'I can’t feel or move my legs': MCHD critical case report
A patient presented with a unique set of symptoms not previously encountered by EMS providers with over 30-plus years of collective experience
By Travis Clay, EMT-P; Johna Gilson, EMT-P; Eric Berlehner, EMT-P; Robert Dickson, MD, FAEMS; and Casey Patrick, MD, FAEMS
At approximately 1100 hours, our ground-based, dual paramedic EMS ambulance was dispatched to a rural community for a 71-year-old male reporting a sudden loss of feeling/motor function in his legs. Upon our arrival, we discovered the patient laying supine in the entryway to his home, tearful and writhing on the floor in obvious pain. The patient stated he was working in his attic when he suddenly felt numbness in his lower extremities. Being fearful he would fall out of the attic, he retreated down and summoned his neighbors to call 911.