The Paramedic Paparazzi

My manager said, “What do you want first, the brick or the rose?” All writers admire metaphors, and I’ve long respected this manager for his high-brow discipline.

“The brick,” I replied. He sighed. “Remember that big accident you went to last night?” I nodded. Three cars, five patients, two trapped. “Well,” he continued, “you were all over the news without your helmet on. I got a call from up the chain. I expect you to know better.”

He was right. After acknowledging my disregard for personal safety, I asked for the rose. He told me several comments had been made to him about our excellent scene reports and triage. They were “second to none,” he said.

Much as I prefer a rose every time, even a bunch, the brick didn’t surprise me. The area I work in is populated by celebrities, and the paparazzi own the night. Actually they’re 24/7. And they’re not only interested in models and rock stars. Paramedics are the next best thing. Moreover, there’s a long-running reality TV show filming on the beach every summer, and documentary crews embedded in the ER. But the fleet of freelance cameramen on motorbikes fitted with illegal scanners who ambulance-chase ’round the clock are the real bugs. 

Unfortunately, even without these paparazzi, we’re now in a world where images are instantly captured and published by average laypeople. Everyone with a camera phone and Internet connection is a potential broadcaster. On Friday and Saturday nights, it’s not uncommon for companions of drunk teenagers we treat to film their flaked-out friends and upload a video to Facebook before we’ve left the scene. It’s not illegal in this country to film anyone in a public place. While EMTs and paramedics are entitled to request someone to stop filming, we’re in no position to enforce it. We wouldn’t have the time anyway, busy as we ought to be treating the patient.

The main issues here, as I see it, are those of patient privacy and excessive scrutiny of medics at work. While writing my book Paramedico, I spent time riding with ambulance boat crews in Venice, where medics arguably face the greatest challenges when it comes to being filmed. The ancient city is a living museum, and in the summer the narrow alleys are crowded with more than 100,000 visitors daily. Almost all these tourists have cameras at the ready. Understandably, the rescue teams responding by ambulance boat are a novelty, although some visitors seem under the impression emergency doctors and nurses are actors putting on a drama for their benefit. Medics in Venice are routinely filmed and photographed by dozens of cameras. Protecting the patient’s privacy is now as much a challenge as protecting a patient’s life.

We may not have signed up to be actors in a theater, but the street is our stage, and it always has been. Even people who don’t want to look look anyway, because humans are naturally curious about death. What has changed is the size of the audience. A million viewers now gather in the place once inhabited by a handful of harmless rubbernecks. Fact is, we are being scrutinized by a much larger number of onlookers than we might realize. One man with an iPhone at your scene may have 30,000 Twitter followers. Controlling when, where and who films us is beyond our capability. So we need to adapt. Luckily, the ability to adapt is a quality EMS workers possess, something we’re experts at. All we need to do is be permanently ready for the limelight and act accordingly.

Yes, it can be frustrating. I used to work with a paramedic who couldn’t stand being filmed and made a habit of aggressively shooing away the paramedic paparazzi and amateur filmmakers. But rude and aggressive behavior is even less professional uploaded to Facebook than a paramedic without a helmet. When you find yourself in the spotlight, it’s far better to get on with the job than worry about what your mug will look like on television or YouTube.

Due to the instantaneous, uncontrolled nature of social media, it is no wonder many EMS agencies are also active in those domains, both for publicity purposes and as a means of monitoring what is published by the public and their own staff. The paramedic paparazzi can actually provide free and beneficial publicity for a service, so long as staff put on a good show. Road crews may consider them a pest, but PR departments do not necessarily share this view. In Mexico City, for instance, a school of tabloid journalism known as la nota rota has had a long working relationship with the Red Cross. In the past, select photojournalists were even provided personal ambulances so they could reach the scenes of accidents and murders in time to get quality shots of medics in action.

Fortunately we don’t all work outdoors, nor do all of us operate in areas of interest to the paramedic paparazzi. Nevertheless, we should constantly remind ourselves that nowadays devices for recording sound and vision are present at almost every case. We all have moments when corners are cut or we’re caught up in the moment and say something we regret. We’re only human. But even with the world watching us, if our habit is professionalism, we have little to fear. Just don’t forget your helmet.

Benjamin Gilmour is the paramedic, author and filmmaker behind Paramédico: Around the World by Ambulance, available for purchase at EMSWorld.com/store. Watch Paramédico the film at www.paramedico.com.au.