Man Pronounced Dead After Lightning Strike To Sue

[aowen 0]

http://www.theday.com/eng/web/news/re.aspx...90-cb87e57a75fb

Man Pronounced Dead After Lightning Strike To Sue

Crandall was covered with a sheet before an officer noticed he was breathing

By JOE WOJTAS

Day Staff Columnist, Stonington/Mystic

Published on 11/17/2005

Stonington — Kevin Crandall, the North Stonington man hit by lightning and originally pronounced dead by the Stonington Ambulance Corps, has filed a notice of his intent to sue the town and four ambulance company members.

North Stonington attorney Stephen Reck stated in the notice that he intends to bring legal action because of neurological injuries and anoxic brain damage suffered by Crandall, who fronted a local blues band and worked as a mason.

“Kevin just wants to make sure this doesn't happen again to anyone,” Reck said. “Everyone deserves a chance to be resuscitated.”

Reck said Crandall continues to have neurological problems and is still unable to play his music.

Named in the notice are ambulance company president Victor Lima, vice president Iona Lyons, and member Dan Blackstone, all emergency medical technicians, and Medical Response Technician Robert Staplin. Also named was the town, which partially funds the annual operation of the ambulance company, an independent nonprofit organization.

Crandall was struck by lightning on May 31 as he was building a stone wall behind a home at 11 Main St. in Stonington Borough.

Witnesses and police said emergency medical technicians from the ambulance service indicated Crandall was dead and covered him with a blanket, but that 10 minutes later a police officer noticed Crandall was breathing.

He was rushed to The Westerly Hospital and then transferred to Lawrence & Memorial Hospital in New London, where he was initially placed on life support. He recovered and was released from the hospital a few weeks later.

The state Office of Emergency Medical Services then began an investigation into whether the ambulance service properly treated Crandall.

State protocols require EMTs to start and continue CPR until paramedics, who have a higher level of training, get to the scene and take over for them or a doctor tells them to cease resuscitation efforts. Neither appears to have occurred in this case.

“It's clear that errors were made here,” Reck said.

The state said this week that it continues to investigate the incident.

Staplin and Blackstone declined to comment Wednesday. Lima and Lyons could not be reached for comment.

Bob Holdsworth, a consultant who has spoken on behalf of the ambulance service in the past, said there was no way to comment until more details are filed by Crandall.

“We'll await further words from Mr. Crandall on what he intends to do,” Holdsworth said.

The case would likely be handled by attorneys for the insurance company which covers the ambulance service.

[mfc2257 464]

On a side note... Before this guy decides to sue everyone and their mother, I wonder how bad the weather was in the area and for how long. Was this guy outside continuing to work while the sky is unloading around him and going on the principal that there is a one in a million chance that he'll get struck.

[ny10570 745]

True, the guy could be the biggest jack off this side of the missisippi, but non the less those guys dropped the ball. Unless you are rotting in the ground or cut in half, I'm gonna thump on your chest till I'm told to do otherwise.

[Remember585 815]

True, the guy could be the biggest jack off this side of the missisippi, but non the less those guys dropped the ball.  Unless you are rotting in the ground or cut in half, I'm gonna thump on your chest till I'm told to do otherwise.

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He got hit by lightning AND lived?!

Hey pal, don't sue, buy a Powerball ticket!

[roeems87 0]

Based on the apparent stupidty of the EMTs here, seems like his chances of winning the lawsuit are much better than powerball... winning the lottery and getting struck in the same day...?? hey, ya never know...

[loopy31 12]

You wonder why they didn't hook him up to an AED to see if he had shockable rhythm. They may have determined that he had a pulse based to the prompt of the AED. A lot of negligence on behalf of the crew.

[Guest]

how do you not notice someone is alive?? whats sad is this isn't the first time (at least for me) I've heard of this happening - I really hope if I'm ever hurt to a drastic point whatever EMT Shows up MAKES SURE I'M NOT DEAD before calling and saying I am.

[WAS967 97]

You wonder why they didn't hook him up to an AED to see if he had shockable rhythm. They may have determined that he had a pulse based to the prompt of the AED. A lot of negligence on behalf of the crew.

You have a valid point that attaching the AED and having it analyze would be a going step in treating the patient. But I fail to see how you would use the AED to determine if the patient had a pulse.

[IzzyEng4 427]

The AED will only advise if there is a shockable rhythm and not give a printout. If they had a D-Fib unit (totallu different from and AED) then they could get a printout of the rhytm as long as they could read it. Beign AED and D-Fib certified are two different things in CT. All new EMT-B's get AED certified and not D-FIB. So if they did hook up a AED, no medic and got the message to check again, then they should have checked for a pulse and breathing ect.

