As a paramedic you see the sad side of life on a regular basis. It’s even harder to see a young person pass away from something as stupid as a drug overdose.

My heart goes out to the family of Gemma Thoms who died after overdosing on ecstasy pills at this years Big Day Out.

I then saw on the news that a knucklehead MP has come out and said that the sniffer dogs at the BDO would only “alienate and intimidate” the patrons. She also said that this was “life threatening behaviour” as the drug user may do something stupid like take all of their drugs to avoid arrest.

Anyone who’s been to the BDO and other such events knows that the dogs are a possibility. They know that they’re going to be running the gauntlet.

Anyway, it’s only my opinion but like the old folks say, “you play with fire”.

I reckon that if you’re a security guard at a bank, this MP may have your job. What if one of those poor bank robbers get scared when they see you and shoot themselves. It’s a long bow, I know. But hey. You chart your own course. The kids have to grow up some time.

It’s just a shame Gemma and her family had to suffer. MPs just should not use tragedy like this to say “I told you so”.

4am in the morning is not the time to be hunting through people’s medications to find out which ones they’ve had washed down with a bottle of cheap red. 2008 I believe, not a good year.

Suffering from anxiety and depression, Frank (not his real name), has had 5 shots at this, so to speak. 5 attempts at departing this mortal coil. Fail, fail, etcetera. Poor bugger. The system is obviously failing him and this time he’s nearly succeeded in relieving himself of the pain that he has been fighting.

This time he’s swapped the mental for the physical pain. Choosing Voltaren as part of the cocktail, he’s started to damage the lining of his stomach. Pain ensues and Frank shouts for help. His wife calls us and we’re greeted by Frank, post vomit, sitting on the ground holding his substantial gut.

He’s also taken his wife’s blood pressure meds and some beta blockers. Good times – bradycardic, hypotensive and in severe pain. We call for another crew to help us get him out of the place and in the meantime pop a line in and give him a splash of fluid. Gotta keep those kidneys going.

Even supine, Frank’s BP is just over 50/P with a heart rate hovering in the mid 40′s. Good times.

We call for MICA but we’ll beat them to hospital anyway. Scoop and run as they say.

Moral of the story. Sometimes the pain you want to escape is better than the pain you get trying to escape from it. Or something like that.