Jenny Kane in the Reno Gazette Journal brings us news of some last minute tensions between Pershing County Sheriff Jerry Allen, who wants to use Humboldt General Hospital staff; and BMOrg, who are up in arms about a near-death last year that is just coming to light now.
A near-fatal medical incident last year has sparked renewed tension between Burning Man organizers and local authorities, none of whom can seem to agree on medical protocols for this year’s event, which begins Sunday.
Burning Man organizers last week asked Pershing County Sheriff’s Office and Humboldt General Hospital officials to meet and sign an agreement that organizers believe will help to prevent any further medical accidents. The agreement intends to clarify medical personnel’s responsibilities and procedures, Burning Man spokesman Jim Graham said.
Humboldt General Hospital officials refused to attend the meeting, which was cancelled, and Pershing County Sheriff Jerry Allen refused to sign the agreement.
Allen told the Reno Gazette-Journal that the agreement was a roundabout attempt to prevent him from hiring Humboldt General Hospital paramedics, whom he wishes to hire as special reserve, or temporary, deputies for this year’s event.
“We remain unclear as to what protocols those (hospital) medics follow when administering care to patients. We do not have a commitment to standardized … hand-off of patient care should those (hospital) medics treat a patient,” wrote Burning Man executive Harley Dubois in an Aug. 17 email to the Humboldt General Hospital Board of Trustees.
So what is the incident that Harley is so upset about?
Organizers were outraged when CrowdRx employees informed them of an incident on Sept. 6, when a Humboldt General Hospital staff member injected a Burning Man patient with ketamine because she was resisting officers, Dubois wrote in the email to the hospital board. Ketamine is a general anesthetic sometimes used for sedation and pain management.
“The participant subsequently went into respiratory failure twice and nearly died. Burning Man’s medical staff saved her life. Ketamine is a dangerous drug, especially when mixed with alcohol, and the participant – a 110-pound female – had been drinking,” Dubois wrote in an email to the Humboldt General Hospital Board of Trustees.
The hospital employee, emergency medical services Capt. Monique Rose, injected the woman with the drug while serving as a special reserve deputy under Pershing County Sheriff’s Office, according to contracts with the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office. Rose, who remains employed at the hospital, declined comment on Tuesday. Chicago medical malpractice attorney believes that no wrong was done here.
Read the whole article at the Reno Gazette Journal – but it may not be the whole story.
Cutting their contract with Humboldt is one thing, but forcing the local sheriff to never deal with medical personnel he wants to work with sounds like Burning Man promoting disruption in the community, not harmony. These people have to live and work with each other all through the year, not just when Burners are there for a week partying participating in social engineering experiments.