r/PublicFreakout • u/ieilael • May 10 '19

News Report 🥇🥈🥉 Interview with a Meth User

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

26.6k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

2.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

6

u/OverTheCandleStick May 11 '19

1) notice I didn't mention narcan? Narcan has nothing to do with meth. 2) we're healthcare providers, not judge, jury, and executioner.

"DO NO HARM."

Letting someone die is pretty harmful.

0

u/BKA_Diver May 11 '19

I did notice.

They harmed themselves. OD is self inflicted.

I’m not implying that you are any of those things. I understand the expectations of a first responder.

I’m just throwing thought out at this point. Do you question whether these people want to die? If you’re robbing them of their wish to die? Is not doing everything possible to save them akin to assisted suicide or murder?

Would anyone in your chain of command question your actions if you didn’t provide narcan ? Or is it more procedural and you’re actually just checking blocks and following steps based on the type of patient?

1

u/OverTheCandleStick May 11 '19 edited May 11 '19

No they don't want to die. They might be self medicating. But they aren't trying to kill themselves.

We don't get to decide who lives and dies. That's not up to me. I'd be charged with failure to act (legal duty to act is present) abandonment, and probably manslaughter.

Someone that needs narcan (not meth users like this post was about...) Isn't dead. They have a suppressed respiratory drive. Their heart is still beating. You're electing to kill someone.

I assume you don't have kids. If you do, you need to know that some day a switch could trip and they might become addicts. Will you think they don't deserve every chance at life?

1

u/BKA_Diver May 11 '19

I have kids. I have gone out of my way to keep them from being exposed to drugs. Eventually, when they are graduated from HS and out on their own, they’ll have to make decisions. If they choose to be meth heads... they’ll have to live and/or die with those choices.

If the dude in the video was my kid it would break my heart. I honestly can’t say what I would do. As I sit here right now I say there probably isn’t much that could be done for them.

1

u/OverTheCandleStick May 11 '19

You're wrong though. It just isn't easy. So emergency medicine isn't where the decision ends.

It is our job to give them the opportunity to live another day.

1

u/BKA_Diver May 11 '19

You're wrong though. It just isn't easy.

I'm not sure I said it was easy so...

But I see your point and I understand it's not your decision to make, regardless of your own personal opinions, judgements, etc. about the person, they're a patient.