My co-workers watched as a girl died

reply to post by rufusdrak

I am by no means a "new age peace and light people" and while I agree with you that people are by their very nature selfish, I don't think this excludes the need to help others. People help people because doing the right thing feels good or because their action of doing what is right somehow effects them personally in some way. So sure that is a selfish motivation, but it doesn't mean that every human out there wouldn't do the right thing.

There are a lot of good people out there and if your disgusted with the human race does that mean your disgusted with yourself as well? Or are you the only 'good' one out there? LOL

reply to post by MaMaa


No your not confused MaMaa.
Anon just wrote some rubbish that goes against every ACLS protocol known to medical establishments around the world. And then calls himself an E.R. doc.. Yeah, sureeeeeeee he is.
CPR, is crucial. More so IMO than AED's. Because without oxygen and circulation in an asystolic patient - an AED isn't going to do much of anything.
An AED is only really useful if the patient is in a lethal type of dysrhythmia such as V-FIB.

Begin CPR first in a suspected pulse-less patient, --- have someone call 911 (or whatever it is in your locale) then get someone to fetch the AED to analyze the rhythm.

As a trained first aider myself I am totally with the parents case to sue them all.
At least one of the aiders should have realised that in the event of having to perform first aid then it totally cancels out any chance of the attempt to sue by either the victim or their families . Its what they have been trained for , to try save lives no matter what the outcome. I also think that all the people standing around should be sued as well as they stopped anyone able to perform CPR being able to either get to or to even see what is transpiring. someone could have been passing who could have taken charged and saved the girls life. The first aiders who stood by in fear of being sued should have they're certificates and qualifications stripped from them . But unfortunatley the culture is one of compensation these days, people worry more about money than a life.
And one of the people not qualified who stood around should have phoned for a ambulance, how can you be sued for that?
'''king ignorant attitude from all those who stood by.jail them all.....

reply to post by justme2


Leave it to me to miss the sarcasm! LOL That will teach me to not read all of the replies. Editing to add that it just befuddles me how people don't react. I have four kids, all boys, and believe me there have been some doozies of medical emergencies thus far. There is no time to react or sit and stare, you just jump up and help get the emergency under control and get the person taken care of. I have done things that I never realized I could do because there was no choice, I did it because I had to help my child. Now people would argue it is different because it is your child and for the most part I would agree. But I bet those type of people are not much different with their own children. They could come in bleeding all over the place and stand around stammering and not knowing what to do. *although to be fair we used to joke that we would jump and react when we saw blood or broken bones. Now with two skateboarding and playing football it is common to hear me say "don't bleed on my floor, get moving to the bathroom pronto" with me following close behind! LOL

[edit on 17-10-2008 by MaMaa]

I know the majority of people who read about things like this will think it's disgusting and claim that if they were there, they would have done something. Maybe you would and maybe you wouldn't. Just think about it though. I'm sure if you had asked anyone in that room *before* it happened what they would do in a situation like that, they would all boast that they would be a hero as well. Events like this don't show that people are evil, just pathetic, and it's not just them but the majority of people. Just know that words are far far different than action, and if we were all measured by words we would all be like superman. Personaly, right now at this moment I believe that I would help that person, but if I was actually in that situation, I really have no clue what I'd do. Situations like that put most people in a state of semi-shock and your mind really works differently in such an environment.
So I wouldn't be so quick to call these people the AntiChrists of our society. You may just be one of these people yourself and not know it yet.

[edit on 17-10-2008 by TruthParadox]

reply to post by TruthParadox


I agree with the never say never attitude, but I know for a fact that I would and have in the past done something to help. I have had to call 911 a few times for someone in need. I saw a bad car accident once and yes I did stop, get out of my car, call 911 and go help. I mean how hard is it to just grab a phone and call 911? Your certainly not going to get sued for doing that and it doesn't even take any great skill to push the buttons. I have done the right thing and if put in a situation where I had to do it again then I would still react in the same way.

Originally posted by MaMaa
reply to post by rufusdrak

 

I am by no means a "new age peace and light people" and while I agree with you that people are by their very nature selfish, I don't think this excludes the need to help others. People help people because doing the right thing feels good or because their action of doing what is right somehow effects them personally in some way. So sure that is a selfish motivation, but it doesn't mean that every human out there wouldn't do the right thing.

There are a lot of good people out there and if your disgusted with the human race does that mean your disgusted with yourself as well? Or are you the only 'good' one out there? LOL

Yep I'm the only good one.



But seriously though I will admit I'm the type of person that's more inclined at least naturally and at first to turn away from a bad scene or pretend I didn't see it but even I have my limits as a HUMAN BEING. I lived in brooklyn new york and I once saw a guy outside of a supermarket beating up his girlfriend and slamming her head against the brick walls of the building. She was tiny like 90-100lbs. Multiple grown adults passed right by them and did their best to pretend that they weren't looking or turned their head away or started walking really fast. I knew this because I was hiding behind the corner boiling and seething, peeking around the corner trying to muster the courage to do something. As I watched countless people pass right in front of them as the guy was slapping and choking his girlfriend and throwing her into the wall, I finally snapped because it made me more angry seeing these apathetic people walking past than it did to see the girl getting beat up so I confronted the guy and saved her. I'm not that big of a guy or anything but it was quite funny how in typical bully fashion as soon as I confronted him he turned into a callow submissive apologetic little pup and was apologizing and making excuses to me as to why he was doing this after I pushed him and threatened to put my fist through his jaw.

