Thursday, August 13, 2020

Groundhog Day

A little before lunch we were toned out for an unconscious male. 


We arrived on scene to find the patient laying on his stomach in his bedroom. He was completely unresponsive and had vomited. Fortunately for him he was on his stomach so he didn't aspirate.

The family, not wanting to see their father in his condition, went outside as soon as we arrived. Our repeated attempts to get information from them failed. We were totally in the blind. 

Eventually we found a bottle of Carisoprodol (Soma) that was empty and shouldn't have been. 

After controlling the airway with an NPA an IV was started and Narcan was administered. This brought the patient around a little to the point where he could kinda protect his own airway. AMR then transported him to the hospital.

7 hours later we returned to the same address for an unconscious male. 

Same story as before. He had been discharged from the hospital and on returning home, decided to take more pills. This time, when we arrived, the patient was still alert enough to be able refuse treatment and transport to the hospital. We even had PD there but they said there wasn't enough to put him on a 5150 hold. So we had to sign him out against medical advice and leave knowing we'd be back.

3 hours later we returned to the same address for an unconscious male. 

This time when we arrived the male patient had taken yet more pills. He was now on the floor of his room, face up, and had hurled again. This time he aspirated the vomit. On scene and en route to the hospital we were supporting his breathing with a BVM and an OPA. We were unable to get him stable.

I have no idea what the outcome was for this patient but I do know that I haven't been back to that address in years. I still think of the patient every time we have a call on that street.

No comments:

Post a Comment