'Dead' Woman Found Alive After Medical Mix-Up

A young Arizona woman thought killed in a car accident last week was found to be alive Saturday in what was described as a medical mix-up, FOX 10 reported.

Abby Guerra, 19, was one of five friends from Ironwood High School in Glendale, Ariz., who were on their way home from California's Disneyland when they crashed July 18.

Guerra's family was told the promising young soccer star died at the scene

www.foxnews.com...

With all of the advances in technology, how can stuff like this even happen? I feel so bad for all of the families involved. Imagine being told your daughter was dead, and finding out a week later she was still alive.

This happened a couple of years ago with two girls in Indiana.

www.wzzm13.com...

[edit on 7/25/2010 by SUICIDEHK45]

How is it a "mix-up"? The girl was swollen, roughed up, and in pretty poor shape. It's perfectly reasonable for trauma staff, whose main concern is NOT to establish identity, to believe whatever ID the paramedics give them. It even explains that the medical examiner refused to confirm the identity without further examination.

It sounds to me like police/paramedics (those who ARE responsible for establishing ID) made the initial mistake, and the blame is being shifted.

It's a 'mix-up', well, because their identities were 'mixed-up'. I've worked in emergency medicine for 4 years and never was it 'our job' to identify anyone. Our job is to get the victim to the hospital as quick as possible while trying to keep them alive until we arrived. Nobody goes thru personal belongings or even asks questions unless in an instance where the victim is conscious to establish a comfort level for him/her(name wise) and info like, what happened any medical problems we should be aware of, diabetic etc) We drop them off, aid if necessary(transfering and getting getting supplies used) and splitting. The hospital takes over from there. So, no, it's not the medics responsibilty to establish anyones identity, life support/emergency procedures and transport...

Wasn't there a movie or another very similar story like this not too long ago?

Well, I can commiserate with the family (making funeral arrangements and all) but I think this is a bitter-sweet event.
Now the family can sue the 'officials', live comfortably off their settlement and never EVER take life for granted again. So it's a win-win situation.

reply to post by Demetre


The police and first responders are responsible for making the initial ID.

Measure twice, Cut once.

And this is the medical field for goodness sakes!

Originally posted by hillbillydudeman
Measure twice, Cut once.

And this is the medical field for goodness sakes!

No medical mistakes were made.

reply to post by One Moment


U are completely, 100% wrong. How are medics supposed to identify anyone if they're unconscious?? If the victim is swollen, roughed up and in bad shape how are we supposed to ID them? Its not our job, plain and simple and u shouldn't spread false info.....bcuz, well, its false.
U will give u the police part that u added in as an afterthought, that's what they do, they investigated what exactly happened and who was involved.

Kim

reply to post by Demetre


Though I'm sure it varies state to state, the three states I've practiced in required the paramedics to make their "best effort" (though obviously they weren't penalized if they couldn't) to identify the individual by looking for photo ID or other identifying information on the person or the vehicle. Of course, if the police responded at about the same time, then they should defer to the police and focus on medical care, but to say paramedics aren't responsible for establishing ID at all is a bit incorrect.

C'mon now.... think about what ur saying. If ur actually stopping to look for ID you might not want to practice emergency medicine. When there's an accident, especially as life threatening as this one was, u don't stop and dig through stuff. Doing so compromises the victim. If you've got an accident involving 5 different victims how're u to differentiate who's who? You could actually be held liable for doing it. Its not relevant to their treatment. If I may ask, what 3 states have u been certified in bcuz they are crazy ass regulations?

Kim

reply to post by Demetre


Police/paramedics routinely go through the personal belongings in the pockets of the patients, at least all that I've seen on the rare times I've been in the ER. It's how we know about possible overdoses as they come into the ER, names, stuff like that. It's not uncommon for paramedics to call in patient names as they are bringing them in, so that we know ahead of time what their drug allergies are.

The states I've practiced in are Massachusetts, New York, and Tennessee, as if that makes any difference. No paramedic rides alone, so why is it unbelieveable to you that while one is stabilizing the patient, one would be trying to establish at least a rudimentary form of ID, especially if all they have to do is pull out a wallet/purse? Police do this at EVERY accident scene, too, and report the presumed IDs to the hospital staff.