Very sad story to read.

Whats sad is this happens a lot.

People tend to lock up when these types of situations happen. Theres lots of reasons that can explain their reactions; fear/shock, stupidity, lawsuits, inexperience and many more.

They had the right to fear being sued, because it HAPPENS A LOT!

Im the type of guy that pulls over when I see accidents or someone hurt or in distress on the street. So I know how you feel.

Its unfortunate you had to experience this, but at least you had the heart and courage to try. Kudos to you my friend.

[edit on 10/17/2008 by AndrewTB]

Originally posted by Anonymous ATS
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.

It's okay for you to give this advice to your wife. It's your life, but my grandfather lived through probably a half dozen heart attacks before the one that finally killed him.

In at least one case, he was so close to death's door that the family was summoned to the hospital with the expectation that he might be dead by the time that we got there.

By the time the OP got to the scene, provided that this is all true, surely the woman was dead, given the description, but very many people do survive heart attacks because either they or someone else had the presence of mind to call for or get that person to emergency care.

If I were you, I'd also be tempted to sue your employers for providing hazardous working conditions without giving prior knowledge. Had you and your coworkers known that it was policy to stand there and watch while you or any of those you work with on a daily basis lay there dying, i highly doubt if anyone there would take that job or be satisfied with the pay.

At the very least, i think it would be best if you found another job ASAP.

Very sad and tragic story, thank you for sharing it with us.

This is horrible, just shows how far society has fallen.

Or has it?

Has society ever been overly compassionate? Or has it always just been the minority that go out of their way to help someone?

The case of Kitty Genovese springs to mind, similar circumstances in fact:

"The stabbing of Kitty Genovese lasted 50 minutes was witnessed by 38 people. Surely someone would pick up the phone and call the police, right? Wrong: here’s the infamous story of what happened when good people stood by and did nothing."

Full story can be read here:

www.neatorama.com...

My opinion? "Syndrome", "Bystander Effect", it's all crap dreamed up by psychologists to put an "acceptable" face to blatant human disregard for another persons life. A nice cover up for that guilty feeling these types of people would have for knowing they value themselves, and only themselves, above others.

I guess if it doesn't effect you directly, why care?

I am a licensed Paramedic and CPR/AED instructor.

This story is horrific and tragic. CPR probably would NOT have saved her but the automated defibrillator could have if applied within a couple of minutes of her arrest.

This is tragic, especially given that AEDs are SO SIMPLE to operate. CPR nowadays is easy too. The American Heart Association has found that you don't even need to do mouth-to-mouth. Fast, hard chest compressions are more effective in resuscitation.

As far as bystanders the lawsuit won't be successful. Many states, like mine, have enacted legislation that forbids suits if someone either USES or DOESN'T USE a defibrillator regardless if they are trained.

This was supposed to take the liability away for businesses and professional rescuers so they would be more likely to help but it hasn't so far, obviously.

You should be commended for stepping up. It was an amazing example and your coworkers should be ashamed. Hell, somebody could have at least dialed 911.

You did the right thing.

Originally posted by prevenge

this may sound raw to hear, but was the girl that died.. a particularly annoying or not-well-liked person in the work place? overweight?
was she the type of person that some of these people actually.. (as much as I don't like saying it) .. WOULDN'T MIND seeing "gone" ?

just asking, because as sick as it is...that might have been a factor in their negligence of aid.

-

Raw..phew you don't mince your words do ya!
if this was the case then these onlookers are no more then murders! its the inner that counts not what a person looks like..what a sad,sad society we live in should this be the case..... I think I'll stick with my pets...human"kind" I can do without...

Only in America you can get suedf for saving ones life.

An old Chinese proverb says that if you save a life, you become responsible for that life

some of you guys doubting such a thing could happen are living in a dream world. There are VIDEOS ON THE INTERNET of things worse than this occurring. I've seen one myself on liveleak I think it was where a guy is stabbing his girlfriend in the face and chest brutally murdering her, yes there is a video of this go look it up if you don't believe. Anyway he's doing this in the middle of a street out in the open and people are passing by and some people start to congregate around them and just watch in horror. Let me repeat this, the guy is REPEATEDLY STABBING AND PUNCHING his girlfriend/wife in the chest and face and she is bleeding so profusely that her entire upper body and face is nothing but a volcano of gore and blood and people are standing around them watching and only towards the end when he begins to brutally stab her in the face do one or two men attempt to run past really fast and 'kick' the guy off of the girl. They don't dare risk their lives to restrain him they just do a sort of real quick run past him and kick him which he mostly ignores and continues his rampage but eventually he stops.

since i live in l.a. i would probably call my lawyer before i called 911.

Originally posted by TheOracle
Only in America you can get suedf for saving ones life.

An old Chinese proverb says that if you save a life, you become responsible for that life

Oh, whatever. It's called human greed and it's not limited to just North America. I guarantee you it happens in other countries as well.

Unless you're trying to say the rest of the world aren't greedy human beings?

reply to post by Xanthus


I didn't blame Americans for anything that happened in Australia.

I referred to people in general being complacent and emphasized that Americans especially are indifferent and cited their uncaring attitude toward politics. Until I see a little more effort applied toward changing the way things work in D.C. - No, I don't think it's a little much to say so. It's a prime example of indifferent attitudes people can have. Everyone wants to complain and wish something could be done but much more often than not, they are unwilling to step up and play a role.

reply to post by Star kitten



Wow stuff like this makes me sick. Its amazing how selfish people really are.