My father just died in his sleep. He had passed by the time the paramedics arrived.

They still did their best, which I am very grateful for, but they even an entire trash bag full of used instruments that were stuffed under the bed for some reason

I’m glad that I found it sooner over later but it’s mildly infuriating that they just discarded their medical waste under his bed.

(NSFW some blood)

I’ve been taking care of him for over 5 years and it’s made things a lot harder for me, seeing all of that all over.

  • blanketswithsmallpox
    81•1 year ago

    My condolences on your pop.

    Regarding leaving behind biohazard… You’d be surprised that the vast majority of first responders aren’t trained for it and are liable if they try. Yes, it’s kinda crazy and varies heavily by state.

    First responders of any kind aren’t trained for the cordiality or technical aspects of cleaning up biohazard scenes. It’s very common. They’re trained for patient care and that’s it. They leave messes behind. They won’t wash blood off your sidewalk. It’s like walking into a personal nightmare for most people. Trained EMTs and paramedics are supposed to keep their PPE bagged and taken out with them, but if things get hectic, which is why they’re there in the first place, stuff gets overlooked. Someone below already mentioned that it would’ve gotten shoved away to make room and it just gets forgot since it’s not visible anymore

    The fact of the matter is that they’re there to triage and get them to the hospital, not tidy up after attempting to save someone’s life.

    The situation is macabre but it’s a common one. A lot of people have felt that same weird surprise going back to where there loved one was to just find it a mess. There’s no laws about them needing to clean. It’s not the first time it’s been brought up though.

    If you’re in the right state of mind you can call the nonemergency county line and ask if they have cleanup services for first responder scenes… the vast majority don’t though. Those that do usually take a day or more to get there.

    9/10 times it’s family doing all of it.

    I work pretty closely with just about every type of first responder in my line of work just to qualify this a bit… I’ve had to deal with this same issue in my personal life and professional. It’s the same just about everywhere from what I know.

    https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2013/05/02/cleaning-up-crime-and-accident-scenes-a-grim-task/

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK499999/

    https://www.ems1.com/legal/articles/detroit-mandates-first-responders-clean-bloody-scenes-CQ4raY15GiJjbQW9/

    https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1123029

    EDIT: I did forget to say that those cleanup services are usually going to cost YOU out of pocket. Some states or counties subsidize them though…

    Also minor grammar/clarifications.