Also too depends if they were talking to med control and they did shock the patient the required times and they were told to stop by the doctor (which they are supposed to do after shocing the patient). If this wasn't done then there is some trouble. I highly doubt that the EMT went up, lokked at the patient ans said he was dead. There had to been a mistake somewhere in the response system (including EMD which all dispatch centers in CT are required by law to do)

This is the opposite end of the state from me so I don't hear that much about this incident but I really want to find out what happened here.

There has been some stranger cases though. For instance I was working my old c-med job when one town had a patient in cardiac aresst in one of the state parks moutain trails in the area. By the time they got to the patient, he had been down "lifeless" for about 15 minutes. If I remember correctly CPR was performed by a by stander. The Medics gave 6 shocks, nothing, continuing CPR,. The contacted Med Control asked for another set of 3 which was given the ok by the doctor plus more meds, nothing. They received the ok to stop and call the patient after a total of 45 minutes of trying to revie the patient. As the medic was giving his final report to the hospital over the radio, life saving sefforts now stopped for over 5 minute, the patient suddently had a strong pulseand breathing on his own. The got him to the hospital and lived.

As far-fetched as this sounds, it happen. Very against the odds but did. Could have this same thing happened here, could have. It should be interesting.

I'll tell you though if there was a majorr messup, The state will have a few less EMT / Medics after this. If I hear more I'll keep you posted.

[roeems87 0]

The AED will in fact give you a print out (after the fact when given in for investigation). Additionally, the newer front-line EMS AEDs all have screens to view the rhythm, so they would have been able to see it. An EMT cannot pronounce, so at least a medic must have been present. Even for a DOA, the cops will want to know who pronounced, so a medic must have been present no matter what, so he must have had access to a lifepak...

I'm curious as to why you would have to call to deliver shocks...?? I have never heard of that and, quite frankly, it sounds kinda stupid to me if it really is a protocol... "uh, yeah, doc, patient has a shockable rhythm, can I go ahead and try to save his life? or would you like me to discontinue? Oh and hurry up, his shockable rhythm has converted to asystole while I was on hold..." Just sounds a little ridiculous to me, but I could be wrong (certainly wouldn't be the first time...)...

[IzzyEng4 427]

Ok first I have misquoted myself. Most BLS units only AED that are automatic and IV's and Medic services run Semi AED's. In my class, I was never taught how to read a strip, it's not the practice currently in CT with EMT-B's I'm going on my recert soon and I have still never been taught to read a strip, even though I can tell the difference. Most do not. Unless you are certified to use a Semi Auto unit. Most BLS services opt for the Aoutomatic basicly because it is full proof and easy to use.

As for the stacks after you deliver the 3 stacks (3 sets of three) , you then have to call med control, at last in my region to continue on with another set of three. Of course CPR is a must unless being called by a doctor through med control.

Now mind you. If this guy was hit by lightning, why wasn't CPR administered, if it wasn't, by the first responder? That was the main question. Also if the AED does not advise for a schokc, obviouly there is a reason why. DId they check the unit? Pulse? Breathing? Obvioulsy the AED says "no" to a shock, then you better be doing CPR, After all else fails and the shocks are deleivered the 3 x 3, then med control is contacted for further direction.

Also to, What I am required to do is directed by one of the five EMS C-MED districts and the sponsor Hospital. Though most of the regions in Connecticut are the same, there are a lot of differences between all five. I worked in the busiest C-MED in the State and heard a lot of strange this too.

The main point of this though and I got off of the topic in my earlier post is wether or not the EMT's / First Responders initiated CPR to begin with. Yes and AED of some sort should have been hooked up to see it there was a shockable rhythm. If not, CPR should have been given. This is where I think something is not being conveyed in the new report. Something did or didn't happen somewhere.

Sorry for the confusion there.

[Guest]

there is no excuse for this one unless it was obvious death they should have began working the patient, I dont understand what made them not do this am I missin something????

[IzzyEng4 427]

there is no excuse for this one unless it was obvious death they should have began working the patient, I dont understand what made them not do this am I missin something????

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There is a lot not being told so I hear due to the lawsuit.

[Guest paramedico987]

Doesn't matter what the crew knew or thought they knew about the history of events prior to arrival at the scene OR what sort of "assessment" they performed on the patient...

THE GUY LIVED AND THEY SAID HE WAS DEAD! THEY DID SOMETHING WRONG...

...and unfortunately in our society when you do something wrong, whether your intentions are good or bad, some suit is going to hang you out to dry.

As a side note... if they did initiate CPR (assuming he was in arrest to begin with) he'd probably be filing for the additional pain and suffering from his fractured sternum not to mention the MI he suffered from all the IV epi.