[Prof_Chomsky]

I love how the peanut gallery uses hindsight, calm, and their unfailing logic to judge a life and death situation then ask why the people involved at the time didn't consider every course of action, weigh their options, then make the best informed decision they could. You're either a teenager, or have the emotional IQ of one.

The bottom line here is the guy wasn't the smartest, but he DID have a legit medical emergency and the first cop not only did NOTHING to help them, but baited them to keep speeding then alerted a cop further up the road. Now, who knows what was said during that first ticket, but I for one want a police force that escorts me to the hospital ASAP and asks questions later. This is a fundamental problem with the type of people who seem drawn to the job these days. They're in it for the wrong reasons, power, control... whatever happened to protect and serve?

Can any one of the people reading this post honestly tell themselves that had they been the cop they wouldn't have instinctively wanted to assist a pregnant woman in a life and death situation? Would any of you have taken 15 minutes to issue a 1,000$ ticket, then sent them away with NO help only to alert another officer down the road that some poor sap worried about his wife and kids is likely speeding again?

[andyt]

You would either escort them or allow them alone to do 170kph for 150 km? If they kill somebody in the process, do you think the cop might be held liable?

[bootlegga]

SprCForr SprCForr:

Stress of that nature can make people do things that seemed right at the time, but in hindsight weren't very smart at all.

I think he took a bit of a risk going on a vacation a week before their baby was due (especially given that they knew there might be complications), but stress does things to people and most don't always make the best decisions in those situations.

Still, that police officer should have either escorted him or given her a ride to the hospital himself - even more so if there was blood on the front seat as the driver claims. It sounds to me like both parties were guilty of poor reasoning in this situation.

[Prof_Chomsky]

Think logically and put yourself in the cop's situation.
You see a pregnant woman clearly in distress and bleeding. The husband tells you the doctor confirmed she will die if she isn't immediately c-sectioned. Do you:

a) Put them in your cruiser and drive them to the hospital
b) Call an ambulance
c) both A and B
d) Be a douchbag, take your time issuing a 1,000$ ticket, then send them away toward another speed trap without so much as offering assistance.

[bootlegga]

Prof_Chomsky Prof_Chomsky:

Think logically and put yourself in the cop's situation.
You see a pregnant woman clearly in distress and bleeding. The husband tells you the doctor confirmed she will die if she isn't immediately c-sectioned. Do you:

a) Put them in your cruiser and drive them to the hospital
b) Call an ambulance
c) both A and B
d) Be a douchbag, take your time issuing a 1,000$ ticket, then send them away toward another speed trap without so much as offering assistance.

As I said, it should have been A and B, but the couple in question also made a very poor decision - going shopping 100km away from their hospital only a week before her due date.

Given that they already had one child, they should have known that baby #2 could come at any time, not when the c-section was scheduled. As I said, poor decision-making on the side of both parties.

I have to say that the cop calling other cops ahead to look out for them was a douchebag move on his part.

[andyt]

Prof_Chomsky Prof_Chomsky:

Think logically and put yourself in the cop's situation.
You see a pregnant woman clearly in distress and bleeding. The husband tells you the doctor confirmed she will die if she isn't immediately c-sectioned. Do you:

a) Put them in your cruiser and drive them to the hospital
b) Call an ambulance
c) both A and B
d) Be a douchbag, take your time issuing a 1,000$ ticket, then send them away toward another speed trap without so much as offering assistance.

$1:

Indeed, the officer encouraged them to go to Portage General Hospital to seek surgery or call an ambulance to take them to Brandon.

$1:

The Carberry officer issued David another speeding ticket, warned him again of the dangers of speeding and called an ambulance.

$1:

Though officials from MPI and RCMP would not comment on the specifics of Weber's case, citing privacy concerns, both noted that protocols are designed to keep Manitoba's roads safe -- while allowing for occasional crises. Reports indicate that many of those procedures were followed in the Webers' case.
"In any case of medical emergency, we would request an ambulance so they could get emergency medical assistance or escort them to hospital. Both would be offered," said RCMP spokesman Const. Miles Hiebert. "We would take them to the nearest hospital."

[OnTheIce]

Prof_Chomsky Prof_Chomsky:

Think logically and put yourself in the cop's situation.
You see a pregnant woman clearly in distress and bleeding. The husband tells you the doctor confirmed she will die if she isn't immediately c-sectioned. Do you:

a) Put them in your cruiser and drive them to the hospital
b) Call an ambulance
c) both A and B
d) Be a douchbag, take your time issuing a 1,000$ ticket, then send them away toward another speed trap without so much as offering assistance.

