Posted on 07/11/2010 9:51:28 PM PDT by The Magical Mischief Tour
Michelle Schreiner's blood sugar was dangerously low when a friend called 9-1-1 and Gresham police and paramedics arrived to find her holding a syringe full of insulin.
The officer ordered Schreiner -- who was dropping in and out of consciousness and was having trouble speaking or moving -- to drop the syringe. He shot Schreiner with a stun gun before handcuffing her and allowing paramedics to treat her.
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0 Share Not only was the incident life-threatening, Schreiner said, the stun gun was excruciating, and she was left humiliated, with saliva and mucus running from her mouth and nose.
Schreiner sued in U.S. District Court over the December 2005 incident. Last month, the city and Schreiner's attorney, Beth Creighton, reached a settlement: Schreiner received $37,500 and a promise that Gresham will train its officers by the end of summer in how to better recognize and care for people in medical distress, including those with diabetes.
Schreiner says the training just might make Oregon's fourth-largest city -- population 101,000 -- safer for diabetics. The 37-year-old says she's conscientious about avoiding low blood sugar, but occasionally it happens.
"The first question I've always been asked is: 'Have (you) been drinking?'" Schreiner said.
That's a common perception, said Sally Spaid Norby, executive director of the American Diabetes Association for Oregon and Southwest Washington.
And do people with diabetes worry that police will interpret their low-blood-sugar reactions as intentionally hostile, combative or noncompliant with orders?
"We certainly hear about it from people," Norby said.
Norby said the American Diabetes Association coordinates free training to lifeguards, hotel and restaurant employees and police -- anyone who regularly encounters the public and wants it. The association has produced a video, "Recognizing and Treating Low Blood Sugar Reactions ... Or is it drinking, drugs or diabetes?"
About 23 million Americans -- and more than 10 percent of adults -- have diabetes, according to the association.
Police encounters occasionally makes headlines. In 2003, Beaverton police used pepper spray and a stun gun on a man after he wouldn't pull over as he headed into Portland, drove over a spike strip and wouldn't get out of his car when it crashed. In 2007, Portland police said they had no choice but to use a stun gun on a 26-year-old Northeast Portland woman whose roommate called 9-1-1 for medical help.
Experts say many people blame diabetics for letting their blood sugar drop to levels where they become emotionally charged, hostile or combative.
"It's hard. It's hard," Norby said. "A lot of time low-blood-sugar reactions come on really fast."
Last month, an attorney for a diabetic man who says he was beaten and shot with a stun gun by Portland police July 17, 2008, during a diabetic emergency filed a $75,000 lawsuit in Multnomah County Circuit Court. Leonard Berman said his client, Michael Able, 46, was driving near Southeast 140th Avenue and Powell Boulevard when he crashed into a few parked cars. Bystanders called 9-1-1, and when police arrived, Able didn't comply with orders.
"He was in a daze. He came to after being tasered and punched in the eye," Berman said, alleging that officers gave Able a black eye and broke his teeth. "My client was ill, and the first thing they turn to is force. They were poorly trained."
The Portland city attorney's office declined to comment on the most recent case because of the pending litigation.
According to a police report written by Officer Gregory D. Burn, witnesses and an officer saw Able's car crash into a few cars, including a "stopped Toyota truck" while driving the wrong way down Powell. The rear tires kept spinning because the driver wouldn't take his foot off the gas.
Burn said he opened the passenger door and noticed that Able "appeared to be completely oblivious to my presence."
"I pointed my Taser at Able and gave him orders, but he kept trying to move the car," Burn wrote. Burn said he worried the car would start moving again, so he put the car in park.
"Able didn't fight but was being resistant to being handcuffed," Burn wrote.
Berman, Able's attorney, said police realized only after Able was handcuffed that he was diabetic. He wasn't charged with a crime.
The police report doesn't say that Able was shot with a stun gun and punched, but Berman said he has an independent witness who saw Able shocked and "roughed up."
Berman settled a case of a man in hypoglycemic distress with Portland for $17,500 in 2006.
Bob Day, commander of the Portland police training division, wasn't familiar with the incident and said he couldn't speak to it. He said he found no specific training of officers in how to recognize diabetics with low blood sugar and how to approach them.
Day said the training division is "certainly aware" of the issue -- and that diabetics can easily be mistaken for drunks. Sometimes, Day said, officers have brought people with hypoglycemia to Hooper detox center, where staff members have quickly realized the medical issue.
Day said the bureau might add diabetic encounters to its training or issue a bulletin about hypoglycemic behavior to all police employees.
He's a member of the bureau's tort review committee, which every other month reviews lawsuits filed against police.
"It's more than 'Oh, we're getting sued again,'" Day said. "It's 'Is there something here that needs to be addressed?'"
This is becoming an increasing problem! The police seem to be influenced by the worst of situations and continue to play by their own rules - get things under control, regardless of why... We now have a group of “law enforcement” officers that are mostly looking out for themselves, hell with the people they are actually suppose to protect (Not to mention the good ole boy group).
It is a shame, but it has and will continue to be the case. Call it a common problem when “Public Servants” become paid more than the stupid people that they represent.
Boohoo. She shouldn’t have gotten a dime.
