Will you even break your nails to save someone's life?

well, it depends on the situation. if its too dangerous then you are more or less on your own, but its your duty to at least try if things are not too dangerous for your self. could not care less what age race or gender they are. as for a reward, i would expect you to do me a favor should i ever need one.

I probably wouldn’t risk my life for a strangers. I probably wouldn’t even turn my head. But for someone I love then there is no question, my reward would be that they are alive.

Dr. D, I wonder towards what these questions tend. As an EMT I’ve endangered myself many times, and never once were my nails part of any equation.
In 1991 I initiated CPR on a man who had gone down almost directly in front of me. We had been told that the locals did not practice CPR or agree with it, but I did it anyway. There were Carabenari (spelling?) all over the place though none of them tried to stop me. I worked on him by myself for about 20 minutes until the American ambulance got there. Do you know how exhausting it is to perform CPR? I made oral contact with him to breathe for him and after a few minutes his body began to expel the contents of his stomach back out. I leave the results to your imagination. I did not stop and say “Eeeewwww”, though I wished for a GOMCO suction machine.
He had a brain infarct and never recovered, by the way. Basically he was dead and gone before he hit the ground.
I’ve extracted people from twisted cars, taken down the lifeless body of one marine who hung himself, and transported more idiots who had nothing to do on a Sunday afternoon than you can shake a stick at.
Reward has nothing to do with it. It is instinct for most of us to try to help. That’s why you see so much “heroism” in disasters. People will try to help a stranger because at the end of the day, political, racial, sexual preference differences notwithstanding, it’s a life. Life is precious.

It would depend on what I had to so to save the person. if I could save them with little or no risk to me then I would. It would not matter to me their age, race or gender.

I would not do it for a reward.

Yes of course and most of the reason I have taken as much training in the area of life saving, first aid, survival and rescue etc as I have.

I have done so and no reward expected or desired. Also, under no circumstance would I risk my life or anyone else’s to save a life other than an immediate family member and even then it will be a reasoned and quickly calculated decision to do so.

Yes,I would help them!

Seeing as I have never been in this situation it is hard for me to say for sure what I would do as I just don’t know. I like to think I would do everything I could to save someones life if the situation arouse but until I am faced with it I don’t know. I certainly can’t imagine ever leaving the scene of an accident that I had witnessed and if there was something I could do to help that was within my power that wouldn’t put my life in danger then I can’t think of any reason why I wouldn’t do so. Would I risk my life? I don’t know. We all like to think we are brave enough to do so and I am no different.

Skin colour, age or background wouldn’t come in to it, I know that much.

No one truly knows what they’re going to do in a given situation until they’re in it.

May I ask you, @Doctor_D, why you asked the question in the way that you did? Did you witness people turn away from helping someone in dire trouble? The question feels really angry and confrontational.

I’d do all that I am capable of doing. Unfortunately, that’s not much.

sure

Yeah I’d have a go! :-/

Just your fingernails? i have risked my fingers, arms and entire body to save a life. fingernails do not even count in my occupation.

As @Trillian described, if you are trained to act you just do it automatically. I’ve been in a few situations where I reacted to save life. In each case, it never occurred to me that I had endangered myself in doing so. Training takes over and you automatically do what has to be done.

I like to think I would try to save them. You really never know unless you’re in that situation. I would not expect a reward!

Probably not.

<insert argument about natural selection doing a good job>

<insert argument about conflicts in ethics>

In any case, I’d probably give it a shot. But not if something was so ridiculously dangerous that significant harm would come to me. Unless they were particularly important to me, of course.

I would do what I could. Keep in mind that getting yourself killed trying to save somebody does no favors to anybody.

I really can’t answer this question from the comfort of my safe bedroom.

if it’s a situation where the person is in a situation where only he/she is involved,
and even though i need to risk my life to save him/her i will help.
if it is a situation that it is very obvious that i can see death for everyone…
well. i’m not stupid.(i would hope)
that being said, you never know what you would do until the need arises….
Six people jump some guy on the street, would i jump in and try to fight them all off?
Have to see the situation, but even with my martial arts training, maybe not. Unless it was a little ole lady getting attacked, then my anger would get me involved. But would i summon help or get a bunch of people together to stop it, you betcha, or drive my car to disrupt everything or honking my horn to draw attention? you bet.
even all that being said, i would like to think i would help anyone in need, which i would.

Fingernails grow back. Lives don’t. Of course neither do fingers, hands limbs etc….

Have risked mine a few times… Mostly I never realized how close it was before long after the events..

