This isn't a freak show.

[AmandaLaederich]

As with most business we have our regulars, this guy in-particular is in our store at least once a day if not more. He is one of the nicest guy someone could meet, he suffers from epilepsy and occasionally he'll have an attack in the store or parking lot, he mostly comes at night and there aren't many people (save for me) there to see this. However, yesterday he just happened be in the store yesterday afternoon when he had an attacked, the place was packed.





And here's where the stupid comes in (or at least I think it's stupid) I yell to my co-worker that he was having an attack and she, thank god, reacts promptly and gets on the phone quickly. The customers however, just gawked or started whispering to each other, one even had the nerve to start laughing at him, someone else just looked at him as if he grew a second head and was spewing acid all over the place.



Really people! Then when I tried to get someone to help turn him on his side so he could breath they all started inching away and the one guy who stepped forward wouldn't even touch him! I said grab his legs so what does he do? Grab the cuff of his pants pinched in-between his fingers!!! Luckily the EMTs showed up shortly after.



I get not everyone has the know how to just up and act in an emergency, but to laugh at him?! REALLY! How about you start choking and we all point and laugh as you turn purple and struggle for a decent breath and see how well that goes for you?!

[Draco]

Unfortunately, I would be hesitant to help as well. Same if someone was choking or having a heart attack. This isn't due to my wishing ill will on anyone, but rather if something happens and you willingly get involved in trying to help, they can sue you. Or, God forbid, if they pass their estate/family can sue you.

And in this sue-happy world we live in, it DOES happen. :/

The people laughing were just douches though. Unless it was more of a nervous laugh. That I could understand in a high stress situation.

[kpzra]

Unfortunately, I would be hesitant to help as well. Same if someone was choking or having a heart attack. This isn't due to my wishing ill will on anyone, but rather if something happens and you willingly get involved in trying to help, they can sue you. Or, God forbid, if they pass their estate/family can sue you.

And in this sue-happy world we live in, it DOES happen. :/

The people laughing were just douches though. Unless it was more of a nervous laugh. That I could understand in a high stress situation.

Unless you are medically trained/licensed (and even then only if you are working usually) NO they cannot. It's called the Good Samaritan Law.

[Draco]

Unless you are medically trained/licensed (and even then only if you are working usually) NO they cannot. It's called the Good Samaritan Law.

Those vary greatly from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

For example:

In some jurisdictions, good Samaritan laws only protect those who have completed basic first aid training and are certified by health organizations, such as the American Heart Association, or American Red Cross, provided that they have acted within the scope of their training. In these jurisdictions, a person who is neither trained in first aid nor certified, and who performs first aid incorrectly, can be held legally liable for errors made. In other jurisdictions any rescuer is protected from liability so long as the responder acted rationally. In Florida, paramedics and EMTs are protected statutorily from liability, unless they were reckless.

As I said, it'd be great to be able to help, but with sue-happy people around, well... Many just aren't willing to risk it. It's a shame, but it's how things are.

[fireheart]

I think there's one time I caught someone having a seizure. Thankfully there were paramedics and they'd put a screen up so she could have some dignity while she was having her seizure. She was in a wheelchair, but I could sort of see around the back of the screen (it was one of those tri-fold ones). That said, I only caught a glimpse and moved on. I didn't cluster around it like a freak show. >.>

[Zellie Crescent]

My mom has epilepsy, the only time I saw her having a seizure I was 8 years old. I immediately called for an ambulance I was too young to know what to do/what not to do.

[Can I Help Your A$$?]

I think the right thing to do is to help, regardless of a possible lawsuit. Because the person lying on the floor will possibly be you some day.

(And how would you know they wouldn't sure you for not helping?)

[Shalom]

I only saw someone having a seizure once, if that's what it was. Most people hear the word "seizure" and automatically assume grand-mal (french: "Big Bad") which is the classic tonic-clonic kind of seizure, flopping around and all that, but this was an absence seizure, a.k.a. petit-mal ("Little Bad"). I was in class, back in college, and this one guy in the front row slowly stood up and started slowly spinning round. His face . . . ugh, he looked dead. No expression at all, eyes fixed forward. There was a slight bit of hubbub in the class, but the professor, who'd apparently seen something like this before (it was a psych class,after all) told the rest of the class to just ignore him and he'd be fine in a minute, and so it happened.

(edit: from my perspective, the major difference is that the drugs used to treat absence seizures are different from those used for other types. I wasn't yet a pharmacist then, of course.)

[Lady Legira]

I only saw someone having a seizure once, if that's what it was. Most people hear the word "seizure" and automatically assume grand-mal (french: "Big Bad") which is the classic tonic-clonic kind of seizure, flopping around and all that, but this was an absence seizure, a.k.a. petit-mal ("Little Bad"). I was in class, back in college, and this one guy in the front row slowly stood up and started slowly spinning round. His face . . . ugh, he looked dead. No expression at all, eyes fixed forward. There was a slight bit of hubbub in the class, but the professor, who'd apparently seen something like this before (it was a psych class,after all) told the rest of the class to just ignore him and he'd be fine in a minute, and so it happened.