Guess your one of those who is upset there wasn't a dog around for the officers to shoot too...
Yeah, thanks for your compassion. I hope this doesn’t happen to you or any of your relatives. On the other hand, if it does, boohoo, I could care less.
I think training is good all around. Education never hurts. But should folks who may lose control their behavior be driving?
Wow, what an arse you are. Lick any fresh jackboots recently?
Just because her blood sugar was so low that she had no ability to respond to “orders” from the nice policeman, and even though the call was called in to 911 as a medical emergency, there is no reason for the nice policeman to put up with her disrespecting his authority.
Of course the only intelligent thing to do was to blast her with a taser.
As a matter of fact, police should just taser every person in a medical emergency they come in contact with who doesn't immediately kiss their ass.
Seeing as I’ll be the one paying for this, not really.
She failed to maintain a healthy blood sugar level. It’s not like the cop lowered it. He’s not a doc, he’s not a paramedic. The city is held responsible, but why isn’t she? Her failure to provide for her own health and welfare is what caused this in the first place.
Maybe medically sensitive people need to do more to protect their own personal safety than regular people. Cars with special plates, or registration with regional health orgs, so that maybe, so if a 911 call comes in, first responders might be better prepared for what they are going into.
Of course not.
Something’s not right here. Her blood sugar was dangerously low so she was going to inject insulin? That’s the exact opposite of what should have been done. Low blood sugar treatment is eating a candy bar. Insulin would lower the blood sugar even further, which an experienced diabetic would know like second nature.
Not saying who did what wrong here but the central story line seems significantly out of whack
Something’s not right here. Her blood sugar was dangerously low so she was going to inject insulin? That’s the exact opposite of what should have been done. Low blood sugar treatment is eating a candy bar. Insulin would lower the blood sugar even further, which an experienced diabetic would know like second nature.
Not saying who did what wrong here but the central story line seems significantly out of whack
When you go low, you are pretty much in a psychotic state. The brain is profoundly impaired.
Problem number one is the routine sending of police to a medical call, when the odds are they will arrive before the paramedics arrive. This automatically escalates a tense but peaceful situation into a confrontation.
There are cases (violent wounds; CPR; auto accident, etc) where it is justified by the nature of the call, if the cop can get there the quickest; but cops are police officers, not medical officers...and NOT your friend.
Because she did nothing wrong and I'm offended you cannot see this. SHe's not supposed to live life in a vacuum just because she could go into diabetic shock. Just as a heart patient shouldn't live in a vacuum just because they might suffer another heart attack.
The city was punished because the cops were completely and 110% in the wrong here. Personally I think they should be held personally responsible for their actions here.
Folks like you are the reason that cops are doing stupid stuff like this on a daily basis, tazing grandma's, 10 year olds, and people in the full throws of shock and seizures.
But its all in the name of law and order, do as I say... do not question my authority.
Absolutely and if you notice this is a situation that is being repeated more an more these days. So I think its safe to say that maybe, just maybe its not the patient, nor the medical call, or the Ambulance Crews who are the problems here... its the rising introduction of police to a non-law enforcement situation.
Also it seems that more and more Fire and EMT's are being locked up on non-LE calls where cops are responding, involving themselves in situations they have no training or business to be in and get offended by a Fire or EMT personnel, so their first reaction is to arrest them.
And the cops are surprised or shocked when the public has no support for them and little good to say about them.
A cousin of mine is a diabetic. I was driving with her once when her blood sugar dropped and she started driving like she was drunk. She wouldn’t follow my suggestions to pull over and stop. Finally when she did stop because of traffic (thank God) and we were surrounded on 4 sides by traffic, I shoved the gearshift into Park, turned the engine off, removed the keys, got out, walked around to the drivers side and ordered her to move over.
Then I drove her straight to a clinic, had her tested, found her blood sugar was between 30 and 40 and got some glucose into her.
It could have been worse. It’s just like they’re really drunk. The police should be trained for this and know better.
Like you I noticed right away that she should not be getting insulin if her blood sugar was dangerously low. But I really don't expect the average journalist to know the difference. I would expect though that the story would be seen by at least two editors and a page designer. Someone should know enough to spot the discrepancy. What likely happened was that her mental state was such by that time that she had no idea that the insulin would only worsen her condition. Most diabetics are well versed in the signs and symptoms of both low and high blood sugar. But once the sugar drops dangerously low they are in no condition to know what is happening or what to about it.
I was once charged with drawing up the standing orders and protocols for an advanced life support pre-hospital system. The protocol for handling a suspected sugar problem was the same whether the level turned out to be too low or too high. They were to draw a red-top tube of blood first and then give the patient 50 cc’s of D50W IV. If the sugar low it could save their life, if it was high the IV sugar wouldn't matter at that time. The importance was stressed of transporting as quickly as reasonable. The drawing of blood and the IV sugar could be done enroute.
That was 30 years ago. I have no idea what the protocol calls for now. I do know they now do finger stick blood sugar readings, but don't know if they are expected to use the findings as a basis for giving insulin.
Frankly I am surprised there aren't more instances like this.
Educate yourself on the subject before you start blaming this life threatening medical condition on the patient. I see no MD behind your name.
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