AUGUSTA, Maine — The director of Maine Emergency Services says the state agency has launched its own investigation into the response to a fatal skiing accident at Sugarloaf resort.
David Morse, 41, of Nova Scotia was seriously injured on Jan. 12 when he struck a tree on an easier trail. He died in an ambulance on the way to the hospital of chest injuries.
Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington, which owns the ambulance service, launched an internal investigation after Morse’s wife complained about the treatment he received from the ambulance crew.
Jay Bradshaw, director of emergency services, tells WCSH that the probe will allow investigators to dig a little more deeply into the accident and the response.
Morse was on vacation with his wife and two children.
This is a terrible situation in which there will be no winners. Children fatherless, a wife grief stricken and emergency personal ruined are only the tip of the iceberg. The whole truth will never be fully discovered but we can only hope that already shatter lives are not crushed further by the coming inappropriate and callous comments to be posted. It is no comfort to anyone involved that any of you use your bully pulpit toward one side or the other. No matter what comes of this I hope all involved find peace. God speed.
I’m curious how you’ve determined that the whole truth won’t be fully discovered. His wife and apparently the state authorities are going to try and do just that.
As you write, “try”. There are always at least two sides to every story which are bias to each sides point of view through their life chances and agendas. Every conclusion is only as valid as the validity of the input. I do hope the truth comes out but it is never 100% accurate.
Well said. Very sad indeed.
If this ends up in court, it will be a lengthy battle. A loss for the mountain, the ambulance organization, or any other target would be precendent setting for the future of skiing in Maine. and perhaps other states. If the liability goes away from the skier and onto everyone else- directly or indirectly involved in the industry, I’m not sure anyone will be in a position to pay the ticket prices needed to support the insurance costs.
Wetshores, In the original article that quoted the wife’s problems with the EMTs, she stated that the people at Sugarloaf, from the ski patrol people to those at the first aid station were very professional and did all the could to help. I can’t see this as a loss for the ski resort if that was the case.
As I stated, “IF this ends up in court,” lawyers will take over and it won’t matter what anyone said at the mountain on that tragic day. Those with the biggest pockets uually get dragged in.
I actually fell very hard and damaged my shoulder a few days before that.The conditions were absolutely horrible.I realized that I shouldn’t have gone.What got me the most was that the price was still full price. I had already traveled 2 hours to get there.Oh well,I’ll learn next time.Too bad for that guy.I was lucky for sure.
YOUR INFERENCE TO DRUGS AND DRINKING POSSIBILITIES and allowing HIS wife, the mother of his children, to be in the ambulance, when he was possibly dying, is totally A IGNORANT COMMENT!
I think its a fair comment. Kylieoo is simply doing what all of us do when we don’t have all the information: speculating and asking open ended questions.
None of us know what really happened up to and after the accident. If you have some information to share from your personal knowledge of this case, by all means, please share it.
There must have been something seriously wrong with the ambulance driver. To let the wife out and drive off without her and then to take the patient back to the mountain after he died is absurd. Was that his first day without any training or what. Very sad for this wife and children.
Are they going to investigate themselves, That system Seems to work good in Maine…
Jay is a fair and decent man. His office actually cares about the response, care, treatment and transport of every single patient in Maine. I for one an glad they opened an investigation and it will focus on those four elements and if they crew varied from state Protocol.
Let the chips fall where they may. There is always two sides to every story and the truth normally falls somewhere in between.
Actually the truth NEVER falls somewhere in between it does always fall somewhere closer to one side or the other.
I wasn’t being personel,,, I guess to some it might be concidered a inside/sordid joke, about a different article…(-:
I actually considered your comment an inside/sortid joke against English teachers everywhere!
thank you…
but it’s sordid…
I’ll remember that Susan, Thank you!!! That was nice of you!!! (-: thanks FB friend
Are you my spellcheck dude???
I don’t agree that the Director of Maine EMS Bureau is “fair”. They are very selective on who they go after. And then hides behind the “Investigations Committee”.
Your entitled to your opinion. The minutes of the Investigation Committee are available on line and are posted on a regular basis. Once a final disposition is made, the names of the service and licensed personal are published in those minutes too.
I`m not refuring to illegal drugs
Any kind of cold medicine will slow your reaction time down
I doubt it – in Canada that not our focus – our focus is to prevent the crude and rude treatment of the ambulance drivers towards other people and for these ambulance drivers to loose their jobs!
IF they did anything wrong…my question is why did they put her out???? I have never heard of this before!
Well since the ME Office was involved in this accidental death they would have tested for the presence of any intoxicants.
Do not go to Sugarloaf and get sick!!!
Her accusations seem unrealistic… I have never, ever heard of ambulance personnel treating any patient with anything but respect. Ambulance drivers choose saving lives as a profession… why would they mistreat someone who is injured or dying? But… I will withhold giving my opinion until more facts are out there… this comment is just my initial reaction.
same as mine exactly
Having worked in the emergency medicine field a bit myself, I can honestly say that I have come across more than a few street EMT’s that I would rather not help me unless my death was imminent. I was transported once by a pair of EMT-I’s after an accident, and these two did an insanely bad job at handling my potential spinal injury.
That said I have seen some wonderful EMT basics and EMT-I’s as well, but my greater point is that it is certainly possible that the crew screwed up, and given her (the wife’s) profession and experience, I tend to think it is probable unless she is lying through her teeth. Will wait for the investigation before passing any judgement though.
