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Author: medicscribe

Ruby

Posted on December 15, 2004 by medicscribe

We’re called for a fall at a private home. When we pull up my partner says he’s been here before. He gets on the radio and cancels the district car. “What if she’s a big lady and we need a lift?” “She’s a little thing,” he says. We go to the front door. It’s locked….

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Assault

Posted on December 6, 2004 by medicscribe

We’re called for a domestic in an apartment complex. Minor injuries. The police are already there. They lead a man out of the front door. He is a big muscled man, six three at least with linebacker shoulders. Except he walks with a cane and I see a brace of his left foot. “What happened?”…

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Cath Lab

Posted on December 4, 2004 by medicscribe

A lot of EMS is bullshit. People using 911 for runny noses, sprained wrists, and stomach aches from eating too much greasy chicken. Then there are the legitimate calls like strokes and traumas, but too often in those calls there is really not much we can do to fix them. They are dead from getting…

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David

Posted on December 2, 2004August 21, 2021 by medicscribe

I got an email titled “Sad news.” It is from my friend Tom. “Hate to break this to you in an e-mail, but David died yesterday. He was found in his home when he did not report to work, dead of an apparent heart attack. I will forward funeral information in case you can attend….

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Precepting

Posted on November 28, 2004August 21, 2021 by medicscribe

I’m assigned a paramedic student. And while I love students, I’m not too happy to be precepting this one. She is as close to clueless as you can get and still be allowed to ride. I precepted her a couple weeks ago. She talked a good game so I figured it would be an easy…

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In the Dark

Posted on November 10, 2004August 21, 2021 by medicscribe

We’re called for a stabbing. Its dark and when we pull up on scene, we can see officers with guns drawn. We stage and wait the word to go in. It’s hard to tell what’s going on, then another cop comes running out into the street right for us. We step out. “You’re going to…

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Codes

Posted on November 6, 2004August 21, 2021 by medicscribe

“Wife says patient stopped breathing.” I know this one is going to be a code. Just yesterday we were dispatched to a “Cardiac arrest,” but it wasn’t a code. It rarely is when it comes in like that. People don’t know their terminology. Every time we get dispatched for a cardiac arrest and it turns…

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Behind Every Door

Posted on November 5, 2004 by medicscribe

I’m standing in triage with my patient when I find myself looking at a man standing unsteadily by the entrance to the ER. A security guard has his hand on the man’s upper arm, both holding him up and keeping him from walking away. The guard tells the nurse. “I found him outside. What room…

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The Stink

Posted on October 31, 2004 by medicscribe

About Tuesday I noticed a foul smell in the ambulance — a smell like someone had left a meat sandwich under the seat or a mouse had died somewhere in the woodwork. We left the ambulance outside with the doors open for two hours, but it didn’t help. It was a nasty smell, sometimes it…

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Daily Special

Posted on October 22, 2004 by medicscribe

We get called for a fall at the local fast food chicken restaurant. Back in the kitchen, the woman is laying on the ground between the fryers and the food prep table. She’s maybe twenty-two, but a big woman — looks like she’s been dining on the fast food fare most of her life. I’m…

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The Stretcher

Posted on October 10, 2004 by medicscribe

Arthur is making up the stretcher by the linen cart just inside the ER doors. “I’m going down to the cafeteria to get a sandwich,” he says, as he tightens the last strap. “You want anything?” “No, I’m good. I just have to get times and drop off my report.” I end up getting in…

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Coming and Going

Posted on October 5, 2004 by medicscribe

We’re sent on a priority to for the unresponsive, but when the cops get there they slow us down. It’s a 10- a dead body. We go in and walk down into the basement where we find the cops standing around the body. A man in his forties is sitting on a couch, his head…

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The Man Who Wouldn't Die

Posted on September 21, 2004 by medicscribe

We’re called for a person not feeling well in an elderly housing hi-rise not far from the hospital. The man is an emaciated AIDS patient, who is laying naked on the couch in his dark apartment. he has a colostomy bag. His girlfriend says they were at the emergency department for seven hours today, then…

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Death in a Nursing Home

Posted on August 21, 2004 by medicscribe

We’re called for a child not breathing. The address is a convalescent home. It makes no sense. Then we pull up. There is a car parked askance by the entrance, two front doors and a back door open. The engine still running. In the front lobby two nurses and a police officer kneel over a…

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