OHP vs. EMT: Oklahoma Trooper assualts on-duty EMT while patient lingers...

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UPDATE: Fox News interviews the patient in the back of the ambulance (July 11, 2009):

http://www.foxnews.com/video2/video08.html?maven_referralObject=677...

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I'd like you to consider this:

This OHP v. EMT incident has received national attention. YouTube has the incident footage rated as the #2 all-time viewed on the site. Fox News today (Sat. June 13th, 2009) has expressed outrage at the officer's actions. As more Americans learn of the incident, more outrage and attention is being displayed. *** My point is this:

A window of opportunity has emerged for the EMS field.

If we can all take a moment to rise above the emotion of this incident, we can educate and sway the hearts and minds of Americans to the following points:

1. The patient's safety and well-being was put at risk by the officer's actions. As a medical professional, it was Medic White's DUTY to ensure the patient's care. When doctors or EMTs are restricted from this duty, we all are at risk.

2. Medic White's words/actions/demeanor was and is absolutely flawless. It's the officer who appears as the crazed maniac. By keeping a professional face, Medic White was able to show the world that EMS is a profession with the highest standards. This will most certainly affect the outcome of his case.

3. An EMT is an agent of the public's safety. As with medical doctors, all citizens should be aware and support the duty of such EMS professionals when a medical incident arises. The image and reputation of the medical doctor continues to be regarded in a high manner, and we now have an opportunity to elevate EMS closer to that position.

Of course all of us have read incidents where an EMS professional failed to rise to the standards of the profession. Here we have a case where EMS has exceeded those standards. We need to announce this incident to the world. I hope Medic White is rewarded for his professionalism, but I further hope that EMS is rewarded for the high standards that most of us adhere to every day.

Please make sure you tell your friends and family about this incident. Medic White kept his professional demeanor under some of the most difficult circumstances.

It can only help our profession.

From the San Francisco Examiner: Why should cops be treated with more respect than Medics?!?

http://www.examiner.com/x-536-Civil-Liberties-Examiner~y2009m6d15-W...

UPDATED VIDEO: http://www.wusa9.com/news/columnist/blogs/2009/06/prosecutor-blasts...

Tags: assault, ems, emt, highway, maurice, medic, oklahoma, paramedic, patient, patrol

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Lee on June 22, 2009 at 2:35pm: Well, maybe I'm too old school and out of touch. "Back in my day", if one was taking care of a patient, one was with the patient. Not outside the unit with the doors closed. But then again, I never worked in Oklahoma.

Roger Hall said:
The EMT was taking care of the patient, the officer was in the wrong. Its the officers job to make sure the emt is safe. He should not be touching the emt while he is taking care of a patient. There needs to be better cooperation between the police and the ambulance crews.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Skip Kirkwood on June 26, 2009 at 11:45am: Not fair to take a shot at Oklahoma, Lee. Nothing to do with it.

If your partner was standing outside the back door with his hair on fire, it would probably be appropriate to get out and deal with the problem. If something outside the little metal box is interfering with the care and transport of the patient, it always has been (at least in my 36 years of service) to get out of the truck and fix it. Just like it's appropriate for a nurse to walk out of the patient's cubicle at the hospital to get a drug (or put out a fire). There's absolutely nothing to say that a paramedic always has to be within 2 feet of his patient.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Tom Durkee, MPH MBA MHCA EMT-P on June 26, 2009 at 12:56pm: i've always wondered:

If Medic White was actually arrested and hauled off to the local jail, is he liable for abandonment? Or is it "willful abandonment"?

-Tom

Skip Kirkwood said:
Not fair to take a shot at Oklahoma, Lee. Nothing to do with it.

If your partner was standing outside the back door with his hair on fire, it would probably be appropriate to get out and deal with the problem. If something outside the little metal box is interfering with the care and transport of the patient, it always has been (at least in my 36 years of service) to get out of the truck and fix it. Just like it's appropriate for a nurse to walk out of the patient's cubicle at the hospital to get a drug (or put out a fire). There's absolutely nothing to say that a paramedic always has to be within 2 feet of his patient.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Skip Kirkwood on June 27, 2009 at 7:46am: Interesting hypothetical - how do you argue abandonment when the patient is being cared for by a two-person team? If they had hooked up both personnel, now we have a situation.

