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By The Book, Right To The Bitter End

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By DANIEL RUTH | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 3, 2008

No doubt as Johnnie Schoolfield and Theo Thomas thrashed about in the water in a doomed struggle to avoid drowning, they had to appreciate that while Manatee County emergency services paramedics stood by watching them die, nothing would have pleased the badges more to be able to help were it not for those gosh-darned regulations, policies and procedures obligating them to remain on shore.

What would you call this? Death by paperwork?

After all, you bend the rules to help out people in distress and then what happens? Next thing you know the public will begin to expect "emergency services officers" to actually come to the aid of people in the middle of an emergency.

It was this past Halloween that the car Schoolfield, 25, and Thomas, 22, were riding in wound up in a retention pond.

Rules Are Rules

As the emergency services personnel arrived on the scene, officers made no effort to go into the pond, nor was any other rescue action taken. Both men drowned - grasping, perhaps, at guidelines.

Manatee County officials, who officially investigated the incident, officially responded earlier this week to the deaths of Schoolfield and Thomas, noting nothing could be done to help the men because the paramedics on the scene had not been officially trained for water rescues, nor did they have official access to things like rope and/or flotation devices.

Indeed, the decision not to do anything was "by the book," said Manatee County EMT Capt. Larry Leinhauser. Whatta relief! For a minute there, one might have thought these two guys died from "official" indifference.

This might be regarded as a zany concept, but wouldn't it be a good idea for paramedics practicing their craft in a county that sits on the Gulf of Mexico with all manner of creeks and rivers running through it, not to mention backyard pools, to have some vague notion of how to extract someone from - WATER!

Beach Ball

While we do indeed live in an era of budget cutbacks, how hard would it be for the paramedics to have some rope and/or a blow-up beach ball in the truck just in case they stumble upon someone who might be drowning?

There must be a "Duh!" or two here somewhere.

For his part, Leinhauser told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune that had the paramedics entered the water to save the dying men, while they might well have been praised publicly, in private the officers would have had been in deep doo-doo for violating policy, although apparently nowhere near as deep doo-doo as Schoolfield and Thomas found themselves in.

Nobody would suggest the paramedics should recklessly put their lives at risk.

At the same time, when one signs on to be an "emergency medical services" employee, it would seem self-evident the job sorta entails dealing with unforeseen and potentially dangerous situations. That's why other walks of life aren't called "emergency certified public accountants."

Or perhaps the confusion might be avoided if Manatee County simply renamed its paramedic unit to something more appropriate, maybe something along the lines of "Merely Annoying Medical Services."

Keyword: Book of Ruth, to read and comment on Daniel Ruth's blog.

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