When car meets bicyclist ... first response? How to assist (Page 2)

I can't stress this enough.  I would be dead today if I did not insist on being moved. As a passenger, I was hit by a drunk driver 30 years ago.  Before seat belts were drilled into our heads.  Car rolled, and I was thrown from the vehicle through the side passenger window.  I landed on the roadway. I was conscious, albeit in shock, able to move but very cold.  It was xmas day morning (1 a.m.)  I kept whining on being moved but all the peanut gallery bystanders yelled about "No don't move her"  I finally prevailed, only to have another vehicle ram into our car, running over the very spot I'd been lying.  Still makes me shudder.

Great thread.  Inspires me to get CPR training!

Wow, I'm surprised (and the rider is very lucky!) not to have suffered a LeFort fracture from that.

And yeah, welcome to the field! :D

John

Yeah, this is a touchy subject.  I've been a paramedic for almost 10 years and a firefighter for 4 years (Now I'm a full time fire/medic). 

In an attempt to make this quick and simple, you, as a non-trained civilian, should do what feels right.  If your instincts say - 'hey, this situation looks like it could get me hurt' then don't do anything.  It would be very difficult, and this will sound very unsympathetic, but it is not your emergency.  It's not your fault.  It's just not worth the risk of seriously injuring yourself in an attempt to help a someone.  The risk is that of becoming another victim (say you try to help with a car accident on the highway).

If you do decide to help, some communities support the Good Samaritan Law - which gives limited protection to civilians who would attempt to assist an injured person.  Here the risk is that you cause further injury to the victim.  So then if the situation involves what is considered 'Life over limb' - If you see something that looks like it will seriously injure or kill another individual and you decide to go pull them away from the danger and start to render some basic type of care, you may cause another injury to that person.  the secondary injury from you moving the person could in fact render them paralyzed for life (spinal injuries, head trauma, internal injuries, etc) or leave them with some temporary or permanent injury - but at least they are alive.

If you've got a person awake and asking for help and you help them, you still run the risk of injuring them in the rescue attempt.  My advice is that as an untrained individual, you call 911 first. Then if you choose to approach the scene of the accident, look around first, don't just run up to the accident.  Look at your surroundings.  You may provide more support and care by simply trying to notify oncoming traffic that there is an accident ahead in order to avoid a second accident.  (Don't go out into traffic!)  Then use your best judgement.  If something happens and you go to court, you will have to justify your actions.  Even if there is no long term injury to the victim, you may be called in to testify what you did - as what you do will alter the 'crime scene' 

Lastly, when the fire and police arrive, give them a very quick synopsis of what happened and what you did.  We will want to get you off the scene as quickly as possible.  Not because you're doing something wrong, but because you're a liability standing close with no protective clothing or medical training.  We appreciate your help prior to our arrival, and I'll admit first hand, we suck at thanking bystanders.  Think of police and fire crews as a team.  We train together and live together.  We work together and for the most part, have been doing this job for a while.  Like a race, we have a groove and anyone standing in our way is liable to get yelled at because we become very task oriented.

So to those who have helped and to those who will help another person in trouble - THANK YOU!

And to those who stand back and flag us down or help while we are coming in and help us find the scene amidst the chaos of the other cars or bystanders - THANK YOU!

Be safe, be smart.  Hope this helps.





Edited by JHagerman 2009-08-26 2:17 PM