I woke up one morning and thought “I’m going to save lives for a living”. Medical school, na. RN school,na. LVN/LPN school,na. I’ll go to ambulance drivers school! Ma, can you drive me to school? Oh, By the way, just because YOU never, ever heard of it happening, dosen’t mean it hasn’t.
@keek669 – Did you not read what I wrote or simply not absorb what you read? I said I had never heard of it…. I did not say it doesn’t happen. I said I would not give an opinion because there were not sufficient facts. I said this is my initial reaction.
Everyone has an initial reaction – some people are secure enough in themselves to say “This is my initial reaction… it is not my opinion because I don’t have all the facts” and then others just spew judgement without absorbing what they read or what they heard.
The very best way to form an opinion is to learn all the facts. The best way to learn all the facts is to invite others to provide you with facts. The BDN didn’t provide sufficient facts for me to form an opinion. My statement of initial reaction invites others who may have additional facts to provide them or others to provide their thoughts and opinions without sarcasm – which by the way is a sign of weakness of character because it’s what people resort to when they have nothing intelligent to contribute. Sharing information, thoughts and opinions civilly is a healthy exchange. It’s called a discussion, sometimes a debate or sometimes it’s called a conversation… you should give it a try sometime. It works – often times you learn more about a situation or garner enough facts or hear enough varying opinions to be able to put together a logical picture while considering all sides to a story after which you can more logically and without sarcasm form a real opinion. Don’t be afraid to open yourself up to new experiences.
Ditto my reply to jd2008jd.
Here’s the deal keek669 many, many RN’s, MD’s, DO’s start as Basic EMT’s. Some of those EMT’s move onto Paramedic and then onto Nursing or Medical school. I personally know two doctors in Bangor that began their medical careers as EMTs. I also know several RN’s that started as EMT’s before they moved onto Nursing School. In fact, one of those former EMT’s is a Flight Nurse with LifeFlight.
Are there “bad” EMT’s? Sure their are. Just like their are bad Nurses and bad Doctors.
Does the crew of this Ambulance fall into the “good” or “bad” category? I don’t know, I wasn’t there and I am willing to bet that you weren’t either. So why don’t we wait until the investigation is completed and all the facts are in before we condemn them.
Oh, and in conclusion those “ambulance drivers” just might be the ones that save your rear end of the rear end of someone you love one day. Keep that in mind while you insult a whole group of medical professionals.
Didn’t know you guy’s were so sensitive, my comment is at “ambulance drivers”. In several parts of the country there remains such a job title. I agree, there are “good” and “bad” in every profession. EMTs when properly trained and lead are great first responders, And can save lives. Lets hope they worked to the best of their training and ability in this case. We shall see.
Personally I have been around EMS long enough that it doesn’t bother me but I know others that it does. And I don’t know anywhere in the country that refers to EMT’s as “ambulance drivers” in a job description.
1-800-Call Joe
He’ll do it pro Bono.
He’ll do it pro Bono.
********************
no…he’ll do it on a contingency basis. pro bono is for NO payment or renumeration at all. Contingency, he gets paid only after he gets a settlement for you.
First of all Canadians don’t say Ah – second of all do you have any sort of a clue what you are talking about?
The EMT/Medic in charge of an ambulance call is like a Captain of a ship or a doctor with a patient; It is their call as to whether a patient’s relatives are allowed, and, if allowed, whether they can be in back with the patient or ride up front with the driver. If they do all0w someone to ride in back, they can revoke this permission, if, in their opinion, the presence of the additional rider is deemed to interfere with the treatment of the patient. As you may imagine, relatives or significant others can become hysterical, start screaming, make demands, or even get physical.
Since it is all about the patient, it is conceivable that the attending EMT felt that the continued presence of the wife was hindering care and that she had to leave the ambulance–the EMT in charge was within his/her rights in making the call.
//ss// Maine EMT
If they were the capt of this ship it was named titanic. As it went very bad, very fast.
It started to go bad when Mr. Morse lost the edge of his skies and hit a tree.
I said it before and I will say it again, what Mr. Morse needed was “bright lights and cold steel”. And that means he needed a Trauma Center OR dropped on the side of the mountain and even then, the likelihood of his surviving a Trauma Code was approximately 0.5%.
I wouldn’t hold out much hope for the family of this poor man, not if any Maine police dept. has anything to do with it. They are a joke. If you think for 1 sec. that they really care you are mistaken. they have totally lost all trust with me. If sherriff ross can get away with tampering with a suspect what do you think this will bring? A whole lot of nothing. they cannot be trusted.
Good. This incident needs a solid explanation.
This woman’s husband is dead- … I’m sure she is angry and sadly, looking to blame someone. It seems he would have died either way- so I think this lawsuit is a waste of time.
http://www.sunjournal.com/news/franklin/2012/01/28/franklin-memorial-hospital-mum-state-ems-ramps-inv/1146881
Thank you for posting the link. It answered one question I had.
According to the article the crew “requested a police officer’s assistance at a gas station and garage on
Route 27 near the entrance to the access road to Sugarloaf” which is in the same area Mrs. Morse “said the ambulance crew made her get out of the ambulance and left her on the side of the resort’s access road.”
As I have said from the beginning, there are two sides to every story and the truth normally is somewhere in the middle.
‘Bout imte.