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.

You must have looked like an utter sociopath!

I have epilepsy and can almost guarantee she was glad you didn't jump up and make a fuss when she was already getting the help she needed.

If you could've stepped outside to give her privacy then I think that would've been better but I appreciate that isn't always possible.

As long as she was getting help and you didn't stand there gawping or get in the way then I genuinely wouldn't worry.

Just spied OP's username (bit slow tonight).

I am shushpishus.

This.

You checked that everything was under control , it was, so there was no need for you to get involved. One voice is all that's needed to direct people
The person who commented needs educating, im sure you expressed your concern afterwards
The ill person needs calm and privacy

@itsgettingweird

there was one person who had taken charge and had told the other person to call the ambulance and wait by the door.

One of my staff had a heart attack and dropped like a stone in the office one day. I heard the commotion.
I had volunteered to be trained on using the defibrillator we had in the corridor for just such an emergency.
By the time I got to her, another trained volunteer had beat me to it and was deploying the pads on her chest. Another already had emergency services on the line and an ambulance enroute.
It didn’t seem like there was much I could do, but I was her manager so I thought, I’ll contact her family as I have emergency contacts in my office (under lock and key). So I dashed back to my office and did that so they could meet her at the hospital.
I then went back to her and no one had though how will the ambulance crew get past building security. So I then went down to open the doors for the ambulance crew as we were in a secure building where you need badges with chips, pins, and biometric scans to even get into the lobby. I grabbed a coworker so they could hold the lift so no delay waiting for it when they arrived. (We we’re on 3rd floor).

I think you were being a bit unreasonable to be honest. Crowding around isn’t good but a bit of a hover and an “can I help” expression is the appropriate thing to do. That’s what the coworker I grabbed and told to hold the lift was doing. He had no idea if he could help, what was needed, but just by being present he made himself available for me to give him a critical task.

The lady did survive, but it was a very very close call. Every second we all saved here and there by working together mattered.

I'm sure the colleague would much prefer to be told on her return to work that everyone was so busy paying attention to her having a seizure, pretending to help her and making sure that everyone knew how concerned they were, that a deadline was missed and a client was lost. All because of her and her medical condition, and her colleagues' determination not to appear cold.

YANBU

The situation was being dealt with. Standing around and gawping does not help anyone.

So really that's 2 people who needed to be there.

So the other 5 or so should have done what you did and backed off.

No one wants to come around from a seizure to find themselves being stared at by a group of faces.

Especially with seizures because people can lose control of their continence and they don't want an audience to that.

I’m not saying you have to crowd around them and stir up commotion but I imagine it would have come across quite emotionally stunted to not really even look up from your computer while someone is having a seizure right beside you.

I would think it was odd if I’m being honest.

Practically there are probably things you could have done ie get her bag and throw in anything she usually takes home with her (mobile, purse, keys etc) ready to go to hospital with her, waited in the foyer for the ambulance, cleared the path from where she was lying to the doors for the paramedics, calling her partner/parents to let them know, making sure the right managers knew what was going on etc.

OP says she looked up from her computer to see what was going on.

God yeah you should have at least stopped working and looked concerned

Except there were already other people who were hanging around , so @keepnonworkn would have been redundant and possible be in the way

I’m sure the other 5 people who where just stood there watching could have done that!

Sorry that was meant for @SliceOfCakeCupOfTea

@Sirzy Now that I think of it I'm pretty sure the coworker who approached me afterwards didn't do any of those things either. Whenever I glanced up she was just standing there.

I think the way you’ve written about here is quite cold too honestly, it’s very matter of fact and about your important deadlines. I agree with people saying you could have at least looked concerned or ask to help or even step out the room to give more privacy. It reminds me a bit of the post from another thread where someone was giving CPR to a passenger on a plane and a man asked a flight attendant for a coffee.

This is the nub of it. It's all about looking concerned, appearing warm, being thought to be caring.

It's frustrating that in situations like this, the absolute top priority in some people's minds is making sure they look like a good, concerned, warm person, and scanning the room to see who isn't doing a good job of performing concern. It's all about social jostling and appearances, and fuck all to do with the person they're pretending to be concerned about.

I think there is a lot of space between crowding around the coworker and continuing to work.

I would say the person who expected you to help when there was nothing for you to do was actually enjoying the drama of someone being ill and was disappointed you weren't part of the audience. I hate rubberneckers: if you can help, do so. If you can't, you stay the fuck out of the way of the people dealing with the situation.

I think most people would feel actually concerned and sympathetic. Because as humans we are social creatures. How odd to think it would be an act?!

Is your colleague OK OP?

There's a few on the go right now.

This happened to me !! Not a seizure but colleague in adjacent office, who was suddenly very dizzy & who had had a heart attack at work a few years earlier.

I work in a medical school.
You can imagine the stampede of very well-qualified people to help dizzy colleague out. And volunteering to meet ambulance, etc. I tried a few quips (poor taste, I guess, but I couldn't contribute anything useful) & stayed out of the way.

My colleague recovered but had to retire early, a few years later. Hope yours is much better now.