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Except in obvious cases like decapitation, paramedics cannot legally declare someone dead; it has to be done by an MD, and the paramedics will keep trying to re
by Analemma_ 8y ago
Except in obvious cases like decapitation, paramedics cannot legally declare someone dead; it has to be done by an MD, and the paramedics will keep trying to revive you until you get to the hospital. So it's not necessarily true that he didn't die in the crash.
- FireBeyond 8y agoNot true at all. Paramedics can declare death (at least in most states, I cannot speak to all), and we _absolutely_ can stop resuscitation efforts using our clinical judgment, at times in concert with a physician. I am not sure of the specifics of this case, but traumatic cardiac arrest is, as a generalization, "largely unsurvivable". An asystole EKG, in concert with the mechanism of injury, may be enough for us to do so, and we do not need to transport what is at that point a dead person (even if there is resuscitation being attempted, for a multitude of reasons - sometimes even "for the family's benefit"[1]) just to get them to a physician to declare death. In many states, EMTs (with ~200hrs of medical training) are able to declare death legally, in the setting of evisceration of heart/brain, decapitation, "body position incompatible with life". This is the situation to the best of my knowledge as a paramedic of nine years and a state certified EMS Instructor and Evaluator. [1] it should be noted that this is done in a setting where its judged the "best" course of action for grief, establishing end of life directives, and the like, and _not_ as something that is intended to falsely convey hope.