My co-workers watched as a girl died

Where did this happen? I would like to check out the newspaper write up on this and continue to follow it in the news. Also would like to see the obituary to see if it mentions the official cause of death.

reply to post by TruthParadox


You hit the nail on the head.

I'm thinking the study may have been something I read in one of my Psych classes long ago.

reply to post by Star kitten


Those heartless, pathetic, selfish, disgusting excuses for human beings. I can't believe that actually happened. I don't doubt you, but to entertain the thought that an office of people could just watch a person, let alone one of their colleagues, die right in front of them, when they had all the training and equipment needed to at least give her a fighting chance, is a hard knock against my trust in human kind.

The parents should sue the company. They are clearly negligent. If the workers were afraid of being sued, then they were clearly not trained well enough by the company.

Her blood is on the hands of all involved, except you - you showed the courage and determination that gives me hope for the world. You should sue the company too, for putting you in that situation.

What a frightful mess. Truly horrific.

I think that you were right, You did the right thing even though you could not get her to surive. I am sorry that you tried so hard too. If you don't mind if I ask did you get sued as well by the Womens parents? If you did why?

I say that if you can save a person even if you might get sued, then just do it. I you get sued they ask, why would you like to be dead right now instead of asking for money that I might not even have and you are going to destroy another persons life to give you money for saving your life? Would you not do the excat oppoite and you the saved ask what you can do to repay your savor?

This makes me sick, but, unfortunately, it seems to be the norm. People don't want to get "involved." I don't understand that way of thinking. I think it is a lack of compassion for their fellow man adn I think that compassion is something that is sadly lacking in today's youth and young adults.

I have a friend that was sitting at a busy intersection when a motorcyclist was hit. He flew off his motorcycle and hit the side of her car (she isn't the one that hit him). But, I almost threw up when she told me that when the light turned green, she just drove on, even though this guy was laying next to her car and had actually hit her car. What makes a person so callus? I didn't expect to hear this out of her. I thought she had more humanity than that. I guess she doesn't.

This is a very sad situation.

Once I was reading about a plane that crashed. Most people survived the crash but just sat in their seats. A few people jumped up, opened the emergency doors and got out before fire consumed the plane. Most people died.

There is a term, something like passive panic, that described what the people in the plane did. They just sat there waiting for instructions.

It could be that the workers in your office did the same thing. They didn't respond to the emergency... They just stood there. It takes action to save lives and most people lack the ability to act in an emergency.

Suing will not bring back the life of that young girl. It will not bring comfort to her family. It will further traumatize the people who did nothing. It will waste a lot of time and money and there will be nothing positive to show for it. I hope the family decides not to pursue legal action.

ive worked in a call center for 5 years..

and let me be the first to say that, call center life aint easy. I worked for AAA road service (which wasnt bad), and for comcast cable (yuck)...

americans can be so down right childish and greedy and winey and rude and sarcastic and pissy and think they get service now now now.

i've said this sooo many times before that the master of documentaries Micheal Moore should go into a call center and see what people say about their customers. you would be pretty shocked at what goes on.

that poor girl was probably taking a bad call. if she was over weight then that doesnt help obviously, taking call after call after call (due to the pressures of call time statistics) can make you short of breath. and on the lsat call you get some guy who doesnt care how YOUR day is going and is just worried about his situation (understandibly) can make you cry.

since ive lived it though, i give my best side to a call center rep at all times. regardless.

call center reps dont get paid much, so the fear of getting sued and loosing their job is high priority even to the death. this i can sadly understand.

Your coworkers are obviously not human beings and should be treated as such. They should be put to death, just like cattle are.

My dad recently had a heart attack and my mom doing CPR on him until the paramedics got there was part of the reason he is still alive today. It can and does make a difference. I don't know what good it would be to sue, but I tell you there is no way I could ever look those people in the face again. Knowing that they were such cowards that they let someone die when they could have saved her. I could never control myself from making snide comments to them about how they let her die and how it was their fault, ect.. Petty, absolutely, but I could never look at them as anything other than cowards who sat around and watched someone die without even trying to help. Even beyond fear of being sued, where the hell is their human decency and compassion. I think the need to save a fellow human being overrides a fear of being sued.

