Editor’s note: We got so many great story submissions during our EMS week contest, we’ve decided to run a few of our favorite entries. Here is one of our staff’s favorites View all entries here, and check out our grand-prize winner.
By Robert Sullivan
New Castle County EMS (Del.)
Late on a cold night about six years ago, we were dispatched to an MVC with heavy entrapment on an interstate. We pulled up behind a mid-sized sedan that was wedged underneath the rear of a box truck. Both vehicles were on the grass next to the highway.
The box had come through the passenger side of the sedan’s windshield and stopped near the back seat. We found one patient in the driver’s seat of the sedan. His legs were pinned under the dash board and the right side of the roof was caved in a few inches from his head. No part of the passenger seat was visible.
My partner and I crawled next to our 24-year-old patient, who greeted us by yelling “get me the (expletive) out of here!” He had obvious head injury and leg injuries, and the odor of alcohol was so strong that I felt ill after a few minutes next to him.
We applied oxygen and a cervical collar, and took turns trying to hold his head still. He was shivering so we packed as many blankets as we could into the small space. We blasted the heater of the ambulance and kept saline bags on the dash. My partner started an IV on his left arm and slowly infused warm fluid. He went in and out of consciousness, and he repeatedly yelled the same expletives while awake. We were all freezing but somehow managed to still be nice to him.
Nothing seemed to work trying to extricate him. The cribbing just sank into the soft grass, and every cut into the vehicle made the box truck sink further into the patient compartment. I watched frustration build on the firefighters’ faces each time they tried something new.
About 45 minutes into the operation, a rescuer noticed a lock of blond hair by the rear passenger seat. Despite being told that our patient was alone in the vehicle, it became clear that a female was crushed in the passenger seat. She was obviously dead.
A large tow truck arrived three hours later and pulled the box truck off of the patient’s vehicle. The driver’s side door was cut off a short time later, and we were off to the trauma center. Our patient was combative during the entire transport, and I felt a great sense of relief after moving him over to the trauma bay.
Our patient’s head injury was not serious and he was only hospitalized for a few days. When told that the passenger in his vehicle was dead, he did not remember having one or know who she was. Apparently they had met for the first time earlier in the evening. He spent a year in prison.
Four years later I came across our patient’s name in the newspaper. While still on probation, he was in another DUI wreck and charged with vehicular manslaughter. This time he struck and killed a 17-year-old one week before his high school graduation.
This is certainly one of the most memorable calls I’ve been on. I am most impressed with how dozens of people from different agencies worked so well together for several hours in the middle of a cold night. As difficult as this patient was, we all maintained compassion towards him. It is a good example of what EMS is all about.