Q: I was in a severe rollover accident where a passenger in my car died and I had to be extricated. The EMS at the scene
did not assess me at all at the site of the crash despite having a obvious head injury, forced me to stand up immediately after being trapped upside down in the vehicle with major intrusion into the cab from the roof, used the backboard that they had with them to cover a barbed wire fence so that I could walk over it, and made me walk barefoot up a hill over broken glass and other odd stuff that collects on the side of the freeway to the ambulance and then climb inside on my own before I was assessed for any injury. Is this common practice or would this be considered a breech of protocol in Utah?
A:
A Utah attorney who is familiar with standard operating procedures and protocols followed by first responders in such situations could advise best, but your post remains open for two weeks. To make a meaningful assessment, an attorney would likely need to know the EMS crew's account of events. It's possible they could have had concerns about leaking gasoline, fire, explosion, or other potential hazard associated with a running vehicle flipping over - every second counts in those settings. You could reach out to local attorneys - to answer more meaningfully, a closer examination of the incident could be necessary. Good luck
Tim Akpinar
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