DEALING WITH THE VERBALLY ABUSIVE

We have all seen Cops and Scariest Police Chases and watched the dashboard camera video and shook our head in disbelief at how some belligerent person was yelling at the officer.

I am willing to bet that a good majority of paramedics wished they had dashboard cameras with them to record how out of line and disrespectful some of the people we deal with can be.  Sure as paramedics we develop a thick skin and let those remarks roll off our back, or at least we try really hard to do so, but is it right that we have to take the abuse?

What happens when you feel that you have been verbally abused enough for the night?  You make a comment (politely) in reply asking the person to treat you with respect.  The reaction from the disrespectful party?  Nine times out of ten it will be one of “how dare you tell me what to do”… and the show begins to grow and a complaint is likely to follow.

So, keep your mouth shut and take the abuse or risk a complaint?  Not a fair choice.  Keep in mind that when that complaint comes in, it is missing context.  The whole incident is up for debate and your complainant will unlikely be as verbally abusive as they were during your altercation.  If only there was a way to make this whole ugly scene crystal clear.  This is why dashboard cameras were placed into police cars.

There has been recent “case law” where a person’s comments were recorded by cell phone and considered not to be in violation of the person’s rights.  Keep in mind that there are several issues to be addressed here beyond the legality of simply recording a conversation, there are internal service policies, the MOH, patient confidentiality etc. to be considered.

In Canada, privacy laws require that only 1 party (you) be aware that the conversation is being recorder as long as they are a part of that conversation.

Every smart phone is capable of recording voice memos that can be stored for later reference.

It is important to understand where patient confidentiality lies.  If a bystander is screaming at you in the street is there any patient confidentiality?  If your patient themselves is verbally abusive and you are not discussing their medical problems or course of treatment is there an expectation of privacy?  Consider also what internal policies may be in place for your service.

If you do decide to record an altercation make sure your decision is informed and legal.

We are going to try something new here in that we are going to open this article to comments…..  Please feel free to wade in with your thoughts and or opinions.