Red Mist….Clouds the Judgement
We,ve all been to those jobs where someone kicks off, giving it loads with the verbals, arguing the toss, getting in our faces. And we,ve all, I hope, managed to check the “red mist”descending over our eyes before we say or do something that will probaly lose us our jobs.
Sometimes a firm voice or a witty retort to the loudmouth will be enough to calm the situation. I know that in the back of our minds we just want to punch their ******** lights out and stamp all over their necks!Dont we? But, professionals as we are, we take the abuse in the course of our duties and crack on. The yearning to “…hear the sickening, cracking, splintering of bone as Doc Martin/Magnum boot connects with the skull” must be put on the back burner while we sort the patient out.
So long as these feelings are kept in check then everything is okay. But what about those times that we have had to subdue someone for our own, and the patients, safety. How far can we go? And someone somewhere must have put a sly dig into a loudmouth?
So long as we do the best for the patient and remain courteous and polite we should have no problems. It is a statement of our times that we are under camera surveillance most of the day/night. Estimates point to our been captured on CCTV/cameras on average 300 times a day!
Spare a thought for the Firefighter in Oregon, USA who did not check the red mist. They were called to a man complaining of a headache. He was in the foyer of an apartment block. One of the other residents took exception to the crew attending the patient and gobbed off time and again to the Firefighter Lieutenant who eventually lost it. I think personally the crew lost it and restrained the loudmouth unnecessarily but without causing any harm. What happened next was the turning point in the Lieutenants career. Click here.
The CCTV images are exceptional high quality, so be aware……check the red mist!
Purpleplus 
Like you say we stay professional and keep our cool when all we want to do is give some drunken idiot a couple of jabs.
Yes this guy lost it and acted unprofessionally, but should he be sacked, I don’t think so.
It’s hard to judge this without hearing the audio as there could be much more to it than meets the eye.
I dont think he should be sacked, although the dept he works for have reassigned him to flying a desk!
All I,m saying is that in the past one of us may have lashed out in frustration and any comebacks /complaints would have been anecdotal, but now there is a good chance of that frustration being filmed in glorious techniclour.
Ohhh. Don’t think I’d do that. Never like the thought of kicking someone. Saying that I bet he deserved it.
What a dick sack.
There’s a difference between kicking someone when they ‘re down and restraining someone. Its like you say, you don’t know what was going on there without sound and you don’t know what sort of day/week that guy had had up til then. Straws and camels backs
The engine is about to go up for paramedic blogs and it will replace the static HTML links that are there now. We will go into beta in February.
What is the general term that you prefer to use today that covers paramedics,EMT, EMS, tactical medical,firefighters, etc and everyone else who saves lives in this field? When I was a kid, even paramedics were new.
The site will have categories for each but it will be for rescue personnel and I don’t want to sound too exclusive in the title.
Hank
Difficult one to judge.
In my professional opinion, it depends on his record. If the man is prone to violent outbursts on a regular basis, its time to have him moved from the front line. If this is a one off, and circumstances just got out of hand, then perhaps a more lenient stance. Either way, some kind of action has to be taken against him.
Its hard, but unfortunately, life is hard.
You just dontknow. he could of just left an infant death or just be a psycho. I cant condone what he did but as mentioned camel/back.
HANK,
I cant seem to post on your site at the moment without giving away my real name. In reply however ,to your question I would offer the quotation of a young chav who I came across a couple of months ago.
His shouted (?) insult was “life saving wanker”. This should cover all bases.
Iain MacBain: can I presume the answer to your chavlet was “…and how are we spelling that? Is the life saving hyphenated or not?”
Lucy
Hank…I think “Emergency Services” covers all bases.
Personally I am a Paramedic. Contrary to some members of the publics opinion that I,m a taxi driver! Or a ambulance driver!
But I do like Paramedic Stretcher Monkey as that sums me up too!
Hello?
I cannot believe some of the comments above condoning (or refusing to condemn) the assault on a defenceless man. It does not matter what he said, he was attacked by a fireman (watch the video) . Being a professional means you do not take 3 men to pin him to the floor whilst a 4th man kicks him 3 times in the head. What is the matter with you? Shame on you
I dont think anyone would condone what happened in the vid johndog…unfortunately there is no audio with the vid so we dont know what was said by the man in the foyer.
The three who grabbed him and pinned him down were perhaps preventing the situation spiralling out of control (which happens frequently).
The fire officer who kicked him did it, I believe, out of frustration. I saw him kicking the man in the back not the head. (which is still no defence I know).
It is a reflection on the world that we live and work in within the emergency services, that on a daily basis we are subjected to verbal and physical abuse.
My thoughts that I posted are the result of a coping mechanism developed by me in the ambulance service over nearly 20 years. (ie…”black humour”…..or is that “dark humour” to be politically correct?)
I would never attack a defenceless person but believe me johndog I have had to defend myself from people who wanted to “tear my head off” and “kill me” for no other reason than I am in front of them. Numerous Police officers have been killed when situations have got out of hand. These are dangerous times.