[thechat] my father

[Marlene Bruce]

Hi everyone,

Some of you already know that my father collapsed on August 1st and passed
away on August 2nd from an intracerebral hemorrhage (bleeding in the brain).
This happened while he was en route home from a State Department trip to
Korea, while changing from his international to his domestic flight at San
Francisco International Airport.

Our grief has only been compounded by anger over what happened after my
father collapsed. Below I have included a description of those events as we
understand them. While this may be upsetting to some of you (don't feel
obligated to read it), I am sharing this with the hope that it will someday
make a difference to someone in need of medical assistance. 

If you ever witness and accident or a person in trouble, please take a
moment to call 911. It is very possible that no one else will.

And if you haven't done so lately, please call your parents or loved ones
and tell them that you love them.

Thanks,
Marlene Bruce
(August 10th, 2001)

P.S. If you're considering sending them, in lieu of flowers we're asking
that people make a donation to:

Girl Scout Council of the Nation's Capital
Endowment Fund
4301 Connecticut Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20008

My father's name was William H. Bruce.

-----

We found out more information about what happened to my father from a
witness who was so distressed by the whole event that he left his name and
number with the hospital. Michael didn't see my father collapse, but arrived
on the scene shortly (we hope) afterwards, and witnessed the absolutely
bungled lack of assistance that was given to my father. 

Michael is a businessman who frequently travels between the US and Beijing,
and needed to have some adjustments made to his ticket. He was told to seek
out a "tall man" who was the United Airlines ticket agent that could help
him. Walking from the busier far right check-in gates to the more deserted
ones on the far left of the airport, Michael spotted and approached the
United Airlines ticket agent at approximately 1:20 PM. As he got close to
the ticket agent, Michael saw a man (my father) lying face down,
spread-eagle on the baggage scale next to the agent with a lot of vomit at
his feet, his glasses and bags askew. My father looked like he had fallen
uncontrollably.

At first Michael remarked to the ticket agent, "Is this person suffering
from bad airline food?" The tall man didn't respond. Michael decided to step
to the corner of the counter and have a closer look, and saw more severe
signs that something was seriously wrong. My father's breathing was far from
normal. The tall ticket agent seemed to be oblivious to my father's
predicament. Michael looked around and saw no signs that anyone thought
there was an emergency (there were very few people in the area, no one
seemed to be coming or shouting for assistance) and the scene was so
incongruous and extraordinary that Michael considered taking a photograph,
but there was no film in his camera.

At that moment the ticket agent asked for Michael's ticket, and started
processing his information. Michael assumed someone must have been called,
but as he stood there working with the agent he wondered when emergency
personnel were going to show up. As he was considering saying something to
the agent, some United Airlines employees happened to walk past and they
asked the tall man what was going on. The agent (in a rather cavalier and
dismissive tone, according to Michael) said, "This guy came walking out of
the international terminal, and as he approached he seemed dizzy and off
balance. I suggested he sit down. Before he could, the guy vomited and
collapsed there on the scale." 

Right then some airport security guards happened past, asked what was going
on, and the tall man repeated his story verbatim. The security guards asked
if the tall man had notified anyone and he indicated he hadn't. They
suggested the ticket agent call his supervisor, which he then did. Two
youngish (late 20's, early 30's) supervisors came out, looked at my dad,
looked at each other, and said, "What should we do?" Michael was astounded
that no one seemed to be taking things seriously. The supervisors stood
there discussing possible courses of action, and finally decided to call
airport emergency.

A few minutes later two firemen from the airport fire department showed up
with a general first aid kit. They asked the agent what had happened. The
agent repeated the exact same story he'd told twice before. One of the
firemen got out a clipboard and started doing paperwork. The other knelt
down next to my father, rolled him onto his side, and proceeded to cut off
his blazer. Then he rolled my father onto his back (something you never do
to someone who has vomited!) and turned away to rummage through his first
aid kit. While the fireman was turned away, my father aspirated vomit out of
his nose and mouth and began to convulse. The fireman turned back, saw the
convulsions, and turned my father back on his side. Placing his thumb in my
father's right hand, the fireman said, "Sir, if you can hear me, squeeze
your right hand." My father immediately and firmly squeezed his right hand.
Then the fireman placed his thumb in my father's left hand, asked my father
to squeeze, and my father strongly and deliberately squeezed his left hand.
Then the fireman got out an intravenous solution (Michael couldn't recall if
the solution was actually applied). [Note: There's a discrepancy, as the
fireman we talked with told us my father only squeezed his left hand, and
was probably paralyzed on his right side.]

At that point the two firemen began discussing what they should do, and
decided to contact 911. Michael said that it wasn't until Emergency showed
up that the whole scene turned from idiotic to professional and efficient;
they quickly rolled my father over, stabilized him, placed him on a gurney
and took him to the hospital which was very close to the airport. Michael
went back and marked time, and said that from the time he arrived 'til the
time Emergency showed up and took my father away, at least 30 minutes had
passed. We don't know how long my father was lying there unattended before
Michael approached the counter.

Michael was disturbed by the whole thing for two reasons. One was the
obvious lack of compassion and apparent complete dismissal on the part of
the ticket agent (who had a phone at his desk in front of him), and the lack
of professionalism, training, and initiative on the part of the security
guards, the supervisors, and the firemen. (It's not like 911 isn't pounded
into our brains since early childhood!) The second reason is that from my
father's dress, baggage, and apparent demeanor, Michael felt a kinship with
my father as a fellow professional traveler.

My mother, brother and I have talked this over, and while we are certain
that the end result for my father (death instead of being a seriously
impaired invalid) is best, we are extremely angry about the behavior on the
part of the United Airlines ticket agent, his supervisors and the airport
personnel (security not calling 911 either). We are also quite distressed to
hear that, contrary to the conjecture of the doctors (who couldn't have
known for sure ... we don't blame them), my father was indeed conscious and
aware enough to have responded to the fireman. This means he was on some
level aware that something wrong was happening to him. We are extremely
saddened to know that he may have suffered, and that we weren't there for
him in his final moments. [The fireman was apparently told by the ticket
agent that my father said he wasn't feeling well just before he collapsed.]

This is yet another case which demonstrates how uncompassionate our
"advanced" society has become.