Diabetic woman settles suit after being shot with stun gun by police, hopes for reforms

[MrScorpio]

Published: Sunday, July 11, 2010, 8:17 PM Updated: Monday, July 12, 2010, 8:49 AM
Aimee Green, The Oregonian

Michelle Schreiner's blood sugar was dangerously low when a friend called 9-1-1 and Gresham police and paramedics arrived to find her holding a syringe full of insulin.

The officer ordered Schreiner -- who was dropping in and out of consciousness and was having trouble speaking or moving -- to drop the syringe. He shot Schreiner with a stun gun before handcuffing her and allowing paramedics to treat her.

Not only was the incident life-threatening, Schreiner said, the stun gun was excruciating, and she was left humiliated, with saliva and mucus running from her mouth and nose.

Schreiner sued in U.S. District Court over the December 2005 incident. Last month, the city and Schreiner's attorney, Beth Creighton, reached a settlement: Schreiner received $37,500 and a promise that Gresham will train its officers by the end of summer in how to better recognize and care for people in medical distress, including those with diabetes.

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/07/diabetic_woman_wins_suit_after.html

[SoCalDem]

1. Pretty shitty training those paramedics must have gotten

:(

[Dogtown]

2. agreed n/t

[Hell Hath No Fury]

5. Sounds like it was the officer on scene --

who was the prohlem. He wouldn't let the paremedics treat her until after he had stunned her.

[SoCalDem]

8. the call was for a medical emergency..that should take precedence

& the paramedics should have intervened:(

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. In the US it don't work that way

and it hasn't for decades. It shoudl but it don't.

And most paramedics have to interact with the cops in the field.

Quick, when was the last time a Paramedic crew (not working with SWAT, those are special) went into a shootout or otherwise dangerous scene in the US? Accidentally, in San Fran about six years ago... and that was very accidentally.

That is the case because back in the dark ages volunteer ambulance drivers managed to get themselves hurt and killed... and for some reason that was unacceptable. To me it was a hazzard of the job, but the thinking is very different. Why I went into scenes that mostly American Paramedics never do, or rather do, well after the cops secured it.

[SoCalDem]

19. true, but when a friend calls 911 & says "My friend is ill & needs help"

it should not trigger a SWAT reaction:scared:

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. You are correct

but that speaks volumes as to how militarized the society has become.

[SoCalDem]

21. Boy,., I hope I never need to call 911

:scared:

[nadinbrzezinski]

23. I had to,

when dad broke his hip, and the medics showed alone, and boy they made major patient handling mistakes... but that is another gripe.

That said, yes our society has been so throughly militarized that all problems look like oh... a nail, therefore all look like they need a hammer.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

3. They are out of fucking control --

with the whole stun gun thing. :mad:

Apparrently police are forgetting how to get things done wth a little bit of ingenuity and patience.

[Dogtown]

4. Good decision.

I highly approve the mandate for training.
I'd rather they give up the torture devices.

[blondeatlast]

6. No defense of the police here, just the voice of experience: extreme hypoglycemia

can lead to incredible physical strength.

At the age of 7 in severe insulin shock, I held back my 6 ' 4", almost 200 lb dad who was trying to get Glucagon in me by injection--all the while crying "I want my daddy, I want my daddy."

But no--there's NO defense to the overuse of stun guns. NONE.

[Jennicut]

9. It seems per the article that many police think we are drunk when we go into insulin shock.

Or that we are at fault for letting our blood sugar go too low. I am a type 1 diabetic too. It is scary what even the police don't know about people like us.

[blondeatlast]

10. I got arrested for drunk driving once after SOMEONE ELSE caused

an accident in which a friend was severely injured. My friend and the on-scene paramedics begged the officer to let me go to the hospital as well even though my bg was okay. Instead, I was taken into custody, breathalyzed--and blew a big fat ZERO.

I had to really bite my tongue when the CO upbraided the arresting officer and told her I should be immediately taken to the hospital where I should have gone in the first place. I do so still remember her expression, though. Priceless.

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. Yes it looks very similar

We had much training with the local cops in Tijuana to please call us with drunks. We also trained them into the signs and symptoms of hypoblicemia. Problem is the large differential (profuse sweating) does not appear many a times.

