That far more people die as the result of hesitation than as a result of a truly rapid response? That requires substantiation for you? OK, start with everyone that has died between the time a second party called 911 and the time the professionals arrived. Take that number and subtract all the people who died as a result of attempting to rescue someone before the professionals arrived.
This isn't about untrained volunteers applying Good Samaritan laws, this is about the actions of supposedly professional and trained rescuers.
So what you are saying is that if my life is really in peril, I'd better hope that there is an amateur close by that's willing to save me, vice waiting for a fully equipped professional to retrieve my body later.
If his team and department truly considered him a hero that deserved a minor reprimand just out of 'good form' then he wouldn't have felt the need to quit, would he?
It appears he quit because he found his team and department to be bureaucrats, vice life savers. Put another way, the man has principals and ethics that don't allow him to accept crap like that.
Look at post 65 for supplemental info. This guy needed assistance after abandoning his team. By doing that he put more than just himself at risk.
FYI #65 is an excellent post, but it doesn't support you. Did you mean another? And how could they be put at risk if they were following the rules and ensuring they were safe and taking no chances until everything was hunky dory.
This reminds me of the time that I walked out into a store parking lot and found a frantic mother and three fire fighters staring into a locked car in 97 degree heat at a baby with sweat beads the size of peas on its head. They were waiting for the proper equipment to arrive. Guess what I did. I walked straight to my truck, pulled out a hammer, told the mother that I was going to break the far front window, and then I did so.
I offered to pay the woman for the window if she thought I needed to. I stuck around for ten minutes after that while the professionals monitored the baby (they should have taken it to the ER right then). The special equipment never did arrive, and I never heard from that woman with a bill for the window.
Had I been one of those firefighters, I would have done the same thing, and if I'd gotten reprimanded for not waiting, I would have quit, just like this gentleman did.
Part of playing solo hero is knowing when there are no other options. The British Coastie seems to have had other options considering that he had a team with him and acted without them.
Put another way, the man has principals and ethics that don't allow him to accept crap like that.
If you look at his quotes, he was more concerned with how his life would be if she fell to her death than how she or her family would be. He was concerned with himself, first, second, and last. It seems that he put himself in unnecessary risk so that he wouldn't feel bad later.
That far more people die as the result of hesitation than as a result of a truly rapid response? That requires substantiation for you? OK, start with everyone that has died between the time a second party called 911 and the time the professionals arrived. Take that number and subtract all the people who died as a result of attempting to rescue someone before the professionals arrived.
First you're mixing apples and oranges by comparing response time from a 911 call to hesitation. Then you are speculating without substantiation. You only offer your opinion to bolster your own opinion.
Volunteers do some remarkable things from time to time. Sometimes they get only themselves injured or killed and exacerbate the problem.
It seems that you'd prefer that EMS and other rescue services be manned by those who fly by the seat of their pants and just do what they feel like doing at the time without regard to anything else and screw anyone who criticizes.
Now forget that a professional rescuer faces liability for doing something stupid that any other citizen could get by with. Forget that for a moment. If there are no standards except individual judgments, then how do you train anyone to a standard? How do you improve on performance if there is no standard? And how do you prevent stupid actions if there are no standards?
In this case the amateur sees this guy as Dirty Harry/John Wayne/Steven Segall, etc all rolled up into one vs The Man/The System/Bureacracy/Socialistic Rules etc. and those on this thread with professional level rescue experience see this guy as someone who can't handle the heat he brought on himself for breaking the rules and possibly one not to be counted on in a pinch.
Remember, there is no indication that his coworkers are sticking up for him at all!