Political correctness

[Dick Moby]

I?ve done many first aid / medical courses in my life. The first one was when I was about 14 and told how I could shove a knife into someone?s chest if I thought they had a punctured lung when I was doing a bit of scuba diving. I did a course and was told at the end that if I saw somebody collapsed in the street, I should pass them by and phone 999 because I was now classed as a medical person and could be sued if I fucked up. I did a course when I was on rescue ships and we had to put a support collar on people?s necks before we pulled them from the freezing cold water that was going to kill them in minutes and we had three different sizes to pick from. I did a really heavy duty course when I was taught about triage. Now I have to assess casualties ---- somebody who is in great pain and screaming goes to the back of the list ----- he is alive, somebody who has a bad chest injury I have to put him on the injured side so his lung on the good side can function better and probably the best one is the man who has no head but I cannot call him dead but as a non-survivor. I still carry a card in my wallet which allows me to remove a woman?s bra if I think she has had a cardiac arrest and could be wearing an underwired bra before I start cardiac massage just in case a wire punctures her chest.

[andy at handiwork]

What has any of that got to do with so called 'political correctness'? More like over concern at insurance claims.

[Dick Moby]

If somebody doesn't have a head it's a pretty safe bet that he's not going to get up and start running about. But I have to say he is a non survivor and I'm not allowed to say he's dead. I would call that political correctness.

[Arginald Valleywater]

We are told at work to keep doing heart pumps and no longer bother with mouth to mouth. I shall remember this next time a female colleague hurts her ankle.

[Dick Moby]

I remember several years ago I was out on the piss with my brother in law. As we were walking to our next watering hole an old lady collapsed outside of a shop.I sent my brother in law into the shop to phone an ambulance while I checked the woman. The shop assistant refused to let my brother in law use the phone as it was obvious that he had been drinking. All she had to do was look out the window as she would have seen the woman lying on the pavement. He eventually went to another shop and phoned 999. By this time I had decided that the old dear was gone and I started mouth to mouth and cardiac massage. It wasn't pleasant as the woman had been sick when she collapsed.I used to drink with one of the ambulance men who picked her up and he told me later that she was probably dead before she hit the pavement.

[Sam Slater]

This thread is weird. Andy tried to make some sense of it but to no avail.

[Dick Moby]

Sam, if you can't understand something , don't be afraid to ask.

[andy at handiwork]

I tried, but thanks anyway Sam.

[Stripey]

More likely it's a blanket rule so that non-medically qualified people don't make the wrong judgement i.e. in cases where there is still a head, but no apparent signs of life, even if they're not actually dead.

This has absolutely nothing to do with "political correctness."

[Dick Moby]

When somebody starts a reply with " more likely" it means that they don't know.If I am told to use terminology which is forced on us by authorities because it is what insurance companies want you to say I still class that as political correctness.
So in your medical opinion, if you saw somebody without a head would you take a wild guess and say they're dead ?