Tuesday, April 12, 2011
** Melbourne paramedics in Australia struggling to cope with high patient OD numbers
** California EMT to face murder trial in driving death of teenager
AUSTRALIA NEWS
** Melbourne paramedics are apparently treating an epidemic of drug overdoses, with one report pegging the number at 9,000 annually. That is the word from the Herald Sun (Pete Mickleburough/April 11) which said the calls are straining the EMS system which is struggling to cope using traditional treatments. According to the newspaper, the increasing misuse of all manner of both non-prescription and prescription meds means longer on-scene treatment times. Victoria Ambulance MICA paramedic Alan Eade said in the past Narcan was the treatment of choice for common non-complicated heroin overdoses, for example. Now, however, medics are seeing patients who have taken a combination of several different drugs. The latest development comes some 11 years after a previous spike in drug cases when a heroin epidemic ruled the city in 1999-2000. At that time, over half of the 10,660 drug calls medics attended were for heroin ODs;in 2008-09, only 2 in 10 of the 8903 calls were heroin related. Benzodiazepine and anti-anxiety meds are now the most common OD drugs of choice.
UNITED STATES NEWS
** A Corona, California EMT, who jumped bail after being charged with the driving death of a college student, will stand trial on second-degree murder charges. The Southwest Riverside News Network (April 8) said Elva Diaz, 32, who has been charged in the death of Rachel Amaris Elliott, 18, could face up to 15 years in prison, if convicted. According to the newspaper, Diaz, who remains in detention pending the posting of a $5 million bail, was allegedly drinking at a bar before getting behind the wheel on February 21,2008. Initially arrested shortly after the car crash that killed Elliott, Diaz first posted a $75,000 bond before becoming a fugitive in Mexico. Her next court date is a post indictment arraignment April 22.
