hce at bahnhof.se (Hans Christian Eidenert) wrote:
>This is an attempt to establish if a 911 emergency operator has responded
>appropriately to an emergency call and whether such a case would be
>handled differently in other countries around the world.
<snip>
>At 11.41 a woman called and said that she suspected suicide. The call was
>then routinely transferred to the police. We recieve a steady flow of
>phone calls and the police has to do an interview before emergency
>resources are put into action. The police sent a patrol to the location.
>- At 12.02 a man called SOS Alarm and asked for an ambulance, continues
>Stig Lindberg. The ambulance was on its way after about thirty seconds and
>arrived to the address two minutes after the police.
>- The woman who claims that she has called us numerous times perhaps does
>not know which emergency center she was talking to but thought that she
>was all along talking to SOS Alarm when in fact she was talking to the
>police. The Uppsala police department was taking care of the case between
>11.41 and 12.02.
Dear sir, I am a Certified Emergency Medical Technician, prior US Army
Combat Medic, prior US Army nurse, currently practicing Licensed
Vocational Nurse, and a Senior in Physics & Biology. I humbly submit
the following:
It would seem that the police might have been in error. There is also
the question as to where the ambulance was at the time they were
summoned. If I am reading your information correctly, the ambulance
arrived approximately four minutes after the call for an ambulance,
one minute longer than expected. Brain damage due to anoxia doesn't
usually start until after 4-6 minutes, if anyone on site had known
CPR, there might have been a better outcome.
IT SEEMS EVERYONE DID THEIR JOB CORRECTLY. Therefore, the problem
probably lies in the content of the original phone messages from the
friend, the way the police responded to said messages, and/or a lack
of CPR/first aid training on the part of the Police and the friend at
the house.
IMO, these are possible solutions:
1.) Make the world a happy place where nobody would want to commit
suicide. :-)
2.) Assuming they are not, train police as "first responders" as we do
in the USA. This involves first aid, CPR training, etc.
3.) If there is not one, start a vigorous campaign for public
education in CPR.
4.) Train the police that receive calls better.
5.) Re-evaluate the policies of the Police and SOS.
Of course, there is the second question:
Do we have the right to stop someone from taking their own life,
assuming they aren't endangering others in the process?
Michael
miknreem at iadfw.net (soon(?) to be miknreem at airmail.net)
mjcasav at utdallas.edu
