[JZelle]

I had to read that title a couple times.

[2banana]

NJ just passed a law saying you had to help - or face fines and jail...hmmmm

[VRWCmember]

Vega's eyes were open and moving, and he was gasping for air as she put her lips to his and breathed.

If a person's eyes are open and moving and he is gasping for air then their is no reason to try to administer CPR. You might try to see if you can clear the airway if he is gasping, but if he is gasping for air then there is clearly no reason to attempt nor benefit of assisted breathing or chest compressions.

[Fawn]

Wow...those are some expensive tests!!! Too bad she can’t drive up to Canada and have it done....could she?

[Resolute Conservative]

Just shows how ridiculous medical costs ( tests to be exact ) are becoming. $2000 for a series of blood tests that have been standardized and somewhat automated past the sample retrieval.

[B4Ranch]

Does anyone have Wendy Lee’s mailing address or know how to contact her?

[Ciexyz]

oh, my.

[Cicero]

Sad. This reminds me of the old saying that no good deed goes unpunished.

There must be some anonymous rich guy in Austin who could pay her bills out of his pocket change out of the goodness of his heart, which would seem to be the best solution.

No, you don’t give CPR to somebody who is breathing, but how was this poor woman to know that? She was doing her best to help.

[Homer1]

a random comments

- Don't always expect to get rewardrd for doing the right thing. More often, the result is the opposite.

- It seems the daughter could help her out a bit here - It seems that the taxpayers should help out here too.

[gridlock]

"When I opened that bill, I wanted to cry," said Lee, a single mother of two teenagers who is a human resource manager at Triple Crown Dog Academy in Hutto. "I kept thinking to myself, 'Didn't I do the right thing?' "

We all know that somebody else has to pay. After all, we are a bunch of stupid children, and somebody else always has to pay. One should not entertain for a moment that one should be responsible for one's own bills.

So, the question becomes, which somebody else has to pay? The local rescue squad? The Mayor's office? The Feds?

Maybe we should just replace all levels of government with a big ATM that will pay everybody for everything.

[Puppage]

No good deed goes unpunished

[Brilliant]

They don’t say whether the deceased was an illegal immigrant, so he must have been.

[metmom]

We’ve had our share of medical expenses lately and what ticks me is that if we were illegals, we wouldn’t be paying any of it. She should have those expenses waived for trying to save the guys life.

[ClearCase_guy]

"I called 911 as I was walking up to him, and they walked me through the first steps of CPR and chest compressions," Lee said.

I bet the call was taped. Depending on what she said to 911 and what they said back to her, it may be that she was advised to perform CPR on a breathing man. If that were so, then the risk of infection brought on by that dangerous and unecessary act may be something that she could sue for.

I don't care much for lawsuits, but it seems like she got bad advice and now has to pay for it. That ain't right.

[expatguy]

Those tests would costs around US50 over here.

An American Expat in Southeast Asia

[PAR35]

Well, current CPR technique calls for chest compressions only, but it seems pretty clear the guy didn’t need CPR at all.

“Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) instructions given over the phone by emergency dispatchers to lay rescuers should focus primarily on continuous chest compressions instead of the traditional ABC’s - “airway, breathing, circulation,” according to Dr. Paul Pepe, chairman of emergency medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center.

“Dr. Pepe, along with international colleagues from the Council of Standards for the National Academies of Emergency Dispatch (NAED), made the recommendation in the May issue of the journal Resuscitation.

“The council had been asked to update and modify protocols for emergency dispatchers who may need to give rapid telephone instructions on how to perform CPR. The council’s recommendations were based largely on experimental data and a supportive clinical trial that found improved survival with a “compressions-only” approach. The council’s recommendations were also based on the notion that simplifying the guidelines would increase the chances that CPR will be performed since some people may be reluctant to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.”

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/06/050630061740.htm

[CindyDawg]

Everyone should carry a barrier mask. You never know when you might need it. They cost from a few dollars to how high you want to go. Some are folded so small that they could fit on a key chain.

[Jack Hammer]

“She was an angel for my dad that moment she stopped. She really just wanted to save his life,” Socorro Vega said. “I just hope that she gets help to pay the bills or gets the help she deserves for her good deed.”

Uh.... well... how about YOU helping out, eh? I mean, seeing as how he was YOUR FATHER and all...

[flutters]

"I kept thinking to myself, 'Didn't I do the right thing?' "

Of course she did the right thing. I think Vega's auto insurance should pay for her expenses.

[Niteranger68]

The right thing to do is rarely the least expensive thing to do. That aside, she should sue the estate.