What went wrong here?

Friday, January 07, 2005

"Badlands National Park (SD) EMS Response; Life Saved

On the evening of December 19th, off-duty ranger Stanley Buchanan was contacted at his government residence by a concession employee who lives behind the Cedar Pass Lodge. The employee told Buchanan that he and his wife had been eating dinner when she suddenly began choking. He tried to force the item out of her with abdominal thrusts, but panicked when the object was not expelled. Since he didn’t have a phone, he drove to the housing area and began knocking on doors, looking for help. Buchanan found the woman lying in the fetal position on the floor. She was unconscious and not breathing and her skin was a dark blue color. Buchanan quickly repositioned her on her side, checked her airway, found a piece of meat stuck in the back of her throat, and removed it. The woman immediately resumed breathing. Buchanan monitored her while an ambulance responded from the town of Kadoka. She regained consciousness about ten minutes after her breathing was restored. Investigation revealed that alcohol was a contributing factor. [Submitted by Mark Gorman, Acting Chief Ranger]"

Homework assignment:

Briefly explain what went wrong, and what you might do differently if you were in this situation. Address the issue of having no phone.

This only needs to be a couple of paragraphs. You don't have to type it if I can read your printing.

I am not looking for answers such as, the husband didn't survey or check the scene, he didn't ask for permission to give care or use precautions to protect himself from germs. He might or might not have done these things, but the person writing the report knew they were not important to mention. What I want you to answer is what went wrong with the care. The wife could have died needlessly.