How you know about OD's?? How's a name relevant to that? Having a name doesnt tell you anything of the sort. You come to the conclusion of an od by symptoms and signs, u never assume anything prior because you compromise patient care. You never, ever go through anything, u would be held LEGALLY liable.
Proper procedures are- Is the scene safe to procede? Number of victims involved, mechanism of injury/illness. You report that info along with the extent of the injuries to command center. You then triage, looking for any medical ID bracelets to check for any meds their on or if theyre diabetic. Take vitals and provide any bls/als needed and transports to hospital, WITH UNDUE HASTE. If you work in the medical field at all You'd also know that it's against privacy laws to mention ANY names via radio.
It takes more than 1 medic to secure and stabilize a victim, it's not like 1's standing by with their thumb up their ass. It's serious, there's no 'hanging out' or shooting the breeze. You cant put that patient at a higher risk like that. You're right, it doesnt matter what state You've worked in bcuz I'm calling BS on You, especially if u dont even know the basics of bls/als or correct emergency protocal.
I hope to never need emergency care in any state you work in, honestly. With all respect, you'd be a detriment to me and my team.

We're not talking about officers, You said it was the medics job to find id, thats what we're talking about.

edit, spelling

[edit on 7/26/10 by Demetre]

I think who's responsibility to ID the victims is the least of concern to the related family told their loved ones are dead. Before that happens I suppose there is some kind of protocol to have a positive absolute ID of the victim.

Does someone from law enforcement enlighten us about that?

Originally posted by Demetre
How you know about OD's?? How's a name relevant to that? Having a name doesnt tell you anything of the sort. You come to the conclusion of an od by symptoms and signs, u never assume anything prior because you compromise patient care. You never, ever go through anything, u would be held LEGALLY liable.

Please read my post in it's entirety, not just the words you like. I listed drugs/prescriptions under the type of personal information a medic might be able to find quickly at the scene. Very few drugs can be distinguished from one another when you are quickly trying to stabilize an OD, but knowing what the drug is when you get them to the ER is vital. You wouldn't treat a morphine OD the same as a methamphetamine OD.

Proper procedures are- Is the scene safe to procede? Number of victims involved, mechanism of injury/illness. You report that info along with the extent of the injuries to command center. You then triage, looking for any medical ID bracelets to check for any meds their on or if theyre diabetic. Take vitals and provide any bls/als needed and transports to hospital, WITH UNDUE HASTE. If you work in the medical field at all You'd also know that it's against privacy laws to mention ANY names via radio.

It's not against privacy laws to mention names over radio. We do it all the time on life flights. You can even give socials if the name doesn't pull up a record. The only legislation that would ban such a practice is still in the works, and it only pertains to 911 calls, not paramedics calling in to the hospital receiver.

It takes more than 1 medic to secure and stabilize a victim, it's not like 1's standing by with their thumb up their ass. It's serious, there's no 'hanging out' or shooting the breeze. You cant put that patient at a higher risk like that. You're right, it doesnt matter what state You've worked in bcuz I'm calling BS on You, especially if u dont even know the basics of bls/als or correct emergency protocal.

I never said it took only one medic to secure and stabilize a patient. I'm really surprised at how many times you've tried to put words in my mouth when you can't even use proper English yourself. What I DID say was that if there were more than one paramedic, it makes it easier to find/get identifying information. While one is managing airway, the other could be assessing other injuries and looking for identifying info, such as the bracelet you mentioned (in the case of medical identifiers) or ID. It's not a difficult concept, I fail to see why you're having such a hard time with this.

I hope to never need emergency care in any state you work in, honestly. With all respect, you'd be a detriment to me and my team.

I'm sure. And I would hate to have to read any reports you write, if your posting here is any indication of your language skills.

We're not talking about officers, You said it was the medics job to find id, thats what we're talking about.

I mentioned officers and medics in the same sentence because it's unclear who identified the girl in this article. Please do try to keep up with the rest of the class.

edit, spelling

Not enough, obviously. You should have edited for grammar, too.