“Should I have called 911 when someone overdosed at the store and I was the only one with a phone? Important context included. Was administering Narcan enough or should I have involved emergency services? Worried about repercussions at work. #911Emergency #OverdoseResponse #NarcanAdministration“
Of course yta
YTA, you call 911 and then let them know you have Narcan, you don’t just administer Narcan and then go back to business. You are not someone who should have access to Narcan.
YTA even if she left the incident should have been reported.
I’m not going to say anyone is an A here, but you should have dialed 911 first before administering the Narcan. At the start, you didn’t know for sure that she overdosed when all you have to go on is your coworker screaming, you don’t know what she overdosed on (Narcan doesn’t fix all types of overdoses), so you needed EMS rolling immediately. You also don’t know if she crashed again because one dose of Narcan isn’t always enough. She may have walked out and continued overdosing elsewhere.
In an emergency, you need to notify emergency services as your first step. They don’t just Narcan someone and let the person walk off unattended.
YTA. You’re not a professional (I assume you would have mentioned it if you are) and calling 911 costs you nothing. I think it’s really cool that you were able to do what you did but you needed to let the professionals know what was up.
YTA
You should always call 911. Great to administer narcan, but that’s a bandaid. You have no idea if they are now medically sound. Emergency medical does more than just administer narcan.
What would it had cost you to call 911 for a person in distress. I’ve called for strangers I’ve seen in distress without being BEGGED like you were.
If something happen to him later, the serious lawsuit he could have against your store & you – an employee who administered a drug & REFUSED to call 911?!
Narcan has a shorter half-life than fentanyl. There is a real possibility of a person “re-overdosing”
Why do you have Narcan in your purse if you don’t know how to use it? And yes, if you’re unaware that Narcan sometimes wears off and requires repeat doses, then you don’t know how to properly use it.
Always call 9-1-1. If she leaves then point the ambulance in the direction she went when they get there. Don’t assume everything is fine with somebody’s body after they overdosed themselves into unconsciousness.
You’re not a hero. YTA.
YTA, or maybe just very uninformed about opiate overdoses and narcan. narcan has a time limited effect. just because 1 or 2 or more administrations reverses an overdose the person can very easily still die as narcan usually only lasts 30 mins. always call emergency services if you’re administering narcan. Always
YTA. You should have called for everyone’s safety because 1) as you saw most people aren’t happy you took away their high and 2) sometimes one dose isn’t enough and they need more.
not reading all that, and i know that you are 100% an asshole. YTA.
have fun being fired
>I think she wants to report me to our manager for not calling 911 when there was a medical emergency.
Yeah, read that ten more times. YTFA
YTA. One of the absolute first steps when administering ANY first aid is to call for an ambulance either first or simultaneously. If you feel the need to carry Narcan around with you then you should at least know the basics. You know that person left the store, you don’t know what happened to them afterwards, and now because you didn’t call 911 you don’t have any record of what happened.
If you want to be a first responder, do that, otherwise be the person that calls them, even if it’s only to cover your own ass.
YTA from what I understand, NARCAN wears off. For everyone’s safety, including your own for liability, you should have called at the same time.
ESH.
I’m a paramedic.
Narcan is out of your system way faster than opiates. There’s a strong possibility that person needed a second dose and you just let them walk off. But considering the complete lack of medical literacy in the US, I think you actually did pretty well for someone not trained to react to that kind of situation. I’m more concerned about your blasé attitude about the whole thing and the fact that you seem more worried about the state of your job than the well being of someone who is clearly going through a rough time in their life and could probably use some empathy. You should probably do some internal reflection on that point.
You could’ve given Narcan while getting emergency services on the phone and tried to encourage them to stay for medical attention, although the likelihood of an angry person whose high is ruined (even temporarily) is low.
The person overdosing sucks for putting others in a potentially traumatic situation like that without their consent.
Your store sucks for not having a phone.
