CARRABASSETT VALLEY, Maine — A skier from Nova Scotia who hit a tree while skiing at Sugarloaf died of chest trauma, a diagnosis that doesn’t come as unexpected in the case.
Mark Belserene, administrator of the medical examiner’s office, said chest trauma is generally defined as injuries to an individual’s ribs or the organs behind them, unlike the lower torso, which is an individual’s abdomen.
David Morse, 41, hit a tree on the Lower Timberline Trail on Sugarloaf Mountain last Thursday afternoon, suffering severe injuries, although he was conscious and alert when Ski Patrol reached him. Morse’s widow, nurse practitioner Dana Morse, since has said emergency medical responders were slow to treat for internal bleeding — not initially listening to his chest or starting an IV — and the NorthStar ambulance driver left her on the side of the road on the way to the hospital after she asked to hold her dying husband’s hand.
He died in an ambulance on his way to Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington.
The hospital is expected to release a statement in the investigation on Friday.
Despite all her accusations, internal chest injury with an active bleed is usually a fatal event. Even in the big cities with a trauma center/surgical team that is minutes from the scene; they too have a poor outcome. Not trying to excuse any problems that may or may not have happened on the call. Hopefully the hospital will end its silence and put all this to rest…..
I believe I read that she even performed CPR on him at one point. That probably didn’t help.
What choice do you have when the heart stops! Just a tragic situation all round.
She did because the paramedics did not respond to him going into cardiac arrest, they didn’t try to help him at that point, she has the know how, would you not have done the same to save a loved one?
I would hope that an early detection for internal bleeding would have facilitated actions to have him life flighted if possible rather than taken to a hospital via ambulance. Maybe there was nothing that could have been done, we’ll never know that outcome.
LifeFlight was not operating due to a snowstorm.
I didn’t realize that, but I figured there was a good reason that life flight hadn’t picked up the patient.
By the sounds of it, the EMTs wouldnt of used LifeFlight either way.
What makes you say that, LifeFlight has gone to Sugarloaf prior to this. However not sure it would have mattered by the sounds of others who have posted in prior articles regarding chest and and serious interior trauma.
They had just used LifeFlight the week before for a young man, But hey from your armchair you would know all anyway.Slam away, Damn good bunch up there that do that work and get zero thanks for it. Your remark is narrow minded. But hey i tend to be that way too.
LifeFlight will not fly anyone in cardiac arrest. That is an absolute rule.
But he was not is cardiac arrest until the paramedics spent 45 mins splinting a broken elbow, instead of taking a reading of his vitals…. There was heavy snowfall, so Lifeflight could not go.
So you were there angel…do tell us more. I haven’t seen a time line from any news report yet. So since you seem to be “in the know” please fill in all the blanks on this story.
Did anyone at the clinic take vitals prior to the arrival of the ambulance?
What type of patient report was provided by the clinic to the ambulance crew?
I have other question but they can wait. I very curious about your first hand knowledge of the care provided to Mr. Morse
He was my very close cousin and I just spent a week with the family including his wife, kids and the family friend that found him on the ski hill, so yes I do have some insight on what happened. I will admit it is one sided because the hospital is keeping quiet. But I have no reason to not believe Dana, she has been very strong throughout this, she has not been irrational at any point during this is has been much stronger then I could imagine being.
I was not there but I know the people involved. I grew up with David and have known his wife for 15 years. She is the most level headed person I know, and the only thing that would have made her lose her cool in this situation is when they would not listen to her and not take his vitals.
There are a lot of articles on his death, this being one of the shorter ones.
She is not trying to put Northstar out of business, but if this happened to your family would you not want answers, would you not want to prevent it from happening to another? I am very proud that she has the strength to stand up for her family in this situation.
Would you not expect paramedics to arrive with proper equipment? It is their job to stabilize the patient and part of that is checking vitals even after the clinic had. But that is really only one of the issues, they left her on the side of the road in a snow storm, then instead of taking him to the hospital when he passed they took him back to the lodge, they did not even notify the hospital that they were on their way. The ER did not know anything when Dana showed up. She found out he passed away moments after they left on the side of the road over the phone.
She lost in her words “the perfect husband” and her best friend.
All I really ask is that everyone be respectful to the family. His boys are 11 and 14, keep in mind that they are perfectly capable of find these comments and I am sure one day they will. They just lost their father, the best father there is I can’t even begin to explain. She was not out of control, she was not a lunatic…. she was and continues to be very strong for herself, for her husband, and her boys.
I too am very interested in the hospitals side of the story, but I expect they will stick together to cover up any wrong doing.
I was going to respond line for line but your last line tells me that your mind is already made up, “I too am very interested in the hospitals side of the story, but I
expect they will stick together to cover up any wrong doing.”
http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/53974-maine-agency-plans-review-details-ns-man-s-death
Please note the line that says his wife performed CPR, AFTER he was loaded into the ambulance, so why did they not help? why did they not perform CPR? Why did she have to go get a nurse from the clinic to help?
