No. It is not....infact, it's kinda the job. But if it makes you feel better, this is protocol in most of the country and has been for a while. LA county is finally catching up. But then again..... there are better places to have an MI.
The reality is, that without ROSC (return of spontaneous circulation), your dead anyway. Sorry. These patients have a miniscule chance of survival, even in a hospital. It may sound cold hearted and mean, but it's the truth.
My county has one of the best survival rates for cardiac arrest in the whole country. It's around 30 percent.
The cardiac arrest didn't kill him.....30 years of bacon cheeseburgers killed him.
We had similar protocols here during the worst of the outbreak. EMT’s don’t make the decisions. They follow their protocols and call the hospital for medical direction. An emergency physician makes the decision.
For reasons I have to question, my family still lives in CA, basically South Bay in LA. Its not as bad as you think, its worse, because the news is filtered. The hospitals are overwhelmed by Hispanics - mostly non English speakers. God only knows if they are recently arrived from Mexico or not. We all know the Mexican hospital system collapsed last year, so the logic says they are illegals.
So when a meat wagon goes out to pick up somebody, the paramedics (yes, high school grads) have been told there are few beds, so pick carefully. We know this from Nextdoor comments, which get taken down within 24 hours. We have doctors and RN's going on Nextdoor to get the word out since the local news won't. If you're young, working, Hispanic, you get the ride. If you're old, retired, you stay home.
This is LA County though. Next door in Orange County, the hospitals are still accepting patients on basis of illness; the demographic profile of patients is not 84% Hispanic as in LA County. Old with a heart attack in Irvine, you're going straight to Hoag or another hospital.
This is all political. The LA County Health Director (Barbara Ferrer) is not a medical doctor, her PHD is in Social Welfare. No kidding, its true.
None of this applies to wealthier folks. They go to private hospitals, not owned by the state or County. They know not to call 911 but rather their doctor or correct hospital for an ambulance. In Torrance, CA, there are several private hospitals to choose the ambulance from. Just be sure to call them, not the big public hospital 911 will send around.
California is hosed on many many levels. Wirecutter knows since he's lived here. Wait until Medicare For All is shoved down our throat and no private health care is legal.
This has been policy in LA's neighbor county of Ventura for several years. We also boast one of the highest CPR survival rates in the nation. Basically, our paramedics can do everything on-scene that could be done in the ER. Since multiple studies have shown that CPR in a moving ambulance is ineffective, it's better to remain on scene. I've done CPR in a busy intersection, still better than the rig. We will remain on scene doing Advanced Life Support until we get ROSC (get a pulse back) or until the person is d-e-a-d dead. That means 40 minutes of CPR and ALS. If they haven't come back by then, they're not coming back. We pronounce, it doesn't take a magic doctor. The fucking red-rag LA Times is running a ton of scare pieces like this. "Paramedics ordered to with-hold oxygen". Well no shit. We never give oxygen if it's not needed. "Triage officers to decide who lives and dies." No, we are trained to sort by best chance of survival. "Hospitals overwhelmed." Funny, I was just sent to inspect the new holding tent at my hospital. Hmmm, it's 1/3 the size of the one they started with. And it remains empty every time we follow-up to the hospital. YES, hospitals are busy right now. But they're always busy this time of year. For every difficulty-breathing call I go on, I run 3 psych calls. ODs, suicides, etc are over the top. People gotta turn off the scare propoganda! Okay, rant off, sorry.
It's cheaper than putting them in a Covid infested nursing home.
ReplyDeleteIsn't a decision like that a bit above the pay grade of your average EMT?
ReplyDeleteYa think?
DeleteNo. It is not....infact, it's kinda the job. But if it makes you feel better, this is protocol in most of the country and has been for a while. LA county is finally catching up. But then again..... there are better places to have an MI.
DeleteThe reality is, that without ROSC (return of spontaneous circulation), your dead anyway. Sorry. These patients have a miniscule chance of survival, even in a hospital. It may sound cold hearted and mean, but it's the truth.
My county has one of the best survival rates for cardiac arrest in the whole country. It's around 30 percent.
The cardiac arrest didn't kill him.....30 years of bacon cheeseburgers killed him.
We had similar protocols here during the worst of the outbreak. EMT’s don’t make the decisions. They follow their protocols and call the hospital for medical direction. An emergency physician makes the decision.
DeleteFor reasons I have to question, my family still lives in CA, basically South Bay in LA. Its not as bad as you think, its worse, because the news is filtered. The hospitals are overwhelmed by Hispanics - mostly non English speakers. God only knows if they are recently arrived from Mexico or not. We all know the Mexican hospital system collapsed last year, so the logic says they are illegals.
DeleteSo when a meat wagon goes out to pick up somebody, the paramedics (yes, high school grads) have been told there are few beds, so pick carefully. We know this from Nextdoor comments, which get taken down within 24 hours. We have doctors and RN's going on Nextdoor to get the word out since the local news won't. If you're young, working, Hispanic, you get the ride. If you're old, retired, you stay home.
This is LA County though. Next door in Orange County, the hospitals are still accepting patients on basis of illness; the demographic profile of patients is not 84% Hispanic as in LA County. Old with a heart attack in Irvine, you're going straight to Hoag or another hospital.
This is all political. The LA County Health Director (Barbara Ferrer) is not a medical doctor, her PHD is in Social Welfare. No kidding, its true.
None of this applies to wealthier folks. They go to private hospitals, not owned by the state or County. They know not to call 911 but rather their doctor or correct hospital for an ambulance. In Torrance, CA, there are several private hospitals to choose the ambulance from. Just be sure to call them, not the big public hospital 911 will send around.
California is hosed on many many levels. Wirecutter knows since he's lived here. Wait until Medicare For All is shoved down our throat and no private health care is legal.
This has been policy in LA's neighbor county of Ventura for several years. We also boast one of the highest CPR survival rates in the nation. Basically, our paramedics can do everything on-scene that could be done in the ER. Since multiple studies have shown that CPR in a moving ambulance is ineffective, it's better to remain on scene. I've done CPR in a busy intersection, still better than the rig.
ReplyDeleteWe will remain on scene doing Advanced Life Support until we get ROSC (get a pulse back) or until the person is d-e-a-d dead. That means 40 minutes of CPR and ALS. If they haven't come back by then, they're not coming back. We pronounce, it doesn't take a magic doctor.
The fucking red-rag LA Times is running a ton of scare pieces like this. "Paramedics ordered to with-hold oxygen". Well no shit. We never give oxygen if it's not needed. "Triage officers to decide who lives and dies." No, we are trained to sort by best chance of survival. "Hospitals overwhelmed." Funny, I was just sent to inspect the new holding tent at my hospital. Hmmm, it's 1/3 the size of the one they started with. And it remains empty every time we follow-up to the hospital.
YES, hospitals are busy right now. But they're always busy this time of year. For every difficulty-breathing call I go on, I run 3 psych calls. ODs, suicides, etc are over the top. People gotta turn off the scare propoganda!
Okay, rant off, sorry.
That's taking picking and choosing winners and losers to the extreme....
ReplyDeleteTim in AK
Agenda 21/30, get rid of wypeepo.
ReplyDeleteBet the pervs and illegals and worthless pedos get full service though.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the illumination guys.
ReplyDelete