11-18-2005, 12:02
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#1
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Tampa
Posts: 2,530
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Unofficial Observation-TRAUMA
Gents, I have come to a realization over the past 4 weeks...
I have been working on the Trauma Service here in Tacoma for the aformentioned time frame (30 on / 18 off) and have made a startling observation.
I have worked on people every shift from motor vehicle accidents...and EVERY ACCIDENT that someone has come in to the Trauma Service (meaning: really injured badly) there has been alcohol and or drugs in at least one of the drivers.
Pertaining to alcohol...it hasn't been just a little. The LOWEST reading thus far has been .19. Some have been as high as .41  .
Meth seems to be the drug de jour, but it is amazing to me that this commonality has been present in every MVA victim incident that I have worked on in the past month.
Folks...they are out there. Driving the WRONG WAY on the interstate in the middle of the night. Cooking their drugs and shooting while they are sitting in traffic. Having a good ole time without a care in the world...and once the majority of them hit someone else...they still don't care.
Be careful folks...it is a dangerous world after dark.
Eagle
__________________
Primum non Nocere
"I have hung out in dangerous places a lot over the years, from combat zones to biker bars, and it is the weak, the unaware, or those looking for it, that usually find trouble.
Ain't no one getting out of this world alive. All you can do is try to have some choice in the way you go. Prepare yourself (and your affairs), and when your number is up, die on your feet fighting rather than on your knees. And make the SOBs pay dearly."
The Reaper-3 Sep 04
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Eagle5US is offline
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11-18-2005, 12:53
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#2
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Guerrilla Chief
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Posts: 880
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Welcome to job security...they may cure heart disease and cancer but not stupidity and accidents...........
ah, the life in Trauma......
Need to nominate the newest Darwin award to one of these freaks.
ss
__________________
'Revel in action, translate perceptions into instant judgements, and these into actions that are irrevocable, monumentous and dreadful - all this with lightning speed, in conditions of great stress and in an environment of high tension:what is expected of "us" is the impossible, yet we deliver just that.
(adapted from: Sherwin B. Nuland, MD, surgeon and author: The Wisdom of the Body, 1997 )
Education is the anti-ignorance we all need to better treat our patients. ss, 2008.
The blade is so sharp that the incision is perfect. They don't realize they've been cut until they're out of the fight: A Surgeon Warrior. I use a knife to defend life and to save it. ss (aka traumadoc)
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swatsurgeon is offline
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11-18-2005, 14:15
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#3
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Bladesmith to the Quiet Professionals
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Oregon, Land of the Silver Grey Sunsets
Posts: 3,886
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Eagle5US,
Welcome to the great northwest.
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Bill Harsey is offline
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11-18-2005, 14:32
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#4
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Auxiliary
Join Date: May 2005
Location: South Carolina
Posts: 79
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Eagle5US: Welcome to every day EMS conditions in the USA!!!
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haztacmedic is offline
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11-18-2005, 14:39
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#5
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Tampa
Posts: 2,530
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by haztacmedic
Eagle5US: Welcome to every day EMS conditions in the USA!!!
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Well, I had run EMS from 1981-1999. I would hardly call what I am seeing reminscent of my past experience.
Sad either way.
Eagle
__________________
Primum non Nocere
"I have hung out in dangerous places a lot over the years, from combat zones to biker bars, and it is the weak, the unaware, or those looking for it, that usually find trouble.
Ain't no one getting out of this world alive. All you can do is try to have some choice in the way you go. Prepare yourself (and your affairs), and when your number is up, die on your feet fighting rather than on your knees. And make the SOBs pay dearly."
The Reaper-3 Sep 04
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Eagle5US is offline
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11-18-2005, 15:56
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#6
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Area Commander
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 1,403
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My very first EMT run (1975!) was a head-on between a drunk and a family in a Pinto. The drunk walked away from it and the family was all killed. The only thing I was good for was burying the family dog by the side of the road.
We had two teens in town -- sober -- killed by a drunk this last week.
Terror for a parent is a doorbell after midnight.
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mugwump is offline
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11-18-2005, 17:01
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#7
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Area Commander
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Colorado
Posts: 1,205
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Meth has moved from endemic (bikers and truckers) to a pandemic. I do not know of anyone who has not personally been impacted by meth. In my case, my two youngest arrived via meth>>>>social services>>>>adoption!
