AIBU for continuing to work while a coworker was having a seizure?

[keepnonworkn]

Earlier today while I was at work a coworker collapsed and started having a seizure. Several other coworkers (who were closer to her than I was) rushed over to help. I being farther away looked up to see what was going on. There was a group of 7 or so people surrounding her by that point and moving things out of the way. Someone was already calling for an ambulance. To me it seems like everything was being handed and since we had some tight deadlines to meet for our clients I went back to working while this was going on. After she was taken away in the ambulance one of my other coworkers approached me. She said what I did was wrong and I should have stopped working and tried to help her since there was a crisis. I don't see how me crowding around with all the others would have been any help though. I don't have any medical training and wouldn't have known what else to do except call an ambulance, which someone else was already doing.

YANBU
What else could you have done apart from rubber necking. You did the right thing as she had immediate attention and emergency services were called.

I am sure your colleague would be happier to have not had an extra member to the audience watching her.

everything was under control so there didn’t need to be even more people watching.

I don't think ywbu, tbh.

I remember once at work, a patient collapsed. Lots of people rushing in to 'help'. One of the most senior staff just discreetly wandered up, recorded the patient's observations on the chart, then walked away again. That was the most helpful thing - no drama, just useful.

Realistically, lots of people in a situation like that just leads to chaos.

I think you should have at least shown some interest. Carrying on office work while someone is so unwell that they need an ambulance looks cold hearted. You are right in that there was likely to be nothing you could do but I think you should perhaps have asked one of your colleagues how she was before getting back on with your tasks!

Crowding wouldn't have helped but I'd probably have stopped working to see if there was anything practical I could do to help. When someone in my office had a seizure for eg we put someone on the door to our section of the office to stop people wandering in, someone else waited down at reception so they could direct the ambulance team directly to the right place etc. If there was nothing I could do then I guess I'd have carried on working, but it probably looked quite cold to your colleagues.

I get your reasoning, but it does look cold and honestly a bit odd to glance over then crack on with work without acknowledging what’s going on. I’d have probably asked someone if there’s anything I could do to help, then if told no, gone back to my desk.

You're correct. Too many people can actually complicate it anyway ans add to the bystander effect where everyone thinks someone else is handling it but no one actually sorts it out.

YABU
i would have gone over and asked if there was anything I could do, if the answer was no, I would have then gone back to work but said “just shout if I can be of any help”.

Just carrying on working without communicating with anybody, is rather strange imo.

I wouldn’t have carried on working- I would’ve offered to wait for the ambulance, asked if more help was needed, etc etc.

I think there's a middle ground between crowding around and just ignoring the whole thing and carrying on with your work.

Having been in similar situations before, I've always stopped and asked if there was anything I could do to help. I think just carrying on with your work while your colleague needed an ambulance makes you look a bit cold and uncaring.

I may have stopped working to suggest the unneeded people move away and give the coworker some space and a bit of privacy from the gawpers.
Otherwise yanbu.

I think I agree with this. I've heard people who experience seizures say they can find it embarrassing (even though obviously there's nothing to be embarrassed about).

Also I think situations like that can be a bit scary for onlookers - so unless you can actively help and do something there's no need to stand around gawping.

Maybe you could have asked if you could do anything, but it sounds like it was obvious you couldn't.

I don’t think you were U, when my DS used to have seizures at school and university one of the things he always asked me was if everyone stood around and watched him?
Ignore your co worker.

You didn't do anything wrong, OP. The situation, while stressful, was being handled by others and extras standing around wringing their hands and staring are the worst.

We had something similar happen in my school. Teachers kept teaching, teaching assistants kept running interventions, and the office kept working ... other than the designated handful supporting the ill staff member and those liaising with the paramedics.

Think no more about it.
Your judgemental colleague has no right to say anything.
I worked on an open floor with 99 other professional colleagues. Our designated & trained first aider always dealt with situations like this. We carried on as usual. It didn’t mean we didn’t care, it just meant that our first aider & maybe a couple of others was entirely appropriate to be helpful.

This. On paper you didn’t do anything wrong but in the reality of the situation you would have looked rather cold.

I too understand the reasoning and agree that shimmying over there to gawk won't have been appropriate if she was receiving adequate support anyway.

I'm a bit 😐 about the decision to carry on carrying on though. At one point WOULD you have stopped working? If she'd been in cardiac arrest being defibrillated by your colleagues would you have carried on typing away cos, well, deadlines are deadlines?

Agree that too many cooks and all that, but you could have at least shown willing and asked if you could do anything to help. It comes across that you were very cold and had no sympathy for what was happening.

Yanbu.

I'm a first aider. When I am called to deal with a situation (and I have been with seizures) it's really not helpful to have 7/8/9 voices behind me all talking, worrying, panicking, all trying to help.

1 person needs to take control - delegate - and everyone else needs to either vacate the area if appropriate or carry on what they were doing.

You should have gone over and told everyone who wasn't doing something useful to go away and give them some space/privacy.

I don't know. It does seem a bit odd not to show any interest at all, but I agree there wasn't anything useful you could do and they didn't need any more peope crowding round.

I think it might look odd to look, and then go straight back to work. It could come across as not caring what was happening.

I may have kept away due to the number of people crowding her, but I also wouldn't have been able just to turn around and concentrate on work.

Count me as someone who'd much rather my colleagues were cold in the event of my having a seizure, if "warm" means huddling around excitedly to soak in all the drama 😒 It's embarrassing to discover you've been gawked at, and that you've caused a major workplace disruption so that a deadline's been missed or everyone's going to have to put a lot of effort into catching up. IMO, a caring workplace would have something like a person staying with the ill person, someone organising any external help necessary, someone sorting out the workplace admin necessary when someone has to suddenly leave due to illness, and everyone else quietly getting on with things.

YANBU, no need to further crowd them when the situation was already under control, also a bit pointless to ask if you can do anything when there was clearly nothing else to be done.

I don't think you were unreasonable as you could see she was getting the help she needed, however I think maybe it might have been a bit better to have shown some concern outwardly as it probably did come across cold to just get in with your work even if you didn't mean to.

It can be awkward when these things happen.

I would have asked if there was anything I could so to help, offee to take colleagues phone calls, direct the ambulance, there were already too many people but I would have offered and shown some interest.