"It is a pity that we know so much about Christ, and yet enjoy Him so little."

- Charles Spurgeon
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Left For Dead
Posted by Alan @ 10:48 am CST
Filed under: Current Events, This Is Freakin Bizarre

This is appalling.

A Texas woman who was declared dead in a car crash and found to be alive after the emergency medical crew left the scene has since died of her injuries, but San Antonio emergency officials deny they did anything wrong.

Erica Smith, 23, was left unattended in freezing temperatures with a yellow tarp draped over her body for up to two hours early Sunday morning after she was declared dead by the ambulance crew. The two crew members worked instead on two other people who were injured in the car crash before 4 a.m. Those victims were both rushed to a hospital.

Smith, a student at Southwest Texas State University, was discovered to be alive about 6 a.m.by an official from the Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office and the ambulance crew was summoned back to the crash site, according to Henry Valadez, a San Antonio newsman who shot footage at the crash.

Smith died Monday afternoon from her wounds, which were described in the police report as "severe head trauma."


Check out the Fire Chief's comment:

During a Monday press conference, San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood said he did not expect the paramedics to be disciplined in connection to the incident.

“There’s nothing to apologize for,” he said during the press conference. “We weren’t driving the vehicle that hit the car.”


Nice.

6 comments

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Comments on "Left For Dead":
1. Shrode - 12/19/2007 2:06 pm CST

I'm a little reluctant to play monday morning quarterback on this one.

I think it may be tougher than we realize to make "battlefield" and triage type judgement calls.

2. dbd - 12/19/2007 2:15 pm CST

Practically my entire family except for me are nurses and EMT and shrinks. I hear stories of potentially fatal errors or bad judgment calls every week.

I can only be grateful that when I screw up at work, the only consequence is books being printed late.

3. Alan - 12/19/2007 3:08 pm CST

Shrode, I hear you. It's not the fact of a mistake that gets me here, it's

(1) the arrogance of the fire chief

(2) the fact that the paramedics failed to act in spite of signs that others on the scene observed

(3) most critically-- we are told they did not act despite outward signs of life (breathing/etc.) because there was no pulse. We are then told the reason there was no pulse (probably) was the low temperature (29 deg.). Thus, the lack of a pulse could in no way serve to justify failing to act. In other words, their own training taught them to ignore the lack of a pulse (given the weather), but instead they used that to override common sense.

4. Shrode - 12/20/2007 10:48 am CST

Alan, I didn't know that they saw breathing, but no pulse....

I just don't know enough about such things.

I can see how the fire chief's response might be construed as arrogant...

But I don't blame him for being defensive. He has a point you know. We shouldn't forget who the real bad guys are.

Are EMT's protected by "good samaratin" laws?

5. Alan - 12/20/2007 11:57 am CST

No, good Samaritan laws apply only to private citizens who stop to render aid. The paramedics are employees of the fire dept. of the city and thus are protected by sovereign immunity, i.e. you can't sue the government unless they let you. The state of Texas has provided for suits vs. the government in limited circumstances through the Texas Tort Claims Act. I was discussing this case with another guy in the office and it does not appear that the estate has a cause of action against the city.

6. Quaid - 12/20/2007 4:32 pm CST

The arrogance lies in not having anything to apologize for - obviously the EMTs messed up.

I realize that an apology can be construed as an admission of guilt. Still, one can approach the situation better than, "we're not the one who hit her."

It's called "tact."

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