My boyfriend has both types (uncontrollable epilepsy). We've been going out for just over 2 years. He's currently having more absence then tonic-clonic which I ended up dealing with last week while he was staying at mine. It's a weird thing to see, in my boyfriends case he complained of feeling dizzy and assumed it was his sugar levels (he has issues with low sugar) and then just dropped to his knees. Luckily I was stood in front of him when started falling forward. I just causally yelled to my sister to fetch a pillow and dropped his head onto it. Came round a couple of minutes later and we just let him rest while his head came back to him and fed him some painkillers for a post seizure headache. Easy as.


Well except that was only the 2nd seizure I've seen him have. Due the fact stress is one of his triggers for him (the 1st was after he moved) and he relaxes a lot around me, I try to keep him in a low stress environment. The fact I've read a lot about how to deal with seizures, taken a few first aid classes in the past and the fact my I'd seen my grandad having full strokes and TIAs helped. Funny what life throws at you.

[Seshat]

Good for you, fireheart.

As far as I'm concerned, once the Official Trained People are on the scene, then unless it's clearly a major 'all-hands' disaster, it's time for bystanders to leave.

Back to the OP: I think it's a sorry state of affairs when people are too afraid of being sued to help in a situation of need. But if they're not going to help, they should leave. Get out of the way of the people who are helping.

[Merriweather]

Not being trained, I'd never try to step in and do anything that could be considered treatment, etc (ecept call for help, obviously) but what I would do is anything that is a common sense action to keep a person from hurting themselves. Some things, to me, seem obvious and I can't believe someone would not step in and do - such as putting something (a pillow, folded coat, whatever) under a person's head if they're shaking or jerking, to keep them from banging their head on something hard. Or moving broken glass, etc. out of the way if they broke something in falling. Or removing a heavy object their arm might knock over, etc.

For many epileptics, making them more comfortable/safe til the seisure is over is all that is needed anyway. My aunt had epilepsy all her life, unfortunately treated by the small town local doctor the family had used for decades (and his treatments were decades behind the times - she took the same meds for 30 or 40 years, in spite of drastic improvements during those years). Anyway, most of the family used the old dated term of "falling out", as in "aunty had a falling out yesterday", or "we went to town, but aunty fell out". Basically, she went sort of catatonic for a few minutes - if sitting, she usually didn't even fall off her chair. Occasionally she had larger seizures, but more often the small ones.

One of my daughter's friends in high school had epilepsy, she matter of factly told our daughter how to best make her comfortable if she had one, and about how long it usually lasted, no need to call help unless something unusual happened. She used to go with us on day trips quite often, it wasn't really a problem. Except wanting to smack the occasional gawker.

[Moosenogger]

I would be timid to help in that situation because I wouldn't know what the heck I was doing. The only thing I know about a seizure attack is to move everything away from the person so they can't hurt themselves.

It's good that you and your coworker are so well versed in how to handle the situation.

[NotAlBundy]

My nephew and I made a quick jaunt to NYC a couple years ago. Like, less than 24 hours. Flew in, did rapid site-seeing (Times Square, etc), had dinner, went to see a band, hung out at Penn Station, then took the first train back to Newark and flew home.

In between the bar for the band and Penn Station, we stopped at a McDonalds. Some poor guy started having a seizure while he was in line. The employees continued to work and ignore him until we (and several other customers) convinced them to call for an ambulance! I may not have known what to do, but I knew to call for help.

[raudf]

I had a garden center manager who had seizures. Hers were mostly under control, but she made damn sure that each of us knew about it and how to handle it when/if it happened while on the clock. She simply left the forklift and scissor-jack to the guys she trusted, even though in the year I was there, she never once had one.

Kinda sad when most of her instruction was "keep the customers out of the area."

And if there is a situation I can't work on directly... I'll be useful! I will be the privacy screen to reduce gawking, if someone else is handling it!

[Der Cute]

I only saw someone having a seizure once, if that's what it was. Most people hear the word "seizure" and automatically assume grand-mal (french: "Big Bad") which is the classic tonic-clonic kind of seizure, flopping around and all that, but this was an absence seizure, a.k.a. petit-mal ("Little Bad"). I was in class, back in college, and this one guy in the front row slowly stood up and started slowly spinning round. His face . . . ugh, he looked dead. No expression at all, eyes fixed forward. There was a slight bit of hubbub in the class, but the professor, who'd apparently seen something like this before (it was a psych class,after all) told the rest of the class to just ignore him and he'd be fine in a minute, and so it happened.

(edit: from my perspective, the major difference is that the drugs used to treat absence seizures are different from those used for other types. I wasn't yet a pharmacist then, of course.)

Shalom - that's a psycho-motor; complex partial seizure. I do those; it's kind of a zombie thing. My motors are working, I'm no longer at the helm, my body does it's own damn thing. Weird.
Primidone, lamictal, tegretol, depakote/depakene; sometimes oh..the one that makes you dumber than dirt... Those are for cp's I has those.