WIth the training though we were able to get more drunks who were not drunk, but rather had low blood sugars... off the drunk tank and into the ambulance

Local cops get a ten hour lecture in training on that as well... but that is optional training that the academy has added.

[blondeatlast]

16. It would be very, very difficult to train someone regarding severe hypoglycemia.

I know the thought of the incident in my childhood horrified my mom, she still talked about it shortly before she died.

It seems to me tyhe solution is to err on the side of a medical issue, not drugs or alcohol. Still, even with the best of intentions, it can be very, very difficult to subdue and then treat someone in that state. Are EMS trained in how to subdue someone in that state?

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. I trained my guys

I was a training officer.

We taught them self defense as well.

And I have restrained a few patients, not just low blood sugar, a patient with a stroke can be all kinds of fun too in that sense.

And yes, that is what I told the cops... nine times out of ten a drunk IS drunk, but if you have any doubts, call me. A ten cent strip and a glucometer will settle it. Also I told them, at times drunks also get low blood sugars and still need medical intervention. SO when in doubt, call us.

And yes, our call volume to the local jail went up... but I suspect a few lives were saved.

[blondeatlast]

18. Seems a sensible approach. Regarding my arrest--the officer would not even allow the

paramedic to check my glucose; granted, back then it took about a minute, but how difficult would it have been? I was already in handcuffs--not going anywhere.

And of course, I was not drunk. With Type 1, I can nurse a vodka tonic for 2 hours--and that's what I do!

[nadinbrzezinski]

22. Not defending the cop

but what you ran into is cultural, and training issues.

In order to get the TJ cops to even listen to us medics we had to have a death in the drunk tank. In the US larger departments tend to be better, as far as you can define better, than small towns.

We also had a lot of cross training with this side of the border at the time, why the local department looked at that policy down in TJ. And yes, bakc in the day when I did it, took 45 seconds... I had a new fangled faster glucometer. These days it takes ten with my machine!

This reminds me why I SHOULD wear a medic alert... oy, I don't, parrots love the shiny.

It's gotten better in larger urban departments, but this has to catch up with smaller ones. And yes there are exceptions for the larger ones as well...

But yes, a few cops are just assholes... and I got family who worked in law enforcement!

[crim son]

7. Where's the poster who defended the (was it six?) officers

who tased the eighty-something year old woman - who was lying in her bed - breathing oxygen from a tank - and made a move that might have been aggressive and so there was no alternative - ?

:eyes:

Yeah the use of these things must be either abandoned or seriously limited, since it seems to be impossible to train "professionals" to use them appropriately.

[Statistical]

11. He is my solution......

Ever time a cop uses a stun gun he gets stunned himself. Not in the field where he *may* (but likely ins't) in a life or death situation. He gets an equal stun back at the Police Station.

Simple rule 1 stun = 1 stun.

Now if a cop really is in danger I think he will protect himself and just take the stun later, however if the person isn't a danger I doubt any cop is going to stun someone on a power trip knowing the stun will be logged into his stun gun and he will get an equal shock back at the station.

[Liberal_in_LA]

12. how awful. I'm glad she followed thru and got a settlement.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. That was the cop

here is an insight about EMS in the US... in any call the cops have precedence over the medics. In fact, medics do NOT go into a scene until properly secured by cops. And that can take oh many forms, including shitty actions like this.

On the other hand in Mexico, where I did this... a similar call (medically speaking that is) I got a bite from a patient and the cop on scene (it was one of those neigborghoods where they sent them to cover our asses when available) helped us get the vein access. Patient, who was an American citizen, got the drugs needed... tranasported to the border, and since he did break skin... it was a pain to get the clearance that he did not have Hepatitis or AIDS... from San Diego County, but that is another fight and another story.

And the turn out gear saved my arm that day. I still have that scar.

And those are the kinds of procedures that NEED to change.

[Riftaxe]

24. Hmmm i better stop tying off my arm, before

injecting my Novolin in public...}(

[Occulus]

25. Two more zeroes should be appended to that settlement number n/t

[Heywood J]

26. +1

At the very least, the city should be paying off her mortgage and giving her a property tax holiday for the next ten years.