Those people are worthless cowards, hope they don't have a heart attack some day and everyone sits around and just watches them die. Surprised no one broke out the snacks to watch the show. Then again there are a lot of people who have turned into sheep who can't even take a piss without permission. It is like doing the right thing has been turned numb or something and people just don't react. Then to sit and say they need counseling pisses me off even more. They DIDN"T DO ANYTHING, the only thing they need counseled on is how to grow a freaking backbone and do the right thing.

[edit on 17-10-2008 by MaMaa]

[edit on 17-10-2008 by MaMaa]

I didn't read the whole thread.

Even though things didn't turn out good, you are still a HERO in my eyes.

Over 10 years in the Emergency medical field (before I burned out and pursued another career) these events were beginning to get a bit more common-place.

We would hold mini-seminars to train the basics - CPR/Defib training etc to office workers.. To try and at least give them the basics. I cannot count how many times they would all sit there like they wanted to be somewhere else, chatting on their cell phones - etc.

I honestly do not find it wrong that the family want to sue. For all those saying "It's wrong to sue" --- put the shoe on the other foot..

How would you feel if your loved one suffered an M.I. at their workplace, and everyone just watched them die???

Would you say to yourself "Oh, it's ok. I understand, they didn't do anything because they were afraid of the consequences."....AND they didn't call an ambulance?? That is crazy.

We give this training for a reason, people!

And I am glad (even though it was too late) that the OP used common sense and quick thinking while sizing up the situation.. And not falling into the "Group think" that was obviously rampant in the office that day..

For that, again, OP -- You are a HERO!

[edit on 10/17/2008 by justme2]

PS, in my many edits to add extra things to my reply I forgot to mention something. THANK YOU!! I know she died, but I know how it feels to be the family and to have someone work on your loved one. My mom did CPR on my dad and the paramedics as well as a cardiologist specialist who just happened to be sitting at the light in front of my parents house when the call came through. It was all of those people who did the right thing, who were not afraid to try and save a life that were the heroes.

Even though she died, I bet the family is grateful for your efforts. Just like the poster right above me said, you are a HERO!! I'm sorry your efforts were not enough to save her, but I'm so thankful to see there are people like you out there. It is people like you who save people like my father.

Reading stories like this just makes my blood boil more than bad drivers.

I had a similar though thankfully non lethal incident happen by me a few years ago. I was walking into the local corner store and there was an old guy laying face down across the doorways, and yep,a big half circle of people staring at him and some skinny younger girl holding some napkins to his head and freaking out. Worse, people coming in were just looking down and stepping over the guy and continuing on their way, not even bothering to pry their cell phone away from their ear.

So I knelt down and looked the guy over and just said "looks like you need a hand, what happened?". Ends up the guy tripped over a flat cart, fell and whacked his head on the antitheft/security pylons. Those napkins weren't holding back any blood at all really (we all know how scalp wounds can bleed) so after I checked his pulse and breathing (both decent) I walked over to the rack about 10 feet away that had the cheapie tshirts (5 for $10, the reason I was there), grabbed a few and stuck them on the wound. Then asked "ok, who called 911?". nobody... I look at the girl and tell her, he's ok, he's just out cold, handed her my cell phone, told her to dial 911 and tell them what happened then hand the phone to me. She did, I gave them the run down. They were on their way. She visibly relaxed and was saying thank you, over and over.

In the few minutes it took for them to get there, the guy already started moving. I just said (half jokingly) stay down soldier! and the guy froze. So I did the usual.. Do you know what happened, where you are, etc. He said, I tripped, I'm on the floor, etc. Then he asked the funniest thing I've heard in a while, given the situation. "Hey, I didn't pee my pants, did I?". Doesn't smell like it, but you did gash your head a bit.

Pretty much no one said anything. They seriously looked like they were watching TV. I'm sure there were more than a few that were afraid of lawsuits, or disease (the other BIG FEAR), but I think most of them have just gone so soft in this generation that something like this happens that they're literally stunned like a deer in headlights. Their wits aren't even about them enough to panic!

I'm no hero. I'm just a computer programmer and former boyscout.

Your company had the foresight to have defibrillators available, but no one trained in emergency procedures?

You need to have a talk with your bosses about forming and training an emergency response team.

Originally posted by Anonymous ATS
This is sad in many ways.

