- This topic has 5 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 15 years, 2 months ago by megaspaz.
Accident helmet removal
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November 2, 2008 at 6:55 pm #2314megaspazParticipant
Remember only remove the helmet if you have to like if the person isn’t breathing and you need to initiate CPR. Not sure what to do if you’re like on a 2 person ride and you’re the only one standing though since stablizing the neck is pretty important. If anyone knows, chime in please.
November 5, 2008 at 9:47 am #14594smokeizfireParticipantHE WHO DIES WITH THE MOST TOYS WINS
December 27, 2008 at 5:27 am #15441MaxDadAKParticipantI have some left over medical experience from the Army and I’ll say this about it. If you find your self in that position of “no one else is around and they aren’t breathing”, take off the helmet and perfrom CPR! If they’re not breathing THEY…WILL….DIE period. If they’re neck is broken and you remove the helmet they may die or suffer a worse injury to the spinal cord but still be alive. If you don’t remove the helmet it does seem possible to perform CPR through some helmets especially modulars. If that’s not possible, I say screw it and take it off. Just remember law states now that if you perform CPR that you must continue to perform CPR until properly relieved by a EMT or you just can’t continue. If you fail to do either of these after you begin CPR you can be prosecuted for various negligence type charges. On the other hand if you think your playing it safe and don’t give mouth to mouth and they die from it it’s their blood on your hands for your failure to act. As a little bonus the family of whom ever you failed to help could feasibly bring charges against you since you were CPR qualified and failed to do anything. I’m sure you could say it was for relegious reasons or you were scared but, either way your just going to cheapen your own soul. As you can see it’s a double edged sword. If it were me you better rip my helmet off and give my heart a thrashing like someones life depends on it because in that case mine would. Just do the right thing.
December 27, 2008 at 9:35 pm #15447Sangria7ParticipantHmm. I would try to remove the visor and see if I can do CPR.
Either case Max is right, its a double edged blade.
February 14, 2009 at 4:56 am #16460AnonymousGuestJust remember that if he’s breathing and you don’t absolutely HAVE to remove the helmet to save his life, then don’t take it off!
If you’re alone and HAVE to take it off, just do the best you can to keep the head and neck in line. It’s kind of similar to removing a person from a vehicle (car, truck) after an accident. If you don’t have to, don’t. If the car’s on fire or something, then do what ya gotta do and get ’em out. That’s how I was trained when I got my NREMTFebruary 14, 2009 at 6:35 am #16487megaspazParticipantInteresting stuff I learned getting my american heart association cpr cert. From what i was told, both the amh and the red cross no longer recommend taking off the helmet and recommend going straight to compression. Even without a helmet, if you’re uncomfortable with doing the breathing on someone who isn’t breathing (like a visible herpes outbreak… ) to at least start and do compression. they say there’s enough fresh oxygen in the body to last out the response time of a emergency call. Either way, everything’s pretty much a judgement call. In cali, a few things to remember. An unconcious person, there’s an implicit request for aid. Like stated above, if you start giving care, you are legally required to keep providing aid until properly relieved or until you can’t physically continue. You are not covered under the good samaritan law if you go beyond the scope of whatever training/certification you have. So in the trapped in the car scenario, unless the car is on fire or some other immediate need, unless you’re trained for getting people out of wrecked vehicles or moving injured people, don’t do it. If the victim suffers further injury, you can be held liable for those injuries. Oh and for doing proper chest compression, I was told, if you don’t hear any cracking/breaking of ribs, you’re doing it wrong…
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