A little puzzle that arose on Saturday night. Names have been changed.
You arrive in a pub for last orders. You see a work colleague called Allan. Allan has minor learning difficulties, but he looks obviously upset. There’s a foul stench of alcohol amongst him, meaning that he has been drinking for quite some time.
Allan is usually quite a chirpy character, but today he’s different “I’m going to prison!”, he says over and over again, in slurred English. “I’m going down, and they’re going to kill me!”. Allan is annoyed about something.
Last orders come, and bouncers aren’t being much help, say “Just throw him in a taxi and take him home.”. Unfortunately, nobody knows where home is, and asking “where do you live?” brings nothing out of him.
At which point, the increasingly hysterical Allan takes a turn for the worse, “They’re going to kill me! I’m going down! I’m going down!” over and over again. Then he says “I’m not going down! I’m going to kill myself first!”.
We’re running completely out of options, and it’s getting late. Would you ring an ambulence?
I’m not saying what we did, or didn’t. I want your thoughts. But I’ve only dialled 999 before now once before – when Han fainted – and I felt guilty when the guy came out.
There’s all about these stories about people ringing 999 to report a bright white light in the sky, which is fair enough, and there’s times where there’s heart attacks, strokes etc. and that’s fair enough. However, what would you have done in this situation? What is the right thing to do?
Comments: 9 Comments
Rhys Wynne, the author of this blog, is a 20 something web designer from Colwyn Bay. 
Hmmm a tough one – especially as I read a few Ambulance/Paramedic blogs, and they seem to deal with a lot of crazy drunken sorts. But by the end end of the stick, if you’re genuinely worried, then call 999 and tell them. Personally, I probably would have, and made sure it was clear to the paramedic that he was completely out of character, and yes while he had been drinking, he was different.
Worst case scenario, the ambulance or the police take him away to sleep it off and you look like a banana, best case, there’s something wrong and they can fix it.
-Dan
I concur with Dan. Police and ambulance personnel should be talking to those who are with the person in question to ascertain the circumstances of the incident, whether for the purposes of witness statements or medical history, anyway. Rather than them jsut turning up and carting the injured/ill person off without getting any background.
Personally I would have told said bouncer that said person had sligh learning difficultys then see if said person had a mobile on him so you could contact family or someone who knows where he lives then and if that didn’t happen get a taxi with him to A&E and explain to them how you found him and how he’s been acting.
I personally would have probbably called 999 if the person didn’t want to move or was scared of what was out side of the pub or something as to me even if that person did have some learning problem he could have had his drink spiked or something!
Personally I would have called, you can’t know what will or won’t happen but if there’s any possibility that he might have run out and jumped in front of a bus then he needs immediate help and 999 is the obvious source of that.
I’d have called them.
They’re pretty good and will tell you if a situations not worthy of a call-out. Plus they have cute paramedics on motorbikes that can visit you too to assess if you need a full nee-naw-nee-naw to attend
)
(Oh and they’ve told me that it’s not worthy of a paramedic before only to have 2 of them knock on my door ten minutes later! Doh.)
So did you call one??
I probably wouldn’t have called them TBH, just taken him home and probably stayed the night just to make sure all was okay and have a chat with him about what was going on when he woke in the morning.
I would have dialed 999, but I’d have asked for the police not an ambulance.
Difficult one. I’d probably have ended up ringing and explaining the situation to the controller, and leave them with the decision whether it is appropriate to send someone.
As regards the previous fainting incident, you probably did the right thing. Most incidents of unconsciousness are serious and require an ambulance. A simple faint is an exception to this, but the only way you can really be sure of this is if they come round quickly, so if anyone is unconscious for any period of time then call an ambulance. Also, with a faint the pulse should be slow, so if someone is pale with a rapid pulse then call an ambulance pronto, as it could be a heart attack.
To answer all your queries, we did ring 999, they protested a little bit, but eventually sent an ambulance. We’d have done Fern’s idea, but we didn’t know where home was.