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Posts Categorized: Medical Ethics

Atlanta Cheating Scandal Ruling Rescinds Promotions

By in Fire Law at March 8, 2012 at 10:24 am
A judge has ordered 5 promotions rescinded and awarded $320,000 in damages to three Atlanta firefighters in an ongoing lawsuit that alleged race-related cheating. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kelly A. Lee issued the ruling yesterday. The decisio… Read More »

Atlanta Jury Finds Problem with Investigation of Promotional Exam

By in Fire Law at February 18, 2012 at 11:05 am
Yesterday, a Fulton County jury found that Atlanta Fire Rescue failed to fully investigate allegations of cheating on a 2010 promotional exam. The suit was brought by three Atlanta firefighters claiming that certain black firefighters were coached and gi… Read More »

Lazy EMS – Encouraging the RMA

By in Life Under the Lights at January 30, 2011 at 11:29 pm
My friend "Ann" called me for advice on a situation she's having at her ambulance job. Can you offer better advice on how to deal with her possibly worthless partner? Read More »

A Late-Night Rant about Petty Politics in EMS

By in Life Under the Lights at October 27, 2010 at 1:36 am
Tonight, I had a bit of a rant that I let fly... Who am I kidding, it was a full-blown Hissy. I'm tired of the politics in EMS and I'm ranting about it. If I start the change, will you join me? Read More »

Colorado CRNAs Vs. Virginia Physicians? An interesting feud for EMS

By in Life Under the Lights at October 4, 2010 at 2:39 pm
This article caught my interest, it's a feud between CRNAs and Anesthesiologists from Colorado to Virgina. There's a lot to learn here for EMS 2.0. Read More »

Should EMS Improvise? And the Recipe for the “Kaiser Cocktail”

By in Life Under the Lights at June 21, 2010 at 7:27 pm
Sometimes EMS providers need to improvise for the best possible patient care. Here's something I use to treat mild hypoglycemia in the known diabetic. I'm asking for your opinion on this one, should I be doing this? Read More »

Saved by the Bell? High School Student EMS

By in Life Under the Lights at March 29, 2010 at 8:35 am
Remember High School? I do. I was the geeky kid who did show choir. I played football too, though. I was young, naive, and inexperienced. I also desperately wanted to be on an ambulance before I was 18. Was that a good idea? Some communities are doing just that. I was for it... but should I have been? Read More »

Huddled Masses. Healthcare. Honor. EMS.

By in Life Under the Lights at March 25, 2010 at 11:26 am
Undocumented Immigrants? Illegal Immigration? Where do we stand on this as EMS professionals? What do we do? Read More »

Trust… It’s everything

By in Life Under the Lights at March 15, 2010 at 12:29 am
This post is about when "Stuff gets real". It's about trusting your colleagues and yourself to perform when everything's on the line. It's about trusting your fellow EMTs and paramedics to perform when it's your loved-one on the line. Do you trust them? Do you trust yourself? Read More »

Two Cases, One letter – From one Paramedic’s struggles, change can come

By in Life Under the Lights at February 25, 2010 at 5:48 pm
A letter I got from a fellow Paramedic has caused me to write a long tyrade on the state of EMS. This post will make you mad. It will challenge you and challenge our profession. You will probably see yourself in the words this Paramedic wrote to me. We Need Change. Read More »

Are We the Gatekeepers to the Emergency Healthcare System? – EMS 2.0

By in Life Under the Lights at January 21, 2010 at 1:16 am
EMS 2.0 has so much potential to save billions in unneccesary healthcare costs here in the US. Could this be an example? In this scenario, I tell the story of what I've put into practice since the Chronicles of EMS came on the scene. Read More »

“CPR Theatre” – Pediatric Deaths, resuscitations, and futility

By in Life Under the Lights at January 5, 2010 at 8:53 am
This post is a cooperative joint topic with two widely respected EMS bloggers, Steve Whitehead from Http://www.TheEMTspot.com and Greg Friese, from Http://www.EveryDayEMStips.com – Our topic is supposed to be on why it is that EMTs, Paramedics, and oth… Read More »

Guest Post – An Open Letter to Wisconsin Physicians Concerning Do-Not-Resucitate Orders

