Try To Protect Yourself Or Others And We’ll Sue
Posted on March 2, 2006
That is the message being delivered by the ACLU in a case out of West Virginia. Welch, WV Chief of Police Robert K. Bowman and the city of Welch are being named in a suit filed by the family of Claude Green, Jr and the American Civil Liberties Union because Chief Bowman prevented a friend from administering CPR while Green was suffering a heart attack.
According to the ACLU press release (because I was unable to locate any other source on this matter), the Chief physically prevented Billy Snead from administering CPR because he (the Chief) believed that Green was HIV positive. If memory serves me correctly, if universal precautions are not available, you do not put your life at risk for another. That is the rule when it comes to potential fluid transfers.
The Centers for Disease Control is on record as stating that there have been no documented cases of HIV transmission through CPR. Although this may be fact, what if the victim is HIV positive and while you are administering mouth to mouth he bites his tongue when coming around exposing you to his blood? That is almost a death sentence for the rescuer.
Obviously Chief Bowman knew that Green was a practicing homosexual and knowing the rate of transmission in the gay community the Chief prevented his friend from exposing himself to a potentially fatal risk. Should it matter if it were Green at all should be the question.
When you encounter an individual who is having respiratory or coronary distress, it is unwise in the world of HIV/AIDS and SARs to perform mouth to mouth on the individual without one of those devices which prevent fluid transfer (the name of which escapes me at this moment). Whether you suspect the individual is HIV positive or not, universal precautions should be observed.
Do I know for a fact that the Chief didn’t have some sort of homophobic bias? No I don’t. But lacking any additional information outside of the ACLU press release on this matter, I am more apt to give the Chief the benefit of the doubt. Because we all know what kind of honor the ACLU has… NONE. I tend to take what they say with a grain of salt. Especially when there is not available opposing information about the case. And armed with the knowledge that the ACLU’s #1 priority since appointing Anthony Romero Executive Director is gay/lesbian issues.
The ACLU has a press release if you wish to look into their point of view. Mine is that this is another abuse of the legal system and an attempt to smear a man who serves his community and was looking out for the safety of his friend.
/rant
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6 Responses to “Try To Protect Yourself Or Others And We’ll Sue”
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If the man WERE HIV positive, and this cop contracted it because of his attempt to save this mans life, who would be responsible for taking care of his family when he died of AIDS through NO FAULT of his own?
Not only that Kender, but what of his unknowing wife? He could infect her not knowing he was infected. The safe play is to avoid fluid transfers at all cost. If universal precautions are not available, don’t do it. Let the poor guy die. Better one death than 2 or 3 or who knows more.
For instance, as a US Army Veteran, I’ve been adiquately schooled in combat first aid. I am able to treat a sucking chest wound of all things. Do you think I would lend assistance to someone that I do not know? Not in a million years. This is why I don’t get a Red Cross CPR card. I know how to do all that stuff but I’d NEVER use it.
Pretty sad situation.
Protect and Serve does not mean placing yourself in possible harms way.
This cop did just that, tried to protect the friend.
Too bad that this ACLU feels the need to destroy the cop’s career simply for trying to protect himself and the other guy.
Shame.
Actually, the problem was that the PC physically stopped Mr. Greens friend from giving him CPR..
‘Claude Green Jr., 43, had a heart attack on the afternoon of June 21 while driving in his truck with his neighbor, Billy Snead, in Welch, W. Va. According to court papers, Green complained of indigestion, then suddenly went stiff and lost control of the truck. Snead brought the truck to a stop beside the road, went around to the driver’s side, and began pounding on his friend’s chest.
The CPR seemed to be working when Police Chief Robert K. Bowman arrived on the scene two or three minutes later. Bowman identified Green as a member of the gay community in the small town of less than 2,500, and told Snead to back away because the victim was HIV-positive. When Snead failed to comply, Bowman grabbed him by the shoulders and sent him to a police car for a statement.’
Mr. Green was not HIV positive.
I understand Universal Precaution.. The PC was well within HIS rights not to give Mr. Green CPR, but to prevent someone else from giving it. To make someone sit and watch their friend die.. That’s not within his rights..
In this day and age, no one knows who has what.. It’s not just gay men any more.. With IV drug users and Straight married men who liked to “enjoy” a man or hooker now and then, HIV drifted into the main stream population.
What he did was wrong.. Mr. Snead was Mr. Greens friend..
How would you feel if it was your son/daughter/wife/husband/mother/
father and they could have been saved, but someone prevented it because they “Thought” the person might have something wrong with them…
Someone died because a person in authority had his facts wrong..
“Protect and Serve does not mean placing yourself in possible harms way.”
Ok, so if I’m being mugged on the street corner by some thug with a gun, can the Police Cheif just walk by, since confronting a mugger with a gun might be putting himself in harm’s way? I thought that’s what police officers are paid for (though it ain’t much, I know), to protect EVERY LAWABIDING CITIZEN, even if it means putting themselves in harm’s way. At least you’d think that’s what a GOOD police officer would do.
And as rant pointed out, there’s never been a case of HIV/AIDS transmission from giving CPR, so what is the cheif’s concern based on? Would he have acted the same if the man was a known heterosexual, for fear that he might contract herpes, hepatitis or (dare I say it) AIDS from him?
The point is that the Police Cheif failed in his responsibility to protect the citizens of his community because of his knowledge of the dead man’s sexual orientation. He didn’t give him CPR because he was gay even though 1) no one has ever gotten AIDS from CPR and 2) straight people can have AIDS too. If you think that this is a problem, then you might think that the police chief’s actions (or lack thereof) are a problem too. (I do).
Actually the cheif was protecting the man that wanted to give CPR…..if the victim had been HIV positive and the friend giving CPR caught it by giving his friend CPR he could have sued the police chief for not protecting him, and the way the courts work these days he probably would have had a case.