Your coworker sucks for panicking in an unhelpful way and putting all the responsibility of the emergency on you. Why couldn’t they go out to their car and grab their phone when it was clear you weren’t calling? What did they do at all to help the situation? Yelling and hand-wringing helps nobody.
It would be ridiculous for you to get in any trouble at all for responding in a relatively appropriate manner, though your follow-through could use some work, especially when it sounds like your coworker did absolutely nothing but panic the whole time. But I also understand that employers in the US aren’t what you would call reasonable. If, for some nonsense reason, you do get reprimanded, remind them that you are not an emergency medical technician, you did what you thought was correct at the time, and know that you know better, you’ll do better in the future.
of course yta. you call 911 WHILE administering any medical attention.
YTA. You have to call 911 if it’s policy. If you want to keep you job, tell them you administered the emergency narcan, went to call 911, and while your back was turned, she bolted, and you got confused and didn’t want to get in trouble for calling 911 when the emergency was gone. Don’t tell them you weren’t going to call. Tell them your coworker argued you should’ve completed the call after she left.
NTA wow just reading some of the responses here and people are very judgmental….what part of she left the building are folks having trouble with, do they think the cops would go looking for her? Not very likely and the paramedics are not going to try and chase her down ….she would just refuse to go with them anyways. NTA I am sure the lady was long gone and was extremely angry at being narcan-ed, you wrecked her high and for sure she thinks she you are the AH and thinks was just fine.
YTA. You do realize that Narcan can wear off & the person can go back into an OD state, which is why they need medical assistance-they may wind up needing multiple doses of Narcan.
YTA.
Your co-worker should absolutely report you and yes, the manager will side with her. I am sure there are store policies regarding medical emergencies.
YTA. She could have hid her head and is now running around with a serious injury and maybe dies because of it.
“911 would have done the same”, yes the same first aid, but first aid isn’t the only thing professionals do. Complications and all the other responsibilities fall into the hands of professionals, not first aiders like you.
YTA
Yes, you fucking call 911, and mention to them that you have Narcan on hand. And yes, even though you can’t follow her (and you certainly can’t restrain her) emergency responders need to know she’s out wandering the area after having had Narcan administered. She was still in danger. She needed medical attention.
Aside from the medical danger itself, this event is also a huge liability issue for your employer. They should get a damned phone installed rather than relying on employees having their personal phones on them and charged at all times. But given that you did have your phone, yes, it was a gigantic dick move not to use it.
YTA
> Also there’s nothing else left to do, she already left the building.
And now when the first dose of Narcan wears off…
These people calling you TA are all nuts. The most important thing for someone who OD’ed is to get the Narcan, not wait for the EMT’s to show up after calling 911. You did your part, the person who OD’ed left, that’s on them. You can’t restrain them against their will. That’s battery/false imprisonment/kidnapping. The EMT’s can’t make the person stay for additional treatment either.
If anything like this happens again, I’d call 911. Pass the phone to your coworker or put it on the floor on speaker while you administer Narcan. You might want a first aid refresher because they do advise calling 911 or delegating that if at all possible.
But, the outcome would probably be the same. It’s unlikely the police would look for her and you certainly shouldn’t be expected to try to keep her in the store to wait for the ambulance. It’s an unfortunate situation.
I’m going with NAH except your employer who isn’t providing a store phone.
Have fun being unemployed
YTA. Narcan wears off and the person is supposed to be monitored for a period of time afterwards. Regardless of whether you administer it yourself or EMS does, they need to go to the hospital. You shouldn’t have medication like that unless you know how to use it properly.
YTA! Narcan is TEMPORARY and for all you know that person walked off and kept overdosing an hour later. They required medical attention.
When someone tells you to call 911 for a medical emergency YOU CALL 911
But your ego and pride in being the “hero” took precedent.
