Reference no: EM133712232

Question: You are responding to a balcony collapse at a local hotel. On arrival you find six people lying on the ground after a two-story fall when the balcony they were standing on collapsed. The six people are entangled in a web of twisted metal and broken concrete. You begin to treat the patients and the first four are quickly and easily extricated using SMR. You are treating the fifth patient who has stable vital signs, but severe midline tenderness of the cervical spine. Your partner is treating as best as he can through a small gap in the rubble. He reports that the sixth person is having respiratory difficulties which your partner is unable to rectify given the patient's position. The fifth patient is blocking full access to the sixth patient. What should you do regarding the fifth patient? Rapidly extricate the fifth patient taking as much care as possible to protect the spinal cord so you can access the patient who is experiencing respiratory difficulty. Tell your partner to do the best he can while you perform full SMR on the fifth patient. You can't risk further SCI on one patient to help another. Given that the fifth patient