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When is it OK to date someone met on a call?

Some said dating someone you help on a call crosses an ethical line, while others urged people to mind their own business

When a Florida paramedic/firefighter proposed to a woman he saved after she was stabbed 32 times by her ex-boyfriend, it begged the question: When is it OK for a responder to date a victim?

In the case of paramedic/firefighter Cameron Hill and Melissa Dohme, they reconnected 10 months after the incident. And two and a half years later, he got down on one knee and proposed to her at a Tampa Bay Ray’s game.

So, we asked our community what they thought about dating someone they helped on a call.

If you haven’t already, let us know what you think in the comment section below.

  1. “I had the same discussion with my wife who’s an RN. I think it teeters on crossing an ethical line. She says, “Shut up and be happy for the people who find what they are looking for regardless of circumstances.” — Scott Bravo
  2. “You can’t help who you fall in love with or where.” — Desiree Edwards
  3. “This is a funny thing, because Washington State DOH made a rule a few years back that “two years after the ending of the professional medical relationship” was the correct answer for everyone. I think it eventually got vague again.” — Jonathan Clemens
  4. “I married my husband four years after I picked him up in the middle of the interstate after he crashed his motorcycle.” — Kelly Jennings McCommon
  5. “Why is it really anyone’s business and even a topic of conversation?” — Marie Glasser
  6. “As long as personal life doesn’t interfere with professional life, there shouldn’t be an issue.” — Jon Arbogash
  7. “You have to meet people somewhere.” — Kevin LeClair
  8. “We need to be vigilant for a psychological phenomenon known as transference, where the person being helped transfers their feelings to the person who helped them. The people we take care of are often in a vulnerable state, and we need to be careful that we are not exploiting that unethically. Just be careful.” — Dominick Walenczak

The EMS1 Community Q&A section features EMTs and paramedics answering questions from “Why don’t paramedics run to patients?”, to “What medic habits can’t you shake?” From the lighthearted, to the clinical, we’ve asked and you’ve answered.

Have a question you’d like to ask the EMS1 audience? Email us at editor@ems1.com.

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