A police officer pursues a speeding vehicle. When the vehicle pulls over a woman leaps out and screams, “He can’t breathe. He is going to die!”
Her companion exits the vehicle and she yells “He is having an asthma attack.”
View and discuss severe asthma
As you watch the video, below, discuss these questions with your partner, company, or squad.
- What are the triggers of asthma?
- What are signs of a severe asthma attack, meaning it is a life-threatening emergency?
- As a BLS provider, with a limited scope and few options, what treatment did the police officer provide?
- What additional interventions are the EMTs and paramedics in your service area trained and authorized to deliver?
This is an intense scene. It is the middle of the night, on a cold and dark highway, with a patient dying, and a very anxious girlfriend. The ambulance arrives about 7 minutes after the vehicle is pulled over. What is a reasonable expectation for our law enforcement colleagues during this time? Should the officer have transported the man in his squad car, as some readers suggested? If you had arrived in your own vehicle or a quick response vehicle and had 7 minutes before an ambulance arrived, what would you have done for this patient?