Has any of you ever had the experience of 911 dispatchers refusing to send out police or medics?

Question

911 tapes: Dying woman was denied help (AP)
Wed, 13 Jun 2007 13:36:45 GMT

AP - A woman who lay bleeding on the emergency room floor of a troubled inner-city hospital died after 911 dispatchers refused to contact paramedics or an ambulance to take her to another facility, newly released tapes of the emergency calls reveal.

**I have had this experience. I was raped and found myself in an argument with the woman on the other end of the phone back in 1998, because she "know, I mean I date him- I mean - what was that name again?".(exactly what she said) I fought for two years to get the 911 tapes and they gave me the run around, plus I went through the entire Attorneys section in the yellow pages and couldn't get anyone to help me force them to hand them over. When they finally pretended to cooperate, they came back to me with "oh, we only keep the tapes for six months. Sorry, we couldn't find anything."
So to certain 'friends' of mine who doubt this could have happened --- boo-yah

So because Public Enemy wrote a song about this issue, that makes it less important Doug?! I hope this happens to you. If you'll notice this woman was further victimized by 911 YESTERDAY! I totally sympathize because it happened to me.

Answer 1

Yes, in the 1980's a man in Indiana called about his mother being unconscious and the 911 lady would not call the paramedics unless they allowed her to TALK to the unconscious women. The son got angry (surprise!) and starting cussing. The 911 lady chewed him out and threatened to hang up. The woman died and the 911 lady was fired.
There is something wrong here. The people at the 911 dispatch need better training and the tapes need to be sent to a review panel. Also medical personal need training in dealing with people. Hospitals need to be better funded, have people who care and enough staff. There is a large problem here and it is not being addressed let alone fixed.

We need to start barking at the candidates and make them come up with a plan. That is easy. And then do the hard part which is hold the candidates accountable several years from now when we have forgotten all of this. If a leader does address this problem we need to support them even if we do not agree with everything in their plan.
We are to blame for forgetting about these problems and letting the leaders get away with not addressing the problem. And if they do address the problem we blame them for it. We need to grow up and stop this.

Answer 2

These dispatchers have strict guidelines to follow in this job. Everything and I mean everything is spelled out for them in guides they follow. They also have on-going training but the main problem with that is just like everything else, "everything keeps changing".
This is a very difficult job and lots of stress. Most dispatchers suffer burn out after 10 years and quit. If they don't quit and continue they tend to suffer from the stress (emotional or brain freezes).
"LIVES" are in your hands everyday you work. Your decisions can "SAVE" or "HURT / ALLOW DEATH". You must stay cool and calm and try to give the right answer or find the right answer. It is a hard job and someone has to do it , right?

I believe they have guidelines about responding to a person who is already at a care facility. They can not send crews to remove her to another facility. Only the person injured or family can do this, not a 911 dispatcher. She followed her gudelines given when employed.

As for your experience, the only way you could get these tapes is by court order through your attorney. They would never give them to a private person. Anybody could ask for them right?
You should have got an attorney immediately. That is the safest avenue. If you have a problem with a "911 dispatcher" you need to go to their boss.
And yes, these dispatchers do make mistakes. They make mistakes everyday as I stated it is a stressful job and they work too long in a day.
That is a shame because persons can and do get hurt because of their mistakes.

Answer 3

Where I work, everything relating to a call is public record and can be obtained by submitting a request and paying a small fee for the tape and call notes. That may not be the same with every jurisdiction. If the complaint was with the particular dispatcher and how she handled the call, there are policies and procedures usually in place that deals with that. The above person is correct, we have very strict guidelines on how to handle each situation. For instance, if the dispatcher is not trained in CPR or is not allowed to give instructions due to departmental policy/procedure, that dispatcher's hands are tied.
The thing I would ask you to remember is that every jurisdiction is different with how calls are handled and responded to. Please don't think that because the situation was handled in a certain way in one area, that it would be handled that way throughout the entire country.

Answer 4

I don't think the fault is with the 9-11 operator. The person was at a hospital. As far as that operator knew, the person was just upset with the doctors there. The person was already at a hospital. Sending an ambulance to pick up someone at a hospital is not the responsibility of 9-11.

It sounds like the personel at the hospital are the ones in trouble here. They were the ones who were refusing to treat the woman. They should be the ones to pay. Not the 9-11 operator.

I have no idea what you are trying to say with your personal experience though.

Answer 5

I'm not familiar with the situation, so I can only comment on what you have stated. A dispatcher will not send an ambulance to relocate a person from one hospital to another. The person them self would have to contact a private ambulance.

Answer 6

It happens, sadly.

In Florida recently, we had a dispatcher refuse to explain to a caller how to do the Heimlich and CPR over the phone while they were awaiting paramedics and the woman choked to death.

There are boneheads in every job.

Answer 7

I think Public Enemy once wrote a song about this issue....

Answer 8

IS CUZ SHE WAS HISPANIC THATS WHY......



WHY OTHER REASON COULD OF BEEN FOR THEM NOT TO HELP HER