By in Life Under the Lights at December 3, 2009 at 8:25 am
Do-Not-Resuscitate, or DNR orders, can be wonderful tools. However, physicians must provide the proper input and patient education in order to prevent tragic consequences - This is an open letter to Wisconsin Physicians written by a long-time paramedic. Read More »

Everyday EMS Ethics – Thoughts on Ethical Behavior in EMS

By in Life Under the Lights at December 2, 2009 at 12:04 pm
These are some thoughts on ethics in EMS for street-level paramedics and EMTs with some tidbits for organizational leaders as well. What is EMS Ethics? It's how to become better people while we make people better. Read More »

Everyday EMS Ethics – Social Media and “Smart” phones?

By in Life Under the Lights at December 1, 2009 at 1:10 am
Are "smart" phones and social media too much of a temptation for some? This Everyday EMS Ethics post looks into our ethical standards with Social Media and the Emergency Services. Read More »

Patient Handoffs from EMS to the ER, a Fictional Case Study (not a rant)

By in Life Under the Lights at November 2, 2009 at 5:46 pm
I made up a scenario about the handover of care from EMS to ER staff. I ranted a bit... but I'm sure that there's NEVER any problems like the one I MADE UP here. Any ER nurses out there want to comment? Read More »

The Drunk Responder

By in Life Under the Lights at October 22, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Greg Friese, over at Everday EMS Tips, has written a post in observance of Drug Free Work Week - Oct 19-25th, 2009 entitled "When a Coworker is Intoxicated" In it, he asks what we would do as EMS professionals and Firefighters in cases where we suspect … Read More »

EMS 2.0 – Momentum Building

By in Life Under the Lights at October 21, 2009 at 10:25 pm
Over the last few days since I’ve been putting some posts up on EMS 2.0 there’s been quite a buzz circulating around the blogosphere. From this vantage point, it seems like we’re building some momentum to the movement and that is really exciting fo… Read More »

Welcome to hell, feet

By in Life Under the Lights at October 21, 2009 at 12:03 pm
A while back ago, like Medic999, I was approached by Magnum Boot company about becoming a field tester for a new pair of boots. They asked me to wear their new boots for a while and write about them in my “Popular EMS Blog”. They’d send me new boot… Read More »

Happy Wednesday!

By in Life Under the Lights at October 21, 2009 at 10:28 am
One thing I've noticed since moving to this new blog network (Http://www.FireEMSblogs.com if you haven't been to the main page yet) is that my blogging worklad has increased exponentially.  The other thing that I've noticed is that I've been getting men… Read More »

A Shoutout to TOTWTYTR – The NAEMT? What?

By in Life Under the Lights at October 19, 2009 at 6:18 pm
I'm linking to TOTWTYTR, one of my favorite bloggers. I'm also calling out the NAEMT. Is there anyone who supports this group? Would someone come here and explain to me what the NAEMT does? Read More »

Ol’ Butch and the Pullet Surprise – Not EMS but good stuff

By in Life Under the Lights at October 19, 2009 at 6:02 pm
John was in the fertilized egg business. He had several hundred young layers (hens), called 'pullets,' and ten roosters to fertilize the eggs. He kept records, and any rooster not performing went into the soup pot and was replaced. This took a lot of … Read More »

EMS 2.0 & EMS Ethics – How far would you go?

By in Life Under the Lights at October 18, 2009 at 10:05 pm
EMS 2.0's going to need us to find answers to questions we haven't even asked yet. This is one of them. Where is the line between "progressive" protocols and "I ain't getting paid enough"? Read More »

Advances in Resuscitation – CCR If you’re not doing it now, you will be

By in Life Under the Lights at October 17, 2009 at 3:54 pm
New advances in the fight agains Sudden Cardiac Arrest - There's some exciting results here. We seem to be getting a fighting chance. Read More »

Someone Failed… Is it the System? Everyday EMS Ethics

By in Life Under the Lights at September 29, 2009 at 8:46 am
A tempestuous night is blowing outside the station walls. The cold night air is stirred wildly, blowing splatterings of rain against the glass window of my bedroom. The wind howls through the trees conjuring up fantastic images of the disturbed environs … Read More »

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