First of all, as a former ER doc, I can tell you the chances of her living after a REAL cardiac arrest OUTSIDE the hospital, and having any residual brain function was about 0.

(People who "made it" always had a pulse, hard as it may have been to feel. Dead people were dead or at least their brains were.) It is a myth that doing something (CPR) makes any difference, and many people go through live feeling guilty that their CPR didn't work. It NEVER works.)

(The defibrillator is a hooker, had they shocked her and done NOTHING else, she might have had a chance.)

I have told my wife, if she thinks I am having a cardiac arrest, she should have a cup of coffee, watch TV for a while, THEN call 911. I don't want her to waste money on a futile attempt to get me back, and I don't want to take the risk of spending my last years, a vegetable in a nursing home.

Also, the key line is "didn't want to be sued".

We live in a lawyer run society. THIS IS SAD. Worse, we keep electing them to office. THIS HAS GOT TO STOP, and law schools should be closed.

I'm probably confused here, but this just doesn't seem right. My father had a heart attack this summer in his home. Mom did CPR and called 911, she did CPR until the paramedics got there. Then they took over, they were lucky enough to have a cardiac doctor who was at the stop light in front of their house at the time they call went through as well as the ambulance was two blocks away. The doctor and the ambulance all came in the house. The paramedics were telling mom there was no pulse and if she wanted them to call a chaplain. During this time the one paramedic was telling her this the doctor and the other paramedic were still working on dad. They finally got a faint heartbeat and brought him back. He was unresponsive for 8 full minutes and yet he has no damage to his brain or any body functions. He did have 6 stints put in, but beyond that he was given a clean bill of health. If mom would have got her coffee, watched a tv show and then called 911 my father would be dead. Thank god she didn't because now my father who 'shouldn't' be with us still is.

I still think efforts make a huge difference in many many cases, if they didn't then no one would ever really try and the paramedics would call it on the phone when they got the call for help.

wow this is terrible. i can't believe something like this could happen. makes me feel sick for society and our morals.

reply to post by CoffinFeeder


Don't underestimate the nobility behind being a computer programmer and boy scout! Doing the right thing is always heroic in my mind.

reply to post by badmedia


The ones who were trained in first aid should be charge with manslaughter...

Originally posted by Star kitten
I don't know if i'm being too hard on them.

NO. You're not being too hard on them. They should be ashamed to call themselves human, standing there watching as one of their coworkers dies. At least you had the decency and common sense to try and help her. I'm sorry it didn't work out, but at least you should be able to sleep at night know that you care about your fellow man, and that you at least TRIED to help.

As for the rest of them, well, I hope they are never in the same situation that poor girl was in, with a bunch of gawkers watching THEM die. How terrible that people won't even lift a finger to help someone out of fear of being sued. That's why we have Good Samaritan laws. Do you know if there is one in your state?

As an aside, it should be criminal to stand by and NOT help when you are fully capable of doing so!

People can and do panic. Its tragic but it happens.

YOu also are seeing the afterefect of excessive and serious litigation in the medical field. I have friends who will call 911 but thats it if they come across an accident. One had rendered aid to the bes tof his ability some time ago and ended up being sued by the family. It was dropped but it cost him money and time.

You, we, us have no one to blame but ourselves and perhaps the lawers

When are all you new age peace and light people gonna get it through your heads that deepd own humans only care about themselves. How many of these types of incidents need to occur for you to finally realize this?
Just look at the greyhound bus incident that happened earlier in the year where some middle sized un-scary looking middle aged asian guy chopped off a KID'S FRIGGIN HEAD in front of a crowd of an entire boss AND BEGAN EATING HIS REMAINS while everybody RAN OUT OF THE BUS. Are you friggin kidding me, if only 2 grown men would have taken luggage from the top compartments and rammed the asian guy with it and pinned him to the seat with the luggage so as not to get stabbed while restraining him and taking his knife, the kid might have survived. But instead they all ran off the bus and sealed the door. What a joke! I could understand if he had a gun maybe yea but a weak looking asian with a knife and you're telling me all the men ran off the bus? I even saw an interview with one of these "men" who said people called him a hero for running away and helping everyone seal the bus door! Disgusting.
Why would these retards stand around and not call an ambulance? Humans sicken me!