In our last 10 homicides meth has been on board the victim or suspect!
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CoLawman is offline
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11-18-2005, 17:41
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#8
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Area Commander
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Posts: 1,691
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[side note]
Last week I saw a walking (under his own power) and talking .539 BAC (no that is not a typo his BAC was a .539)
[/side note]
I have been saying for sometime now that meth is going to be the BLACK PLAGUE of the 20th century.
__________________
"This is the law: The purpose of fighting is to win. There is no possible victory in defense. The sword is more important than the shield and skill is more important than either. The final weapon is the brain. All else is supplemental." - John Steinbeck, "The Law"
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Smokin Joe is offline
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11-18-2005, 18:39
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#9
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Moderator
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Central Florida
Posts: 3,045
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At one time I aspired to be a paramedic but after watching the trama shows on Discovery Health and reading the threads here I'm glad I didn't. I don't think I could deal with a substance abuser that just killed another innocent person.
My hat is off to everyone that performs this job.
__________________
"Are you listening or just waiting to talk?"
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
"Fate rarely calls upon us at a moment of our choosing."
Optimus Prime
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Kyobanim is offline
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11-18-2005, 18:45
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#10
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Auxiliary
Join Date: May 2005
Location: South Carolina
Posts: 79
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Speaking of Meth, how about going out to spray down (with water for decontamination) an innocent family, an EMS crew and two dumb cops at 0130
at an apartment meth lab....and the air temp is around 35 degrees?
Although some of you may disagree, I think EMS is a war of its own. But whether you are a FNG 91-W medic just now arriving in Baghdad or a old cynical EMS bastard, or even a high speed 18-D, the common thread I would bet on is that you were called to do this. Not everybody can do this type of work. Thank you for your observations Eagle.
HTM
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haztacmedic is offline
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11-21-2005, 05:47
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#11
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Guerrilla
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Orange, CA
Posts: 129
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The meth epidemic is rampant across the U.S. right now. I'm not sure how being strung out for three days straight with no sleep is "fun" (isn't that what patrolling is for?).
Fu*k 'em...what a bunch of 'tards!!!
Good luck to all the EMT's/LEO's out there who have to deal with these people...
To quote Albert Einstein: "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." 
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Detcord is offline
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12-03-2005, 20:16
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#12
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Asset
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: ky.
Posts: 38
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From 9-13-2001 thru 01/ 2005 I was a vol. firefighter who responded to a few mva's that were alchol/meth related (including one that almost took a buddy's life helping me with a stalled vehicle).As time went by it seems like the mva's increased.
Sometimes it is hard to believe that people will allow this to happen then sometimes I figure as long as someone is getting paid then after they leave the bar who cares.
Oh h***l with it.It might change some day.
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blackkn is offline
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12-03-2005, 20:26
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#13
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Kia ora, bro
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 931
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Another another forum I used to go to, a guy tried to convince me he really did drive better after taking meth. It "made his reactions quicker and so could drive faster." He was/is a fucking idiot.
Meth has exploded here in the last five years. Crystal meth is starting to come in from SE Asia. It's one reason I'm learning Chinese. Those motherfuckers piss me off.
__________________
"You destroyed half a city block!"
"That block was already messed up."
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Huey14 is offline
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12-03-2005, 21:10
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#14
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: LA
Posts: 1,653
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Stop treating them...
__________________
Somewhere a True Believer is training to kill you. He is training with minimal food or water, in austere conditions, training day and night. The only thing clean on him is his weapon and he made his web gear. He doesn't worry about what workout to do - his ruck weighs what it weighs, his runs end when the enemy stops chasing him. This True Believer is not concerned about 'how hard it is;' he knows either he wins or dies. He doesn't go home at 17:00, he is home.
He knows only The Cause.
Still want to quit?
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NousDefionsDoc is offline
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12-03-2005, 22:05
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#15
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Quiet Professional
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Ohio
Posts: 982
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by NousDefionsDoc
Stop treating them...
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Concur. You folks can fill in your own conclusions.
Doc
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Doc is offline
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