Pushy Parents

A true story told to me today by a colleague:

About 13 years ago whilst working on an ambulance, my colleague was dealing with a young boy who had dislocated his shoulder.

He was playing in a rugby game, his dad was with him, they were both in the back of the ambulance.

Dad was insisting that the one of the two EMTs put the shoulder back into place, there and then so that the boy could continue with the match which had 20 minutes remaining and apparently was “crucial” to the team.

Obviously, relocating a joint is something that requires a medical team in an A&E Department. X-Rays need to be taken and decisions need to be made, along with some proper strong pain relief.

Dad wasn’t having any of this, he picked up a bandage, and outstretched his arm expecting his son to receive it. As he went to take the object from his dad, his dad with his other fist strikes his son on the shoulder with a large amount of force, obviously inflicting untold pain on the boy.

However, this had knocked the shoulder back in…

20 minutes later, at the end of the match, the boy collapses.

He is rushed to A&E where they decide that the joint has trapped a major blood vessel.

They left the doctors who were considering amputating the limb. They to this day are not sure of the final outcome, but to have any limb starved of blood for that long, doesn’t leave the victim with much of a chance at saving it.

Was it really worth it?