South County Wreck #1-- 2002
The Woodlands, sometime in October 2002.
This is the call that haunts me the most. I was an EMT-I, not a paramedic yet. We dropped a call for 29D2 (high impact wreck) in The Woodlands. before we even made the scene, there were bits of cars everywhere. An SUV was in the ditch to my right, and about 50 yards from it was a car in the ditch, doors and hood ripped off, smoking. My partner ran to the car, where a fireguy was bagging the male patient. I ran to the SUV. It was raining, the ditch was full of water ankle-deep and reeked of gasoline. thefireguy there told me, "This lady's unconscious". She was the front seat passenger. Her husband was in the driver's seat, femur fracture, but alert. First thing i notcied was her neck. bent at 90 degrees. No pulse. I checked again. No pulse. ran for the monitor. PEA at 30. My partner asked me what I had. trauma arrest, I answered. Boy in car coding, he told me. No helicopters flying, and other ambulances 10 mins out. All i could see was flashing lights, hear sirens, people running this way and that. Our supervisor showed up and asked me what I had. trauma arrest. Code 4 her, he said. That means that we don't do anything. So i unhooked the monitor, and I can still remember that she looked about 50. She was wearing brown slacks that were stretchy. and the whole time her husband kept asking me if she was okay. The boy in the car coded when we moved him to the stretcher. my partner and the fireguys intubated him,. did chest compressions, decompressed his chest and he had a hemo. and then my partner did a pericardialcentesis, but got no blood back. I was in the truck hanging fluids and this guy comes over to me and says, "That lady over there, is she gonna be alright?" no, i said. she's dead. "well, their dog is lying in the middle of the road. Can you do anything for the poor dog?" no, i said. i only help humans. emergency traffic to the hospital. my throat and mouth were totally dry. too much adrenaline. 19 year old boy dead on arrival. turns out husband and wife on way home, when drunken teen slammed into their vehicle. their dog was ejected through back window of SUV. I still remember the boy's family showing up, crying in disbelief. i think what bothered me the most was that we couldn't do anything for that lady.