I can hear you...
...I got bashed a few years ago and after the initial king-hit I got repeatedly stomped on, resulting in damage to my liver, kidneys and pancreas.
I remember 'waking up' in A&E although I couldn't open my eyes or let anyone know I could hear them.
I clearly heard the nurses panicking that my systolic blood pressure had dropped to 50 (should be around 125+) and that it was still falling.
I heard the doctor calling my wife and telling her that "it's not looking good". I remember the panic when they couldn't get an IV line in me and I heard them discussing various emergency drug and treatment options.
As a paramedic, I knew exactly what everything they said meant and was quite frankly very bloody scared.
"Is this how it ends?" I thought.
Obviously it didn't end that day, but to hear your own possible impending death discussed and to not be able to respond was terrifying in the extreme (understatement).

I now make a point of assuming that every unconscious patient can hear me, and talk to them as though they are conscious.

The offender was caught and after a sob story about his childhood got a suspended sentence and was ordered to pay me AU$500.
I'll let you know if I ever actually receive one cent of it.
(emadex thinks the world will end on, Sat 7 Apr 2012, 3:34, 8 replies)

My mate
coined the term "Fuckunts" to describe people who were so fundamentally munted that they actually deserved to be pissed-up bogans for the rest of their lives.
As he put it - "unfortunately there are times when their and our paths will intersect and we have to interact with them."

Speaking from 2nd hand experience if the fuckunt was on the jamroll you can get a court order to get Centrelink to garnish its dole - but it'll probably claim "financial hardship" and end up paying you 10c a week.
(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Sat 7 Apr 2012, 6:12, closed)

The money...
...I have tried getting his income garnished but had no luck.
It bugs me something rotten that there was no real punishment - just a suspended sentence and some community service. I was warned by the police prosecutor that the offender was likely to receive a lighter sentence due to certain social factors. I was also advised that if I had committed the same offence, I would almost certainly have been given a custodial sentence.
My Victim Impact Statement never got read in court due to a police error, although my medical records were tendered in the case. My wife attended the court on the prescribed date only to be told that the case was now being heard in the next major provincial city - 400 kms away. This was at the request of the accused and his lawyer.
(emadex thinks the world will end on, Sat 7 Apr 2012, 10:38, closed)

Christ...that sucks!
Over here, he'd have got a minimum of a year in jail (not prison, there's a difference), even if all they could convict him on was battery.
(nolongernuts, Sat 7 Apr 2012, 10:23, closed)

if you're lucky

( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Sat 7 Apr 2012, 21:05, closed)

and over here in the uk he would have been barred from the house of commons bar and
been told of and allowed to keep his parlimentary seat...oh wait you said fuckunts not fuckingkunts
( fluffybunnykiller Is feasting on the clitoris of life, Sun 8 Apr 2012, 11:48, closed)

The other lesson here..
(I mean apart from the lenient sentencing) Is that it's true what I learned on the First Aid course that work sent me on. IE unconscious people can still hear, so treat them as though they're still awake. Thanks for proving that, am angry and sorry it's at such cost..
(Beer Elf Thought this was like a campfire, anyhow, on, Sat 7 Apr 2012, 19:43, closed)

@ Beer Elf...
...based on many unconscious patients I have responded to, I don't think that many unconscious patients can actually hear what's going on. I remember one patient who had a cardiac arrest and after defibrillation and various drugs, woke up on the way to hospital. Not only did he not 'hear' anything that had happened, he later put in a complaint against my partner for "the excessively bumpy ride to hospital".
Ungrateful fucker.
(emadex thinks the world will end on, Sun 8 Apr 2012, 2:26, closed)

Ouch.
The lack of punishment of the offender makes me really angry. Hope there was no lasting damage. I don't 'like' the story, but it gets a click.
( Evil Bastardo, Wed 11 Apr 2012, 16:57, closed)