So the officer suggests that the couple drive 10 minutes to the nearest hospital, common sense in an emergency situation... but instead, they opt for the ~1hr 45min drive to Brandon.

Brilliant.

Hospitals don't "usually" handle people with severed arms, but they do. Some hospitals don't always do c-sections, but they can.

The only person who put his wife and child at risk was the driver.

If my wife's life was on the line along with my unborn baby, I'd be heading to the nearest hospital, no questions asked.

I was in a similar situation. My son was set to be born at St. Michaels hospital in Toronto. Our doctor was there, as were all my wife's medical records. Instead, due to complications, we ended up at a hospital 30 minutes East....and guess what, they did a fantastic job!

Enjoy the ticket

[BartSimpson]

Were this to happen down here and it was my call I'd call in a Life Flight helicopter and have the woman safely airlifted to the proper hospital.

But, as I read it, http://www.gov.mb.ca/health/ems/lifeflight.html Manitoba maintains only a jet for evacuating people FROM Manitoba to places where they can obtain advanced treatment...indicating that such treatment options do not exist in Manitoba per the opinion of Manitoba's government.

Given this, the young man's conclusion that his wife could not be treated at the closer hospital may well be founded in fact.

[bootlegga]

Alberta is fortunate because we have both traditional fixed wing air ambulances and STARS (http://www.stars.ca/bins/index.asp), which operates helos from several bases across the province.

[Canadian_Mind]

Any hospital should be able to do a C-section.

[BartSimpson]

Canadian_Mind Canadian_Mind:

Any hospital should be able to do a C-section.

Not every C-section is the same. The young lady may well have a condition (which is none of our business) that complicates a C-section and thus the husband had every right to get his wife to the right hospital instead of pissing around with some pinhead cops who are more worried about speed limits than a woman who's bleeding out in the back seat of the car they just pulled over.

Good thing Mrs. Bart can't have kids because were it myself in that situation I'd not be wasting time by the side of the road parsing traffic laws with some jerkwit.

[Brenda]

Canadian_Mind Canadian_Mind:

Any hospital should be able to do a C-section.

There was a reason why she had to have a C-section. When she arrived at the hospital, her uterus was close to rupturing. Uterus's do not rupture, unless there is something really wrong. Giving birth 2 weeks early should not cause a uterus to rupture.

I must say tho, that when you have a pregnancy like that, your doctors should not plan your second C-section a week before due date, but 3 weeks. The risk of getting contractions and putting pressure on the uterus is way lower then.
Second, when you know your pregnancy is a potential health risk, you should not go shopping anymore so far away, a week before your planned C-section.
Third, the first cop is an asshole, and did not do his job right.

[bootlegga]

Canadian_Mind Canadian_Mind:

Any hospital should be able to do a C-section.

You're right, but I'm betting you're not a father yet.

Wait until your first one comes along - you'll make any sacrifice necessary and do everything in your power to make absolutely certain he/she is born safely and properly (in a hospital) and that your wife gets the best possible care during childbirth.

[BartSimpson]

bootlegga bootlegga:

Canadian_Mind Canadian_Mind:

Any hospital should be able to do a C-section.

You're right, but I'm betting you're not a father yet.

Wait until your first one comes along - you'll make any sacrifice necessary and do everything in your power to make absolutely certain he/she is born safely and properly (in a hospital) and that your wife gets the best possible care during childbirth.

+1

I'm not even a father, but I do love my wife more than some jerkwit with a badge and if she was bleeding and maybe dying in my car while some peckerbreath with a badge was busy proving what a man he was by letting my wife die so he can make a point about traffic laws I'd end him.

Guys like that are at the wrong end of the badge.

[ShepherdsDog]

bootlegga bootlegga:

SprCForr SprCForr:

Stress of that nature can make people do things that seemed right at the time, but in hindsight weren't very smart at all.

I think he took a bit of a risk going on a vacation a week before their baby was due

Vacation? He lives in Portage, which is 80 km from Winnipeg. It has most of the province's doctors and the best hospitals. Why the hell was she even seeing an ob gyn in Brandon, which is 130 km away on the Trans-Canada? If he was that concerned about his wife's health he would have gotten her to the nearest hospital ASAP. The Grace Hospital is right off of Portage Avenue in St. James, you can't miss it. Naw, this guy is an idiot and a dangerous one to boot.