Death

This post was originally published on golifelog.com.

I was on a paramedic duty today. After the concert yesterday, we arrived back home at around 1 am. I had to get up by 6 again, so I could be at the local rescue station (where I’m doing my duties) by 7am.

Obviously, running on below five hours sleep isn’t ideal and luckily, I was able to take a prolonged nap after breakfast with my colleagues.

After lunch, we were alarmed to a house about 10 kilometres away. A woman in her late fifties wasn’t breathing any more, and dispatch told us locals were giving CPR. I hit the accelerator on the Volkswagen Crafter we got, and through the city we went. Around 10 minutes later, we arrived at the scene, the emergency doctor only about two minutes behind us (in his own car).

My colleagues and I went into the house, around a few corners and there the patient was lying on the bed, nobody doing CPR. Strange, but our brains were already working on autopilot. The house was probably built sometimes before the 80s, so everything was cramped and so was the room where the woman was lying on the bed. A quick shout from my colleague, and we lifted here up with one of the police officers who showed up (required by law as far as I know).

Around two corners, and we sat her down with the bedsheets on the floor, at that time, one of the persons (the one which called our dispatch), let as know that there is a “Patientenverfügung” (Living will; where you can describe which medical procedures you want to undergo if necessary and which ones you don’t), which says no CPR. Another shout from my colleague (freely quoted): “We need that now, otherwise we are going to start CPR”.

As “simple” paramedics, we are always obliged to start CPR unless there are definitive death signs (for example, a head not attached to the body). Luckily, at that time the emergency doctor showed up in the door frame, which meant that he was now in charge. The person found the will and gave it to the doctor. I was kneeing besides the women in case he ordered us to start CPR. The will was valid (notarized) and we didn’t start. After writing an Asystole on the ECG, we wrapped her back into the bedsheets and lifted here into the bed again.

We got back into our cars and let dispatch know we would be free to take other transports or emergencies if necessary. And we drove off, back to the local station, the drive now taking 20 minutes instead of 10. By the time we got out of the car, we were already thinking about what to eat in the evening and joking about that we hadn’t to do the exhausting CPR after lunch.

I know this must read absolutely bizarre. Hell, it even feels a little bit strange writing it. But seeing dead people just doesn’t touch me that hard any more after being almost 10 years in this business.