What did I see? (Potentially upsetting-re: heart patient)

[BrutusMcDogface]

Hi all, apologies for this but something has been really haunting me.

Long story short, close family member is in heart failure and we’ve been to the hospital a few times to visit.

One time I pulled up in the car park and there was an ambulance which looked like it had just unloaded a patient. Patient was on a trolley with his head back and what looked like a ventilator tube down his throat, but it wasn’t attached to anything. There were two paramedics standing there calmly, waiting for something maybe.

Anyway- it has been really playing on my mind for some reason. Does anyone know what the circumstances might have been? Had they tried and failed to resuscitate?

Thanks and sorry again for the upsetting content

If the person was dead, you wouldnt of seen the persons face

Yes, that’s what I thought! I thought they’d have covered him up. But what was it, then? I was so shaken at the time and maybe I’m finding it emotive because of my family member.

Are you absolutely certain that it was a real person? I'm just wondering whether it could be part of some kind of simulation exercise and the 'patient' was a resus mannequin.

Oh, that thought didn’t cross my mind! Maybe it was! Ah that makes me feel better!

I mean, he looked real but maybe they do look quite realistic? Thinking about it, he didn’t look like resusci Annie 🤔

Was it an airway?
When people are unconscious the soft tissue at the back of the throat can collapse, stopping the breath, so a plastic tube can be inserted.

Well if the person was dead, I'm sure they have to leave the tube in for the post-mortem. Could the ambulance staff we waiting for the mortuary?

Yes it could be an oropharyngeal airway - a tube put in to protect the airway, but it doesn't need to be attached to a ventilator if the patient is breathing by themselves.

I'm sorry to say I saw the aftermath of a fatal road accident like this, a man hit by a vehicle.

The paramedics had clearly tried and failed to resucitate, the tube was in place and he wasn't covered over. Ambulance staff seemed to be waiting for someone to take the body away.

Thank you for the responses!

I hope it was an airway... seems possible!

But an oropharyngeal wouldn't really look like a tube in the throat, at least not if it was correctly inserted. And I would also expect a patient who needs one to have an oxygen mask.

I do think it's extremely unlikely to be a deceased patient, because they'd stay in the ambulance until they could be appropriately moved. I've rarely known patients who've died in theatres to be transferred to critical care in a normal patient bed without being covered, but I can't imagine that any paramedic would stand in a public car park with a dead body under any circumstances.