns out not to be real/legitimate and you didn't act just because you were told there was one then you just killed someone and you're completly fucked.
If you have a family member that has a DNR then be damn sure everyone knows where that thing is because unless you have it physically there when they are dieing then it doesn't mean anything.
Of course in places like nursing homes there is a different procedure. They know who has one on file and they will usually tell dispatch about it before the ambulance is even sent. But if it happens just in your home or someplace then the ambulance crew can't just take your word for it; they need the document in hand.
The DNR doesn’t mean a damn thing until it is literally in your hands.
How does the DNR get into the first responder's hand in practice? Do you get an emergency call and drive there as fast as you can through red lights with your siren on only to be greeted by a relative that made the call handing you the DNR document?
But if the DNR turns out not to be real/legitimate
Are you responsible for validating its legitimacy while in the field, when every second counts?
You've usually planned out the end with your partner/family/caretaker if you have a DNR and they would more than likely be ready to produce your DNR (and medical history) when you need to call an ambulance or go to a hospital for any reason.
Sometimes, yes, many times a family member may call EMS to hand them the DNR, this ensures proper procedures are followed when dealing with the body, less mess, and a quicker certification of death. It may also be important in situations where the person is influencial or rich and ensures you cannot be accused of foul play.
No, DNRs have certain things that make them official, signatures and notarized markings. Usually one person will begin life saving measures while the ither verifies the DNR. EMS never work alone.
EMS is such a worthy occupation. I admire EMS workers so much.
i asked my first aid instructor about DNR and he responded with a very firm "you didn't see it".
Only medical professionals are bound by a DNR for a good reason.
And we are only bound by a DNR IF we have the actual document in hand. Or as EMS, if CPR has already been started when we arrive, we are automatically obligated to continue. If it ain't written down, it never happened. Nursing homes are supposed to provide the documents any time we transport such a patient as part of their medical history papers. And yes, we treat and transport a lot of such patients with a DNR that needs to go to a hospital for some reason.
Worst case scenario, entering a home with family gathered and grandma has a heart attack. And half the family wants me to start CPR and the other half tries to tell me grandma to let grandma go. I will ask them if they have the documents and they don't answer me because they are too busy fighting each other to respond to me. And my poor driver is trying to literally breakup a fight while I'm doing CPR.
Source: A very old and happily retired medic
yeah that makes perfect sense.
non-medical professionals should not care about DNR orders, bracelets, whatevers. Because what if it's fake and you can't tell the difference from a real one? You could, unknowingly, help someone commit a murder, or let a temporarily unstable person die, sure you'd be innocent, but guilt and trauma doesn't care about your innocence
I was gonna call this cap because CPR that long after collapse has infinitesimally small odds, but I looked it up and turns out I'm wrong. CPR anyone you see down!
My understanding was always that CPR isn't meant to revive someone its meant to keep them viable for revival by people with better training/equipment.
If you're really good at CPR they often regain consciousness while you are doing chest compressions and complain. Every time you pause, they die again
Yeah, basically you're trying to force some circulation through the brain by manually pumping the heart - which is as much about clearing the waste buildup out of the brain as it is getting fresh oxygen to the brain, and also about preventing clots (which will later cause aneurysms when the blood starts flowing normally). Everything else is essentially expendable/repairable/replaceable.
Even the breathing part isn't very important, though the initial check to make sure the airway is clear is very important. If you're doing the chest compressions right, you'll force some airflow through the lungs anyway. The important part is getting the blood to circulate. Having stagnant blood sitting in the brain is really bad.
The current CPR procedure recommends 100-120 chest compressions of at least 2" (5cm) per minute. You are going to hurt them. You may crack their ribs. You need to compress the heart through their ribs and muscle and other tissue that's in the way. Even if you're in good physical shape, it is an exhausting thing to do. It's definitely something worth learning to do correctly - take a class if you can! You can absolutely save someone's life if their heart stops.
They also talk about snow. The cold slows down bodily functions.
Nobody is dead until they are warm and dead.
NTA, if he wanted to die he should've done it behind closed doors
In cancer world this is why patients are instructed to print in large letters “AMBULANCE” on an envelope pasted to their fridge. It informs anyone coming to their house to not resuscitate . So likewise it Should be on neighbour to inform everyone of his DNR before calling a lawyer or laying any blame. You have no ability to see his chart as a bystander. He should own that. Nothing was stopping him from going around and informing his neighbours to not try to resuscitate if he expected any less. And that is on him.
In cancer world
Worst amusement park ever
Could have been worse. He could have been from a culture in which saving someone’s life means that you become responsible for them for the rest of their life. Then you’d have had to rig up some kind of situation in which he saves your life so you become even.
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