Edit: for those wondering. Narcan blocks the drug binding in the brain, but it doesn’t get rid of the drug. When the narcan wears off, the drug that is still in the body reasserts itself. Narcan is a wonderful tool, but you must be careful when you give it without backup because as OP describes, you’ve just ruined a high this person spent a lot of money on. They will be agitated. They may become violent. The reason overdoses are fatal, is because it stops the body from breathing and pumping blood automatically. CPR! CPR! CPR! And when the ambulance arrives they will administer narcan EN ROUTE to the hospital so they can focus on more aid and treatment than just CPR. It’s useful to carry Narcan. But you don’t administer and then not ensure the person gets medical treatment from professionals. This was not the right response. -former EMT here
YTA. As is your employer for not having a staff phone for emergencies. Your coworker absolutely should inform your employer.
Op could have called 911 or the co worker could have as well…. That being said, this drug works fast and the victim left. They didn’t want the help. Idk what first responders could do, you cannot force someone to go to the hospital .
INFO: Are you stupid?
It’s protocol where I work to call 911. I’d probably be terminated if I didn’t call.
YTA, she needs follow up medical examination just in case something else happens. Wtf is wrong with you? It’s just 1 phone call.
Well aren’t you a genius.
YTA.
1) You should have called 911 regardless to report it at a minimal
2) administering drugs without knowing how it would react puts you in a position for a civil suit against you.
3) You now have possible criminal charges against you as well depending upon how the individuals reaction is to NARCON.
4) You’ve open up your employer to lawsuits for the same behavior.
But sure, you did “nothing wrong” by administering and letting her walk out without having medical attention. You are not a medical professional and unless you’ve OD’d times before and know what it looks like, there is no 100% reason to believe they’ve OD’d.
You could have killed the customer.
YTA. Do both. It’s not your job to stop her if she walks away, but you should still call.
YTA. You don’t know which opioid she took. Some of them have a long half life. When the Narcan wears off, she might end up dead.
I’m a paramedic. YTA. You always call after you administering Narcan
Holy smokes of course you have to call 911 after you administer Narcan. It’s only active for about 30 minutes. The person can still OD. This post gave me heart palpitations!
YTA. It is protocol to call 911 after administering Narcan. What if the person hadn’t woken up? Without mentioning the person most likely hit themselves after passing out from an overdose – the gravity undetermined because we don’t have context on whether they were standing or sitting or *what*.
They needed medical attention, and you didn’t handle the situation well at all. You’re incredibly lucky the person reacted well to Narcan.
YTA. You should have called and even if she left, then could have patrolled and found her. Her medical emergency was not necessary over.
YTA. 911 was a must here. Would like a little bit more context though.
These responses are wild.
I’m a medical professional, and in my opinion NAH. You acted as quickly as you could to administer an over the counter life saving medication. You are correct that this is exactly what EMS would have done, and that you did it faster, and that those minutes could have been lifesaving.
That said, if you were the only one with a phone, you needed to be calling at the same time, or delegating someone else to make that call while you administered Narcan. This is because 1) that’s probably what the corporate office would want you to do to minimize liability, 2) the 911 operator would probably have instructed you to administer Narcan anyway if you had it, protecting you from liability completely without much time loss, and 3) Narcan only lasts 1-2 hours, while most opioids other than Fentanyl last 3-4 hours, so repeat doses are often needed.
You shouldn’t get in trouble for trying your best to save someone’s life, but try to understand the other perspectives in play to be smarter in case this happens again.
YTA. Props to you for carrying and knowing how to administer Narcan, but a call to 911 should have also been made even if they left the store.
There should have, at the very least, been a police statement for you. To cover your ass, your coworkers ass, and the business overall.
They could come back and say you assaulted them and cause more problems than the OD.
YTA. The title is the only thing I actually had to read but I read the whole thing. YTA. People matter. Don’t be an asshole.
Yeah YTA, you do both
You did the right thing by giving her NARCAN, you did the wrong by not having someone call 911 simultaneously while you were doing it
what if it didint work and she fucking died there on the spot or needed further stabilization, then what?
you are lucky she got up and walked away, if she didnt the whole store can be in trouble