Hospital Coordination With
Fire District Ambulance Crews
Posted January 24, 2010
| On November 26, 2009, I had a
very bad experience with the Penn Valley Fire Protection District while
their ambulance took me to the hospital following a grand mal seizure.
While I was still thrashing and unaware of my surroundings as they
secured me to the ambulance bed, a paramedic improperly inserted an IV
needle into the back of my left hand. By the time I arrived at the
hospital and became aware of what had happened, the IV drip had swollen
my hand to twice normal size and it was very painful. It is almost two
months later and my hand is still swollen and purple, but much less so.
It was about one month after the improper IV before the pain subsided
enough for me to use the hand for light tasks.
I believe that the paramedic should not have inserted the IV needle when unsure of whether or not he could do it properly. I believe he should have been in contact with experts at the hospital for advice on what to do with a flailing patient, and that the hospital expert would have advised him NOT to insert the needle, but instead just proceed to get me to the hospital as quickly as possible. I described this sequence of events to Chief Gene Vander Plaats and he replied that it was a life-saving protocol to insert an IV as quickly as possible, but did not address the issue that it was not possible to do it properly while I was flailing. Since neither Chief Vander Plaats nor I are experts in emergency care, I am writing this to Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital in the hope that hospital experts will work with local fire districts to improve emergency IV protocol such that bad results as occurred on November 26, 2009 can be avoided in the future. Here is my email exchange with Vander Plaats:
From: Herb
Lindberg
Sent: Monday, January 04, 2010 1:15 PM
Subject: Paramedic experience
Hi,
I don't know who reads email at this
address but this message is intended mainly for Chief Gene Vander
Plaats.
My name is Herb Lindberg and I want to
thank you for the fast response during a seizure I had on Thanksgiving
morning. My son tells me your emergency crew was at our home (18388
Chaparral Drive) within 5 minutes of his 911 call on November 26,
2009.
However, my main reason for writing
this message is to let you know about an improper IV insertion into
the back of my hand and its severe consequences during the following
month. I'm told I was still thrashing about while your crew got me
settled onto the table in the emergency vehicle, so it's not
surprising the paramedic missed the vein in my hand. My suggestion for
future such situations is that it is better to forego an IV if there
is any chance that it cannot be done properly. I explain why in the
following.
I learned recently that my other
son took the following pictures (among others) at the hospital:
The injuries in my nose area occurred
during the seizure. The point to notice is my severely swollen left
hand. The picture below shows the swelling better:
As time passed during the week
following this incident, the underside of my left arm turned dark
purple from internal bleeding (I'm on Coumadin to avoid a stroke).
Both the hand and arm were very painful to the touch and throbbed with
pain for almost 4 weeks. This arm injury was the most painful and
debilitating part of my recovery from the seizure. Even today there is
localized swelling about the size of a nickel and the hand is light
purple and painful to the touch.
In conclusion, I want to repeat:
My suggestion for future such
situations is that it is better to forego an IV if there is any chance
that it cannot be done properly.
Thanks for reading this,
Herb Lindberg
18388 Chaparral Drive Penn Valley, CA 95946 Phone: 530-432-5096 email: herb@lindberglce.com Website: http://www.lindberglce.com Here is his reply:
From: "Gene Vander Plaats" <pvfpd.chief@sbcglobal.net>
To: "'Herb Lindberg'" <herb@lindberglce.com>
Cc: "Clayton Thomas" <clay.thomas@comcast.net>;
"Don Wagner" <pvfpd.wagner@sbcglobal.net>
Sent: Tuesday, January 05, 2010 9:14 AM
Subject: RE: Paramedic experience
Mr. Lindberg: |
