Dealing Responsibly with Injured People

["Linda B. Merims" <lbm@naisp.net>]

 

I had the most serious responsibility of ride management come up and

whack me on the head at my ride last Sunday, making me embarrasingly

aware of how unprepared I was to deal with it realistically.

 

A woman riding with a junior had her horse flip over backwards and

land on her.

 

Everybody was extremely lucky:  it happened just outside of camp,

and the woman was able to make it back to camp with her junior.

 

My basic question is:  when do you overrule the expressed wishes

of an injured person because you think it is important for their

well-being?

 

 

The woman made it back to her trailer and even got the two horses

loaded.  I wasn't even aware that an accident had happened until

two other riders told me that they had seen it and that they thought

this woman REALLY NEEDED HELP.

 

The woman was sitting in her truck, trying to figure out whether she

was well enough to drive home.  The horse had landed on her left

side and she thought her right side was good enough to shift and

use the accelerator and brake.  She herself said that she suspected

she had broken ribs on the left side and at least a severely bruised

left leg if not an actual fracture.

 

She didn't want the paramedics called.  (How would her horses, rig,

and the junior (a neighbor kid) get home?  I certainly had made no

provision for such an eventuality.)  I agreed to go along with

her wishes.  However, half an hour later, she's still sitting in her truck.

This tells me that even she has serious doubts.  I was wondering

seriously now whether I shouldn't overrule her and call the paramedics.

 

Luckily we had another rider who knew this woman and, after talking

with her for almost 45 minutes, persuaded her to let her call her

husband (this other rider's husband; the injured woman lived alone)

and have him drive her and her rig home.

 

In followup, I discovered that when she got home she was feeling much

worse and had them call 911.  She's been in the hospital for two

days and will be going home tomorrow, but will be laid up for at

least a month.  I havn't yet found out what her injuries actually were.

 

What should I have done?  How do you ride managers deal with the

entire issue of injured riders?  Do you have "in case of emergency"

numbers on entry forms?

 

 

Linda B. Merims

lbm@naisp.net

Massachusetts, USA