I think in law school they would have talked about the trooper's action as a "superceding intervening event." Abandonment starts with a willful action on the part of the provider. So no, I don't think so. But maybe in California? Naaaah!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Tom Durkee, MPH MBA MHCA EMT-P on July 11, 2009 at 7:38pm: UPDATE: Fox News interviews the patient in the back of the ambulance. Everyone is talking about this incident: The patient, the patient's family, the attorneys, the OHP, Trooper Martin and Medic White. Everyone except anyone in EMS.

http://www.foxnews.com/video2/video08.html?maven_referralObject=677...

-Tom; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Steve Whitehead on July 13, 2009 at 9:48pm: Reposted From My Blog:

This whole thing started dumb and as soon as it hit the media circus you could see that it was only going to get dumber. I'm not going to do the typical, "My two cents" thing here. I think what really went down is plainly evident in the video. I don't think you need me to tell you what to think about it. But I do think there are some important take home lessons for everyone who works in emergency services.

This stuff looks so bad for everyone who works in our industry. In the spirit of preventing the next three ring circus, here's a few take home messages.

Lesson #1: You are being watched.

This incident occurred on a roadside in a rural part of Oklahoma, yet it was filmed by, not one, but two cameras. There's better coverage of this event than some college football games. Think about that.

Once upon a time, we could do the occasional really dumb thing. The written complaints would be filed and someone might get some time off and then the whole thing would become a story that we tell while we're having beers after work. "Hey, do you remember the time that crazy ass trooper put Maurice in a choke hold?" as everyone tries not to squirt beer out their noses. "Didn't he get a week off for that stunt?"

Now we all end up being interviewed on the Today Show and calling for each others jobs and it's just not funny anymore. We need to clean this stuff up. The cameras are always rolling.

Lesson #2: Know when to step back.

Everyone has their buttons and sometimes they get pushed. You may not ever know why. But anger and rage have no place in our jobs. As we see in this video (and others before) once you get mad you stop making sense. The next thing you do is most likely going to be stupid. If you're lucky, it will be stupid like the subject of a funny story that you wish people would stop telling. If you're unlucky it will be stupid like an evening news story.

It's counterintuitive to our human nature, but as soon as you feel yourself getting angry you need to step back. Let your partner take over for a while. Step outside. Walk back to your vehicle. Take a time out. Stop talking and think. Stop acting and think. Chances are, you'll decide to do something different than your original plan.

Lesson #3: Talk nice.

Recently I had an older woman dress me down on scene prety bad. In front of my crew, my battalion chief and a whole host of onlookers she screamed that I was an idiot and had no business telling her what to do. For the record I was trying to prevent her from walking across downed power lines.

My response was simple. I talked nice. I didn't push back. I could have gotten my ego involved and made her look bad in front of her neighbors. Instead I softened my voice and responded nicely. "I can see your upset. I'm terribly sorry but we're really just trying to keep you safe. We're very concerned about your safety." Every word that came out of my mouth I would be proud to defend on The Early Show the next morning.

Now the whole thing is just a funny story I get teased about at the dinner table back at the station. The secret was simple. I talked really nice the whole time. No sarcasm, no ego ... just nice.

Lesson #4: Talk to each other, not the media.

This may be the most frustrating thing about this whole mess. Instead of talking this out between agencies, everyone is holding media court. The media loves this. On person slings some mud and then the other person slings back. In the end, our whole industry gets muddy.

This could have been handled with a closed door, two guys and two cups of coffee. I'll pitch in for the cream and sugar. No lawyers, no talk show hosts, just a couple of guys who cared enough about the reputation of their industry to talk openly about what happened in private.

I don't think it's to much to ask to strive for reconciliation on a low key level before the media smells the blood in the water. All it would take is for just one person to say, "This thing really got out of hand. There are some things I wish I had done differently. How can we put this behind us?" Then go back to doing good work.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Skip Kirkwood on July 15, 2009 at 10:37pm: Great advice, Steve.

There is an older movie out there that everybody should watch and remember. It's called "Roadhouse" and it stars Patrick Swayze as a master bouncer, hired to "clean up" a really bad bar. He gives classes to the lesser bouncers, and as he's teaching them to kick butt (and a few other things) he always reminds them to "be nice" - get the job done, but "be nice." In other words, even if you have to go "hands on" don't let yourself be blinded by rage so that your adrenal glands overcome your brain.; ▶ Reply to This