In Response

While I knew that Drunks 3 could ruffle a few feathers, I didn’t know that the first comment would be from an anonymous poster only hours after the post went up. I’d like to thank them for taking the time to comment and I’d like to respond. First, here is their comment:

While I agree that you (and other medics) need to do what you need to do to protect yourself, your writing style seems to show a disturbing level of enjoyment . The fact that you "got even" with your altered patient by "knocking her out and cutting up her leather coat" shows that you may need to look at your patient care/compassion skills.

I think medics should be allowed chemical sedation when needed, but from reading your take on this event, and the other "drunks" you've dealt with, you seem a little "quick on the plunger" when it comes to the potential use of inapsine.

While I will refrain from making baseless accusations about the anonymous commentator, it does sound as if this person is not a paramedic. I would like to say that the “enjoyment” they refer to is something that any paramedic or EMT takes in any skill that they perform. As an example, is it wrong for a medic to take a certain amount of enthusiastic joy in intubating someone? The medic is practicing a life saving skill on a patient having a very, very bad day, often a cardiac arrest or multi-systems trauma. Let’s be honest with ourselves, those are calls that we consider “good” in a sense that we get to practice a variety of our skills. So, is it selfish or self serving to give ourselves a high-five, pat on the back and tell our coworkers what a great job we did, after the fact? Of course not.

I performed a necessary intervention (i.e. patient care skill) when I chemically sedated this patient. I won’t lie and say that I didn’t feel an amount of justification (and the gut feeling of “getting even”) in sedating the patient. Especially considering this person had sexually assaulted my partner and myself, and caused physical injury to me. I was honest in how I felt. I wrote about the feelings that I had at the time of the incident and it is implied that I used the appropriate interventions and patient care skills to mitigate the situation and treat the patient. To imply that I am “too quick on the plunger,” well, let me quote directly from my treatment protocols.

Always consider your safety…if patient is combative [with] no known trauma cause for AMS, consider Inapsine 5mg IV or 10mg IM.

In actuality, I gave the patient an underdose of inapsine. As a paramedic, I am also thoroughly aware and take into consideration the risk versus benefit of every medication that I administer.

Finally, to imply that I need to reevaluate my patient care/compassion skills, I say to you: how dare you think you can judge me and my skills based upon one anecdotal story. I would refer you to such posts as Screamin’ Eagle, Why We Do, or Tragic to “demonstrate” my compassion and patient care. I would also like to refer you to Force, a brief essay on use of force in restraining a patient, a topic that I feel strongly about. But even if that isn’t enough to demonstrate that patient care and compassion are always at the forefront of every call I run, I’ll refer you to the two EMS Provider of the Year awards bestowed upon me by my fire department. Or even better, I’ll refer you to the Meritorious Service Medal for EMT-Intermediate of the Year and the Medal of Valor, both bestowed upon me by the State of Oregon. Oh, and after that, would you like to ask my wife, who wants nothing more than for me to come home safely after every shift, if it was acceptable patient care?