EMS In Action:The "Devils" And "Angels" On Our Shoulders

By Shawn P. Godfrey EMT-Paramedic
12:00AM / Monday, February 19, 2007

Village Ambulance Service Paramedic and Operations Manager Shawn Godfrey

Welcome to "EMS:Courage and Compassion In Action," a twice-monthly column written by Village Ambulance Services Operations Manager and paramedic Shawn Godfrey. Godfrey's columns will appear on every other Tuesday and will focus on the reality of the emergency services medical profession.

Drunk driving is the nation's most frequently committed violent crime, and according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), this senseless act takes the life of a human being about every 30 minutes.

Looking at the latest available statistics, the number of alcohol-related traffic fatalities is declining only slightly. In 2005 an estimated 17,500 people died; and last year approximately 17,100 people died, according to NHTSA. It is a stubbornly persistent problem that can only be conquered through community awareness, education, and more stringent punishment for the offenders.

To say “the devil works in mysterious ways” is simply an understatement when searching for ways to cope with the unfortunate aspects of our job, especially when tending to needless tragedies, like the death of a mother and her children at the hands of a drunk driver. Couple that with the already everyday testing of an Emergency Medical Technician’s (EMT) patience, and you have one fiery recipe for human disdain.


This story touches on that disdain:


As we pulled up to the crash scene, we could see the two mangled cars. They were now just smoldering heaps of metal and plastic ready for hauling to the nearest vehicle junkyard. The leaking automotive fluids formed a rainbow-colored sheen on the roadway, while a thin layer of ice, from the snowstorm a day earlier, reflected a kaliedescopic chaos of spinning, blinking red and white lights. Despite this and the frenzied behavior of passer-bys who had stopped to help, the silence between my partner and I was deafening.


We slipped on our protective gloves, disembarked the ambulance, and approached the wreckage. My partner and I opted to work separately so that we could search each vehicle for potential crash victims. An apprehension of what's ahead always enters an EMT’s psyche while moving toward something so visually devastating.


The driver, and sole occupant of my assigned vehicle, was screaming “Get me out of this damn car now! My leg hurts!”


“Why are you moving so ***damn slow? My leg is broken and I can’t breathe!” he shouted.


“I am doing my best, buddy, just sit tight,” I responded.


As I scanned through the interior of the vehicle, I saw beer cans strewn across the floor. The stench of stale alcohol filled the passenger compartment and I could smell the sweet odor of liquor with each breath the patient exhaled. Immediately I was outraged. Was I angry at myself for selecting this particular vehicle to triage or was it because I was obligated to assist the drunk?


I realized fully that he had to be cared for like any other injured person and I jumped into the car and shielded him while the fire department extricated him from the distorted, misshapen seat. I had to keep him conscious so that he would breathe. Or did I? The devil, now on my shoulder, was again working in mysterious ways. I wanted so badly to leave him; to help the real patients this criminal may have injured, or even worse, killed.


My partner returned to help me. “What do you got?” he asked.


“An approximately 25 year-old intoxicated male with a possible leg fracture and difficulty breathing. We should have him extricated any minute,” I answered.


“What do you have?” I inquired and understood that if he were now assisting me and my patient, only two alternatives remained: the victims were uninjured and refusing medical treatment or they were DOS (dead-on-scene).


He hesitantly answered “a woman and I assume her two children; all dead.”


My partner and I transported the drunk driver to the emergency department, where he was treated and ultimately released into police custody.


It's difficult to understand and empathize with an individual who has made certain decisions in their life, especially when these decisions have resulted in dreadful repercussions that impact their life and the lives of others. But as a healthcare professional, it is my obligation to overlook these biases; biases that could easily devour my soul when challenged with adversity like this.


I haven’t the solution, but from a paramedic’s point of view, I can only reinforce that if people could see what emergency responders see: the death, the destruction, the grieving families, they wouldn't consider drinking and driving. It's difficult for ALL emergency responders to accept that innocent people, who were living, breathing human beings just hours earlier, are now dead because of one’s needless decision to drink and drive.


My partner said it best: “If the devil is ever on your shoulder, look to the other one. There just may be an angel sitting there, ready to help you not to drink and drive.”