Lol at the title. If I made the decision to help someone out, I would never expect a reward (because I probably wouldn’t always help someone). For example, if a couple is fighting, they both look like they are on a crack high, and one of them has a gun. I’d probably call the cops and let them deal with it. On the other hand, if I’m hiking in the mountains and the guy in front of me slips off the edge, I’d likely put my life at risk to help save his. If cops and others will come, but too late, and I knew this with certainty, I’d like to think that I would help, but you never know till you’re there. If I saw the probability of losing my own life was large, it might be a tough decision. Agree w/ @Staalesen that you tend to not realize the risk you’re taking on in the heat of the moment.

I know what I’d do if it were one of my kids, but….I really don’t know! If I did, say, run up to a burning car to try and pull someone out, you can bet I didn’t stop and really think about it ahead of time. I don’t know…

I am with @aprilsimnel and @Fyrius I don’t think anyone really knows what they would do until they are put in a situation like that.

As a nurse we naturally should have short nails so I would not have to worry about breaking any.

@All,Thank you so much for all your answers!,good reaction!.

@aprilsimmel I’m not angry at all,I ask this question because sometime when this situation is happening most of the people/local citizen will only panic,scream,or simply call for help(even if they know it would be too late in such situation) rather than do something on their own(because they concern more on themselves). Moreover,I ask this this question to see other people’s honest reaction and compassionate level nowadays.

@sjmc1989 If you really dare to imagine about such situation then you’ll find the truth of yourself.

I would take considerable risks to come to the aid of a stranger at risk of their life.
I am not suicidal and would not intentionally risk my life in a hopeless effort to save someone I knew could not be saved.
If I truly believed I could I reduce their risk of dying until more competent and better equipped help arrived, I would do whatever I could without throwing my life away needlessly.

Was faced with a heroine overdose, walking out of a business front several years ago. Boyfriend pulling girlfriend’s lifeless body out of a truck, next to a doctors office. Loud voices, somethings not right. Training kicks in, a nearly innescapable mandate to respond to near death situations urgently

- pulse present, no respirations – Boyfriend is sure it’s heroine. Doc afraid to move patient. Get on ground now for cpr. Only seconds of cardiac function left before arrhythmia and assystole.

While awaiting the assembled ambu, or the ambulance I knew we had literally seconds before she would lose her pulse. It was the longest 30 seconds of my life.

She was extremely high risk HIV – and I was not about to do unprotected mouth to mouth. I asked the boyfriend if he would start (already exposed) – he became extremely agitated and angry and whipped out a worn out looking plastic fitting (never seen before, must be the thing in the IVDA circles) that he put in her mouth and started giving her rescue breaths. After about 5 seconds the bag was there, and we started it going. Then the chest started to rise.

The doctor, whose office this occurred in front of was angry we hadn’t turned on the O2. It was my idea to call 911, and get the ambuu – and he’s upset?

Shouting, slapping the side of her stomach and using the ambu she started to come around.

Before the boyfriend started using his mysterious gadget on her, we had a little debate. I a total stranger – now am helping. He figures out I have medical training. He says if I don’t do mouth to mouth he will sue all of us.

I quickly explain to him the good Samaritan laws, and remind him that I didn’t need to stop and offer help. He gets going with the rescue breaths, which he appears quite experienced with.

As I’m watching her get into the ambulance, me and the wife are not waiting for thank yous, instead making ourselves scarce – the boyfriend moves his truck out the way hitting another car.

Next time, should I help? (I can predict what I will do, but I know the incentives are shifted)

Would you suck on a heroine addict without protection?

@DrMC Wow…what a story. What a world. Glad I don’t know CPR!

The adrenaline is addictive – not having critical tools is nasty. Combat medics have it worse – they’re trained to put in IV’s (difficult for anyone) – while being hosed with a fire hose.

People never cease to fall to my expectations. Perfectly understandable – he believed he could manipulate me to take the risk by fear of litigation, and had little understanding of his actual situation.

Even if he could sue.. my choices were

1) Suck addict spit and catch aids

2) Get sued by a stranger for trying to help, when I didn’t have to declare my medical skills.

If I were successfully sued, a whole lot more addicts a goin to the death panel for review by the new medical czar.

Fortunately for the good Samaritan laws you can aide with some protection.

A surgeon happened by and gave CPR once years ago, and during his efforts his pen fell out and hit the person’s eye blinding them on that side. He saved their life and they turned around and sued. I believe this went to a high court, and it was decided better to protect the Samaritan, than to discourage aide. (this girl was guaranteed dead they way things were going before I added in by the way).

I think the whole thing speaks poorly in many ways. In the end however, life saved.

I told the boyfriend that if she didn’t stop using, it would eventually kill her. I knew I had to say it then, as a stranger, with no gain other then the adrenaline of the moment. Most likely to be learned while the shit is still scared out of you. She was not happy to hear that, after receiving CPR with ambu on the cold concrete.

I wonder if she’s still alive.

Sometimes when I see a new patient I worry its the same person. I hope I never meet the life I saved.

