No kidding. I've seen that with first responders too. In all fairness they have no idea of a 'good Samaritan's' experience/credentials so I could have been any yahoo that overdosed on Grey's Anatomy and thought I knew my $hi+. LOL My favorite was a M/C vs car that launched the poor rider about 30yds. I arrived just as the traffic came to a halt. He was fully conscious but incoherently drunk and in a ditch with a flask of his favorite hootch lying next to him. I spoke to him while doing a quick assessment after calling 911. He had severe pelvic/femoral fractures that felt like a Crown Royal bag full of poker chips. I told him what we would do when the cavalry arrived. The newly weaned EMT was at a loss and they couldn't figure out how to get him on a spine board. I had pulled back to let them do their thing but time was wasting and this cat was 3rd spacing his fluid volume rapidly around his pelvic/extremity fractures. I jumped back in and said this is how it will happen and we got him loaded up and off he went. Fortunately I was still in scrubs so that helped the EMT's not blow me off. Poor soul, even though drunk, was not in the wrong and had a car pull across his path at an intersection. He bled out in the ER so I was told.
Not a pro, but I'm more than reasonably competent about these things. One night while on the water at the local lake, I got a call from a friend. A boat collision had occurred. I drove to the ramp where one boat had been towed. The driver had gone onshore, the boat was tied up at a dock in six feet of water, and the passenger was stretched out on the rear bench seat. He had gone through the windshield and aluminum frame, and had severe scalp and some upper body lacerations. There were shattered glass shards everywhere. He also had a broken femur, and was barely conscious. Although there were at least eight people gawking, no one was helping him.
I always carried a significant kit in the boat, it weighed 12-14 lbs. I irrigated the wounds, then used 4" sponges and wrap to slow down the bleeding on his head enough that it began to clot a little. I couldn't move him because I feared c spine damage, so I slid kinda underneath one side of him and placed my body and arm to provide neck support and immobilization. I couldn't do anything about the femur.
It took about 12 minutes after that for the ambulance and EMTs to arrive from the nearby small town. I had been holding the guy all that time, and my shirt was soaked in blood. The collision had peeled off the top of the shoebox lid style hull cap from the bow back to the windshield, the bow was caved in, and the boat was taking on water. An EMT came to the boat, I told him what was going on, and he went away.
I looked up a few minutes later, and both EMTs were about 35' away, tending to the driver as he lay onshore. I had quickly checked him when I arrived, and his biggest issue was drunkenness. The cops were spectating, and having a nice convo with the EMTs. By this time, the water in the boat cockpit was over a foot deep, it was listing about 15°, and was sinking.
I yelled at them as loud as I could, "HEY! I need a f+++ing backboard, a collar, and some help down here!" That stirred them into action, and a few minutes later the guy was secured on the Stryker and being loaded into the ambulance. The EMTs didn't have a clue how to properly support and lift him out of the boat, I was telling them what to do. It was probably a function of it being a boat and not an automobile accident.
