NASCAR Crash

[FF/EMT Sam]

http://www.nascar.com/2007/news/headlines/cup/01/11/gbiffle.vegas.crash.ap/index.html

NASCAR driver Greg Biffle crashed his car several days ago. Although he was not seriously injured, I'd be interested in your reaction to the article I linked to above. Key excerpts are below:

But [Biffle] acknowledged Wednesday that the emergency response team that responded to him in Las Vegas was slow and unprepared to treat his injuries. Instead of taking him to the hospital or infield care center, Biffle said he was given a ride back to the team truck.

Las Vegas Motor Speedway officials vehemently disputed Biffle's account, saying "his recollection of the event is in gross error."

I"n fact, Mr. Biffle signed a form saying that he refused being transported and he himself wrote, `I feel fine' on a release document," Powell said. "Mr. Biffle's statement was written as a response to a demand on the document that requested a reason for his refusing to be transported."

Asked Wednesday if Biffle was competent enough to decline medical attention after being knocked out, a track spokesman said officials had no authority to force him to go to the hospital.

 

[Ridryder911]

Sounds like someone is trying to blame a slump on anything. Cognitive enough to write.."I'm fine."... then disclaim he did not know enough about potential injuries.. is total b.s.!

No matter if the EMS crew advised of every potential brain injury, spinal complications, etc... he would had refused treatment and service. If they would had demanded to transport him, he would had been raising objections to that as well...

This is another saga for EMS in NASCAR. There have been several reports of poor interaction of drivers and EMS crews, either not wanting the treatment or demanding on how treatment is performed, or some type of dispute.

Personally, if their an idiot enough to crawl into a race care and crash and they do not want EMS, let them suffer the consequences... they were aware of this when they decided to start driving.

R/r 911

 

[fm_emt]

We've run into this at certain sporting events. The macho "Leave me alone, I'm fine!" mentality takes over. Seems like a lot of the time, the participants just don't want to miss any of the race. It would be a sign of defeat... or something.

Darn blockheads!

 

[Airwaygoddess]

I have done standbys at the local go-carts and I have come across that same problem, It seems to be about 50/50 with the drivers and their thought process. What gets me going are some of the stupid parents who will say "oh he/she is just shook up" line. Those "little carts" can get up to speeds of 90mph. When it is a big sporting event all of the drivers seem to want to push the envelope on that one. :wacko: :wacko: :wacko:

 

[Jon]

Wow.

It falls back on the EMS provider and their protocols. Around here, if that patient REALLY wanted to refuse, they'd spend a minute on the phone explaining why to the medical command doc, but if they are CAOx4, we can't make them go.

 

[Medic2891]

Here is my two cents on this one. First of all NASCAR has a policy that if your car is unable to be driven back to the pit stall or garage then you HAVE to go to the infield care center for treatment. Now how this works when there is only testing going on at the track I am not entirely sure, but apparently there may be some differences. This obviously needs to be looked at. Secondly, NASCAR had looked into creating an Formula One style traveling response team after Dale Earnhardt was killed. The end result was that they felt the local squads performing this function at the tracks were sufficient enough to take care of this. In my opinion, though, I strongly believe that NASCAR needs to revisit this. A traveling team that goes everywhere with the drivers, will create a feeling of security with the drivers that will help to prevent this and also speed up response times. I could go further in depth with my thoughts on this, however I do not want to take up too much space or time from you guys and gals out there. I hope that this sheds a little light on the back story to this.