I’d not know exactly how I’d act until actually faced with a situation. I once got underneath and lifted a person loose who’d hung themselves from a door frame but I also let the same person hold a huge kitchen knife to their stomach and walked away.

umm, at first you’re talking about breaking a nail for someone’s life and then you start talking about risking your life. What’s up witht that?

@ChocolateReigns It’s all about your Intention. Usually if you’re ready to break your ‘nails’ then you’re ready to risk/do your best for people in need.

Oh.

If saving them meant I would die, then no.

As for “break my nails” that happens to me just changing my Grandson’s diapers, it’s a common, everyday occurance.

I would like to think that I would. I hope that if I save someone, it will not be someone who uses a Q&A website to encourage people to not be good people.

I’d break my nails, my neck and my heart.

I have never judged if the person was worthy before helping them.
My response in helping someone is about who I am, not who they are.
No, I don’t expect a reward.

I did administer CPR once in a parking lot by accident with my head.

We were leaving church and an elderly woman passed out between her car and mine. Her son was holding her up in a really awkward position and her door was open so ai took her in my arms and put her in the car. No breathing or pulse. I was trying to fold the seat back to get room to work and slipped, hitting her hard in the chest with my head like a pericardial(?) thump. Suddenly she gasped and had a weak irregular pulse that took off into a good rhythm. I later found that Cadillac seats don’t always fold back. She passed away about a month later. With two broken ribs from my head.

@DrMC Can you catch HIV/Aids from someone just by sharing spit? My dad was in a very similar situation to your story a few years ago when a drug addict collapsed on the road. Dad gave mouth to mouth not knowing what health issues the woman may have.

I’d like to chime in and say that the current studies of CPR have come to the conclusion that chest compressions alone are just as effective at keeping a person alive as mouth to mouth plus chest compressions. So no more qualms about swapping spit to keep us from helping someone.

@Doctor_D Why is your @people link red???

@Leanne1986 Perhaps not, but I sure wouldn’t take the risk!

@Val123 Nothing special,really.

@Doctor_D How do you do it? Make them red? Can you make them purple? I want purple ones!

@Leanne1986 – saliva is a poor source of virus, but with an ambu seconds away, why pump air into their stomach? The efficacy of oral air is so bad, that current CPR guidelines want chest compressions. – as Merriment has stated above.

With a beating heart and complete respiratory suppression it’s medically different than run of the mill cardiac arrest. All you have to do is support ventilation and they’ll come right around. There is an amusing scene in “bringing out the dead” involving narcan which reverses opiates. They’re not dead till the heart stops beating, and you can’t revive it.

If it’s heroine overdose its respiration via ambu or better – else death. With this you might wonder why people take up heroine. They surely know the risk. Nearly all know of some one who’s overdosed and died. Why not take up an extreme sport instead? Chest compressions just aren’t the same.

Conveniently since that time I’ve let my CPR lapse. In my own office, after this experience we’ve decided against an EKG machine, Defibrillator, etc. They are not required, and you can thank your lawyers for people like me not wanting to get involved. I would like the equipment and the opportunity to help my patients. My wife, boss and office manager doesn’t want the legal risk. She stood next to me as me and another bystander were using the ambu. (bagging the patient, or forcing respiration)

Think it’s gotten crazy yet? – I want to lose money protecting people, but for legal reasons was discouraged from doing so. Is it possible that lack of tort reform could cause your death?

I trained in the inner city, where everyone and his uncle had aids. You don’t swap spit, share needles or have sex. Blood and body fluid protection is ground into you from day one. You process and handle contagious objects of the living dead. Caution = life. At least 2 of my good friends have required AZT therapy due to needle stick injuries.

I’ve seen too much, and every Samaritan impulse I’ve had keeps reminding me that no good deed goes unpunished. As the health-care reform continues, I become more firmly convinced in the futility of expecting humanity, from American humans.

I remember in medical school the surgical residents had an acronym for drug addicts who signed out against medical advice, and it fits.

AMFYOYO

Audios Mother F—Ker, Your On Your Own.

If you are expecting the milk of human kindness from the medical profession, better check the bottle. It might be empty.

The death panel will see you now.

yes, I would try and save a life why wouldn’t I? That is what makes us human? or is it humane? What’s the point of existence if you don’t even try?

No. I wouldn’t. Honestly and truly. I don’t know if that makes me a bad person, or a great human being adhering to my primal survival instinct. But. No. I wouldn’t risk my life to save someone else with the exception of a VERY CLOSE loved one

I am also an EMT. The first thing we learn is about scene safety and not entering a scene if it will put you and others at risk. That said, I think my non-vocational experiences with saving life completely fit with what @Staalesen said—adrenaline pumping, you often don’t realize the danger until after the event

I’d do it for a child or if I thought I could do it successfully without getting me or the other person killed. Other than that though, I can honestly say that I do not believe I would.