Okay. I like EMS blogs. Let’s give it a go.

So, here’s the post I read.

http://spotsymedic.blogspot.com/2011/05/toucha-toucha-toucha-touch-me-not.html

What? Really?

Did you just post that on a blog and sign your name to it?

Here’s the reply I left:

I started reading this blog post and could identify immediately. Having students on a truck almost always leads to a white cloud night. Been there, done that.

Then I got to the part where you laughingly abused a patient and bragged about placing an ammonia inhalant in a NRB and performing “punitive ALS” by searching for a vein between fingers and toes with a “garden hose” sized IV cath. Seriously?

Yeah. Sorry pal, but if this is how you REALLY behave, you’re a pretty lousy excuse for a teacher and if this stuff ever happened when I was working with you, you wouldn’t need to talk to the boss about getting a Class A uniform shirt for court, you’d be sitting at home polishing up your resume.

Here’s a tip. Abusing drunks or drug addicts doesn’t make you cool. Bending a patient’s fingers back ‘til they touch his forearm isn’t appropriate behavior for an EMS professional, ever. And showing new EMTs that this type of behavior is okay is reprehensible.

You’re a disgrace to my profession, and posting that you abuse patients on a blog isn’t just bad form, it’s almost criminally stupid.

You just read a perfect example of “how to lose your job by posting on a blog”.

Since I posted my response to this blog, the author has posted a disclaimer stating his blog is “95% fiction” and removed my comment.

This is the second reply I posted:

The fact that you removed my critique of your original post, edited your post to remove any incriminating evidence of your acts of battery and now attempt to bush it under the rug by claiming the entire event as fiction is laughable.

My original statement holds true. Your lack of compassion for patients and now this demonstrated lack of integrity makes you unsuitable to work in my profession.

This is the email I sent to Virginia EMS:

https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Virginia-EMS/153545858005772

http://www.vdh.virginia.gov/oems/

Hello:

I want to bring to your attention the blog of a VA paramedic named Darryl Barksdale. He claims to practice as a Paramedic in Spotsvania and as a paramedic working for Kings Dominion. In this online positing, he makes frequent reference to abuse of patients.

http://spotsymedic.blogspot.com/2011/05/toucha-toucha-toucha-touch-me-not.html

“Now, I usually reward TRULY obnoxious patients with the most sensitive and caring treatment I can provide, which usually either involves an ammonia inhalant placed in an oxygen mask and placed on the handcuffed patient’s face… or a VERY large needle to start in IV (think garden hose here)… and typically I can never find those pesky “easy” veins on these patients… so I have to search between the fingers… and toes” and “I decided that it was a lovely time to try an interesting science experiment that I had been musing over for some time: “Can fingers actually be bent backwards so as to touch the forearm, without breaking off?”

This is truly reprehensible behavior by any EMS professional and worse yet, he claims to have been “teaching” new EMTs while on the same call. I’m disgusted by this behavior and shocked by the audacity of his online bragging of this inexcusable treatment

I encourage you to investigate this individuals actions as a paramedic in your state and if any of these instances prove factual, I encourage you to remove his certification to practice and report his behavior to the NREMT.

Respectfully,
(My name), NREMT-P

 
After checking, I don’t believe this individual is even certified.

https://vdhems.vdh.virginia.gov/ded/emsprovider.startup