Pa. man dies during storm when 911 calls unheeded

AP ^ | 2/28/10 | Dan Nephin

[malkee]

PITTSBURGH – With her boyfriend in severe abdominal pain, Sharon Edge called 911 for an ambulance in the early morning hours of Feb. 6. Heavy snow was falling — so heavy it would all but bring the city to a standstill — and Curtis Mitchell needed to go to a hospital. "Help is on the way," the operator said. It never arrived. Nearly 30 hours later — and 10 calls from the couple to 911, four 911 calls to them and at least a dozen calls between 911 and paramedics — Curtis Mitchell died at his home. His electricity knocked out, his heat long off, the 50-year-old former steelworker waited, huddled beneath blankets on his sofa. "I'm very angry, because I feel they didn't do their job like they supposed to," said Edge, 51. "My man would still be living if they'da did they job like they was supposed to ... They took somebody that I love away." Mitchell, on disability for depression, had a history of pancreatitis, an inflammation of the pancreas, Edge said, and had spent nine days in a hospital in late January. He had been home about a week when he was overcome with pain. Autopsy results are pending, awaiting toxicology test results, authorities said. Now Pittsburgh officials have ordered an investigation and reforms of the city's emergency services system as Mitchell's case highlighted key shortcomings:

[malkee]

Maybe this was posted earlier. It was a big deal here.

[Persevero]

The poor man. What a terrible way to die.

[Jemian]

Please clarify, this emergency happened during a blizzard, didn’t it? Wasn’t there zero visibility and the roads impassable? I grew up in the south. I don’t deal with snowy weather so I’m having trouble understanding. Are ambulances somehow able to get through on impassable roads?

[lmr]

Chronic Pancreatitis is almost exclusively caused by alcoholism.

[21twelve]

We had a gal all upset on our block last winter when a large snowstorm kept our block from getting plowed for 10 days. She was close to term on her pregnancy at the time, and she and her husband’s fancy sport cars couldn’t get out.

Afterwards she sent a copy of her nasty email to the city to all of us on the “Blockwatch” email list. Three of us guys replied that next time, give us a call and we could take you in our 4x4’s. (That is part of what the “Blockwatch” thing is all about. And we had been coming and going past her house quite a bit. Of course I guess another part of it is to stop by people’s homes and make sure they are okay too.)

Back in Minnesota many of the neighbors had snowmobiles to use if the storms closed things for too long. Back in Denver I recall they would put out requests for 4x4’s and snowmobiles for help in getting folks to the hospital.

Of course, if the 911 operator tells you an ambulance is on your way, you’ll probably just sit and wait for it.

[John Valentine]

"I'm very angry, because I feel they didn't do their job like they supposed to," said Edge, 51. "My man would still be living if they'da did they job like they was supposed to ..."

What is this? I have never seen a newspaper report using dialect like this.

"...if they'da did they job..." Disgusting newspaper work, insulting, and maybe racist to boot.

[Lancey Howard]

"I'm very angry, because I feel they didn't do their job like they supposed to," said Edge, 51. "My man would still be living if they'da did they job like they was supposed to ... They took somebody that I love away."

I wonder if she'll sue?

[sfimom]

Really she should. Ambulance crews were 1/4 of a mile from them not once but TWICE. If they expected HIM to walk that far WHY COULDN’T THEY?

[Lancey Howard]

That is exactly the kind of accuracy I wish all reporters respected.
If that’s what she said, that’s what she said.

[library user]

If it’s a direct quote, it’s a direct quote.

Imagine being a court stenographer and having to deal with that every two seconds.

I vote for not being so PC that we have to change what people are saying (or take the time to clean it up for them).

Either learn the proper way to speak or be shown for the dunce you are.

Just my two cents...

[Lancey Howard]

1/4 mile can be a long way in Pittsburgh, especially if the distance is from the bottom of the incline up to, say, the Beltshoover section.

[sfimom]

I grew up in Pittsburgh and that is how most people talk. (At least the ones I grew up around.) It drives me batty now to hear it.

[library user]

Ah, you beat me to it. :O)

[wireplay]

I live in Colorado and we have major blasts at times. Humvees can almost always get through as well as very large SUVs (Land Cruisers, for example). Road graders can also be used for major storms.

[sfimom]

I’m not disagreeing with you, but why should the patient, that is ill enough to need an ambulance, be expected to walk to them? Why could the ambulance crew not take a stretcher and go get the man?

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

Chronic Pancreatitis is almost exclusively caused by alcoholism.
~~~
IIRC : Agent Orange/etc. is another,,,

I’ve lost two friends in the last five years to this stuff.

This guy was too young to have been in that war but it makes

me wonder what he could have been exposed to on his job,,,

Like you said he could have been a boozer but he seems

sorta young for that,,,

We cannot depend on 911 in any type of storm...

[I still care]

I know someone that has a condition with massive cholesterol levels, he gets it also.

[sfimom]

Pancreatitis has many causes
A number of causes have been identified for acute pancreatitis and chronic pancreatitis, including:

* Alcoholism
* Gallstones
* Abdominal surgery
* Certain medications
* Cigarette smoking
* Cystic fibrosis
* Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), when used to treat gallstones
* Family history of pancreatitis
* High calcium levels in the blood (hypercalcemia)
* High levels of parathyroid hormone in the blood (hyperparathyroidism)
* High triglyceride levels in the blood (hypertriglyceridemia)
* Infection
* Injury to the abdomen
* Pancreatic cancer
* Ulcer

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/pancreatitis/DS00371/DSECTION=causes

[Jemian]

Oh. This is a sad situation. It does sound like many could have been a more pro-active. Thank you for giving me the extra information.

[John Valentine]

Maybe.

But I would not have had a problem with this rendition:

“I’m very angry, because I feel they didn’t do their job like they’re supposed to,” said Edge, 51. “My man would still be living if they’d have did their job like they was supposed to ...”

Rendering grammar as spoken is one thing; trying to mimic or mock an accent is something else, and THAT is that I was objecting to.