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Medic refuses to leave patient with grenade lodged in leg

He ordered his crew out of the ambulance and stayed beside the patient as a bomb squad removed the explosive device from the man’s thigh

AL.com

JASPER, Ala. — For a few hours Saturday morning, Cameron Padbury wasn’t sure he would ever see his three young children again.

A paramedic for 18 years, it wasn’t the first life-and-death situation the 37-year-old Jasper man found himself in. But it was, by far, one of the most unusual, and one with potentially explosive consequences.

For eight hours and in close quarters, Padbury kept vigil beside his 62-year-old patient, a man with a 40 mm practice grenade lodged in his thigh. Padbury and other paramedics in the parked ambulance outside of UAB’s emergency room were told to keep the patient as still as possible or they might not live to see another sunrise.

Read full story: Paramedic refused to leave man with grenade lodged in his leg: nerves, humor and body armor all part of 8-hour ordeal

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