In the Philippines EMTs Are Instructed to Not Revive You

The following is a true story. I wrote it as it happened so it is a very hot take. It has been edited for spelling and to keep the identities anonymous.

Around 3pm I was shouted for and I ran downstairs. I was asked if I knew how to revive someone and I had no idea what was meant but I ran out the door. The man was sitting up so it looked like he needed water but one guy was holding him up in the chair. I asked if he had a pulse.  I could not feel one. I had them put him on the ground and then I started compressing his chest. I did not breathe into his mouth. I asked for a flashlight to look at his pupils. They did not seem to dilate. I asked for a stethoscope but they did not have one. I kept compressing his chest and it seemed like he might be breathing. There was a huge vein on his neck that seemed engorged and standing out. Probably his jugular. I then tried to keep his mouth open and esophagus unobstructed by having them hold his head up. Then the ambulance showed up.

They came in there with no sense of urgency, no equipment, lazily walked over and put the digital meter on his finger and said well he's dead that's it. In no way shape or form did they attempt to revive him or to acscertain his condition except for obtaining his pulse via his finger.  They did not check his breath or eyes (maybe they did).  Then they walked away calmly and returned but this time with a stethoscope and a blood pressure gauge which they did not use. Then they walked back to the ambulance and left. They said the hospital will not take a dead man. I pleaded with them to take him to the hospital to attempt to revive him. I asked if they had a breath machine pump.  I asked if they had heart paddles.  The nurse (?) told me they have no equipment. 

The EMERGENCY AMBULANCE HAS NO EQUIPMENT!!!  Well I looked and that's not really true they had alcohol and a few other things but nothing that would save a man's life. So we waited for the funeral home to come snatch him.

It appears he was standing on a gas container to weld the ceiling. It also appears that the cord he was using to power the welding machine snapped and was broken. He could have been electrocuted. Likewise he could have passed out from not eating as I was told he did not eat at all that day. The day was not very hot due to it being overcast but still not eating can catch up with you in a bad way. He was fallen face first into the corner of the room onto an old fridge and some other stuff.

At first it appeared he might have fallen from the ladder since the ladder was on the ground but I do not think that is the case.  I do not know how long he was there. His helper found him lying on the ground. He came running after he heard him scream. He was on the other side of the wall in the street.

His welding instrument was lying next to the gas container which lends credibility to the idea that he was standing on it and fell. There are no brusies or blood on his body. Nothing from the ears or the eyes. It is as if he died all of a sudden. That he fell face first and did not try to get up would seem to mean he was electrocuted. One of his slippers was missing but I do not know how it came off. 

That the ambulance personnel did not try to revive him in any way is most upsetting.  Most upsetting indeed.

In the end, to be honest, he was not a safe worker and that negligence is likely what killed him. But, my god, the EMT's in the Philippines sure aren't worth a shit. Now he is lying in the area he was working with a pillow to support his head and a fan blowing on him and they are keeping vigil until the funeral home comes to retrieve him.

They rubbed alcohol all over his body.

The family arrived and one woman wailed and screamed shouting in Jesus name while smacking him and trying to revive him. They also anointed him with oil in an attempt to wake him up.  They did way more than the EMTs.

The police finally arrived and with them the EMTs returned. The family wanted the man, who had been dead for 90 minutes now, to be taken to the hospital. At first they brought out the stretcher but then the EMTs spoke with the police and they did not take him. I talked to the police and they said that the first time around they had called the doctor at the provincial hospital and she said do not bring him because he had no vitals and because of COVID.

It was a harrowing and grief stricken scene. I think the family was very angry that they had not transported him to the hospital. The man was 36.

The EMTs called the doctor and the doctor yelled at the PNP when the phone was handed to him. The EMTs were told by the doc at 3pm when they first called to not revive if there were no vitals.

Around 5pm more relatives came over and tried to revive the man by praying in Jesus name and shaking his limbs. I stepped outside the gate to ask the PNP officer if he was CPR trained. He said no. I asked if they teach you that at the academy. He scrunched up his face, shook his head, and took a puff from his vape machine.  He did say the EMTs were CPR trained and that he did know what CPR is. But the PNP are not trained in that technique.

The family decided around 5:30pm to take him to the hospital because only the doctor can pronounce him dead. So they put him in a tricycle but his feet were sticking out and with rigor mortis setting in they could not make his knees stay bent. So I told them to put him in the back of the car and then they sped off to the hospital. 

Later I was told the doctor at this hospital said he could have been revived if he had been brought in within an hour of his accident. It sounds nice but I don't know. All I know is he is dead and the EMTs did nothing at the behest of the doctor they called.

The moral of this story is: STAY SAFE!  Because in the Philippines the EMTs WILL NOT REVIVE YOU!