I rad the article several days ago…and I read the Portland Press Herald and the BDNs also. All of the article are based on one side of the story. There is not one quote or observation from anyone else, bystanders (which are not barred from commenting on patients), etc…
I can see it now, land this helicopter ,you, lady off !
weather prevented life flight there was a snow flake in the forcast
This was my cousin and there has been articles on his passing. This one being one of the shorter ones. Dana has been quoted saying that she didn’t know if better care would have saved him, she was fully aware that chest trauma can be fatal and knew he was slipping away. The fact that they did not take his blood pressure or check his heart rate or listen to his chest when they arrived to the scene or start an iv is a big part of the complaint on the ambulance. She had to perform CPR herself on him and had to pause to get a nurse from the clinic to help her as the Paramedics were no help at that point. I know her well and that she is not complaining to get anything from them, she wants to prevent others from having the same thing happen to them. It was truly awful.
the sad thing is they put her on the side of the rd then drove off …then when she got to the hospital they didnt have any idea what she was talking about sad sad sad
So sorry for your loss. My heart, thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family. I hope the full investigation will bring out the truth and appropriate actions will be taken. Dana should have been allowed to be with your cousin during his final moments – at the least.
Thank you.
All I really ask is that everyone on this post and any other to be respectful to the idea that her boys are 11 and 14, and are just as capable of seeing these comments as you or I. So please be careful what is said about Dana. She is a strong woman.
Not true. Treated a similar injury the other night from a blunt force trauma to chest from a motor vehicle crash. It reportedly took greater than 15 minutes to extricate this patient before transporting to us in the emergency room. We placed a chest tube which immediately drained blood and inflated his collapsed lung. It really depends on the severity of the particular injury. The gentleman skiing was at a disadvantage to begin with being so far from any medical facility. The question is whether Maine paramedics are able to place chest tubes with permission of medical control?
Maine paramedics can perform chest decompression when tension pneumo is present.
Let me start with David was my cousin. Dana his wife has already been quoted in other articles saying she doesn’t know if better care would have saved him. But they didn’t give him the best care and attention, they didn’t follow protocol. They spent 45 mins putting his elbow in a splint instead of checking vitals…. They didn’t even arrive at the hospital at any point, they did not contact the hospital to say they were on their way.
Very tragic outcome….very sad indeed…
That still doesn’t excuse the EMT’s just leaving her beside the road.
That was a bad choice indeed.
In my truck, if someone were to interfere with the safe operation of the ambulance, I would notify dispatch and request a law enforcement unit. If they continued to interfere and refused to stop they would find themselves on the side of the road.
Same thing if someone attempted to interfere with patient care from the front seat.
Keep in mind the driver/EMT is responsible for the safety of everyone in the ambulance. Their partner, the patient and anyone else in the ambulance.
Thankfully I have never had to leave someone one on the side of the road, snowstorm or not. But if it came down the safety of the crew and patient, I wouldn’t hesitate in doing it.
All she asked was to hold his hand, because he was dying. She didn’t know how to tell her boys that he died without her being by his side. At that point she knew it was fatal, there was nothing more anyone could do. I believe her when she says she was only hysterical when they left her on the side of the road and drove off.
I totally understand that if someone is in the way that they need to be removed for the best interest of the patient. I am not debating that. I have friends that are also paramedics and they have said the same, that if someone is interfering they have to remove them. However no one was notified the situation.
If they are responsible for anyone in the ambulance then does that not make them responsible for her? And they just left her, in a storm, what if she was hit by a car?
Please provide me with insight as to why they would not have notified the hospital that they were on their way? And why after he passed away they returned to the lodge instead of continuing to the hospital?
I wasn’t there. And all we (the public) have is one side of the story at this point. I try to not pass judgement until all the facts from both sides are know. Just so you understand my comments above were of a general nature and not specific to your cousins case.
Ambulances in Maine generally notify the receiving hospital 5-10 minutes out in 95% of the cases. In the other 5% they are notified sooner to prepare for trauma/code/medical cases that are of a life threatening nature so the hospital can “rally” the staff. The ambulance had a 45-60 minute transport in good weather and in this case it could have been longer so a notification in the 30 minute range would have seemed likely.
Why did they return to the lodge? Maybe it was safer to do so given the weather and road conditions? I could speculate on one or two more thoughts but without being there, I would prefer to allow the facts to come out.
and i would sue you for doing it ! as will they
If you put my partner in danger or my patient by distracting my safe operation, you would find yourself on the side of the road. I would much rather be tried by 12 then carried by 6 because YOUR distraction caused an accident or worse, killed people.
Can you spell drama queen if you can’t handle a little stress you shouldn’t be doing the job get off the power trip
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I can handle all the stress of the job. Sounds like you would never even make it into the front seat based on your attitude….and “queen” is spelled with a capital “Q”.
Yep especially when referring to you my apologies for that
Sent from my U.S. Cellular Android device
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sue the crap out of everyone its the only way they learn !