First Aid

[TheSidewinder]

To tell you the truth, if I did get 3rd degree burns. (Not over entire body, but like on my arm or something, but only small ones).

I would not be going to hospital. I would be asked so many questions and most likely get a huge ass fine and some sort of order saying I am not allowed the following chemicals. Possibly some sort of jail time too.

I rather not have that.

***SNIP***

Would you rather be restricted on what you can buy or even go to jail for a period of time, or would you rather die from Gangrene or Septicemia?

 

Because those are your only choices, and until you actually SEE what happens to the affected area of a 3rd-degree burn, you just have no clue what you're dealing with.

 

Take my, and Frogy's, experiences to heart: 3rd degree burns, even small ones, WILL infect. And that infection, if not treated properly, WILL kill you.

 

Tell the authorities whatever story you need to, in order to cover yourself. Tell them you accidentally got in the way of an acetylene torch, or something similar. Because if it really IS a 3rd degree burn, you are going to end up with a hole in your body right down to the muscle layer, and there is NO way to regrow dead skin. Until the advent of antibiotics 3rd degree burns, even small ones, were a death sentence in all but the rarest of cases.

 

Your call, but at this point you've been told the unvarnished truth.

[Gunzway]

Alright, what I said was stupid.

 

But if I get any 1st degree or 2nd degree burns which are not serious I am not going anywhere. i.e. If I got my face with 2nd degree burns I probably should go.

If I go through a friend's dad which is a doctor which owns a clinic/hospital thing.I am sure he would provide me with good advice and tell me whether he can preform the surgery (Which he should be able to do with a clinic/hospital thing, which I have seen and it's a small hospital basically).

 

Is a hospital forced to tell the police if a patient comes in with an unusual or suspicious accident? i.e. Some guy comes with a knife through leg and he says "I slipped". Or if someone comes with 3rd degree burns and he said "I burned my self on ---blah---".

Would they get the police to start "snooping" around to make sure that he is telling the truth?

[oskarchem]

Dose Doctor/Paitient confidentiality apply in the US?Or Australia (Don't exactly know where you live Gunz) If it dose then they can't say anything.

[Gunzway]

Yeah if I lived in America there would be no problem. I would be going for my BATF license (I think that's it) ASAP. But yeah I live in Australia and theirs basically no license I know of which will allow you to manufacture fireworks.

I think the best I can ever do is get my pyrotechnic license and be able to purchase commercial items and I could make them too and just say they are commercial (stick some xmas wrapping on them) and I doubt anyone would care.

I am not entirely sure if doctor confidentiality applies here. I hope it does.

[WarezWally]

It does, they can still contact the police if its in the intrest of public safety.

[mike_au]

I don't think the doctors will go out of their way to get you in trouble, but if it is just a burn (as opposed to chemical exposure where they will need to know what you were working with) I would keep the details to myself.

 

It is easy enough to come up with a cover story, leaking bbq, opening a hot radiator or (as someone said above) an oxy torch accident. I think you could probably even get away with "I was making a kno3+sugar smoke bomb".

 

Obviously if you have bits of steel embedded in you or anything that screams b**b they might get a bit suspicious.

[Pretty green flame]

But if I get any 1st degree or 2nd degree burns which are not serious I am not going anywhere. i.e. If I got my face with 2nd degree burns I probably should go.

Ok, 1st degree burn on a small area no problem, but 2nd degree burns, damn dude, I had the palm of my hand burnt (the doc said 2nd degree), It hurt like HELL!

 

I remember every damn minute of the day when it happened.

 

I speak from experience, I was given an injection of Ketonal in the hospital, it took over 2 hours to take affect, It hurt so god damn bad, I wish you never do experience a serious burn but please, do not say stuff like this if you do not know how it feels, if you do burn yourself you'll go to the doctor no matter what, belive me.

[Gunzway]

I have gotten 2nd degree burns and never went to the doctor. Though, I probably should of.

One was pretty damn bad, but I never went to the doctor, I am one of those stupid guys which think "Yeah, my skin will grow back, no need to go to a doctor and pay $12". But it is true that most burns cause infection etc.

 

Yeah.. You guys have convinced me to go to the doctor when I have been burned. It shouldn't be too hard to just say "I burned myself on a iron" or "I burned my self on a oxy torch".

 

A lot of people burn themselves in normal household activities, fires etc.

And they probably just think "Another burn" and don't really care.. unless it is some huge as 3rd degree burn I don't know what I would say there.

 

Thanks.

[mike_au]

I think an oxy torch would cause a 3rd degree burn fairly quickly. or maybe a plasma cutter? (they are far cooler than an oxy a few cm away from the tip but I believe they are *extremely* hot up close)

 

At the end of the day though, if you come in with 3rd degree burns they aren't going to play 20 questions, you will get treated first. If after you are sorted out you answer with "I was being stupid and don't really want to talk about it" I don't think they would be massively concerned. Doctors aren't police, and as long as you don't look like a threat to the wellbeing of others they probably have other things to worry about.

[WarezWally]

oxy/acetylene burns at around 3500 °C, that will really fuck you up.

 

Plasma cutters wont work on skin.

[Swede]

Doesn't the plasma cutter blow some serious slag? Maybe you could say you were cutting some scrap metal, ran into a pocket, or some area of impurity, and there was a flash burn. Or you could have been cutting some engine blocks that were supposed to be free of gasoline, but "Doc, there was this bright flash, I dropped the cutter, and stared stupidly at my burnt arm/hand."

 

Few doctors understand the physics behind a plasma cutter.

[WarezWally]

I have only ever used once once (I wasn't impressed, slow and not as much fun as oxy fuel cutting) and the slag was fairly minimal.

 

Best excuse would be to say you were siphoning petrol or some other liquid and something went wrong. Although if I have fucked up that badly that I need to go to hospital thinking of a good excuse is not something I will paying much attention to.

 

Acid burns on the other hand, boiling down sulphuric is one of the most dangerous things I have ever done. If something went wrong I don't know if I would want to survive.

[Valdek]

wow really invaluable information, cheers

[TheSidewinder]

That it is.

 

Glad you took the time to read it. Be safe and stay healthy!

[JrayJ]

I to have performed the human torch stunt with gasoline... The cutting off of the dead skin was horrible, even with morphine.... And it took me all summer to recover... It sucked! Don't play with gas!

[Swede]

I to have performed the human torch stunt with gasoline... The cutting off of the dead skin was horrible, even with morphine.... And it took me all summer to recover... It sucked! Don't play with gas!

 

Don't play with gasoline, ether, starting fluid, acetone, among the more common solvents with high vapor pressures. Pyros use a lot of acetone. In a still atmosphere, the acetone vapors can creep along a floor or wall, find a pilot light in a hot water heater, and now you're dead, or wish you were. Every year, you hear about some guy who was using gasoline to clean something, and he becomes a torch. Ether is probably the worst.

 

There should be NO IGNITION SOURCES anywhere near these solvents. That includes electric motors, fans, and certain types of lighting.

 

Burns suck, big time. I'd rather lose some digits than get a serious burn.

[inonickname]

If for any reason you may lose a tooth (I dunno, press?) then the best action is to put it in milk, seal the container and keep it cool.

 

Burns are horrible, and often more painful than having the part torn off completely. I burnt my finger today (not too bad) and it hurt a lot more than when I cut down to my knuckle with a pair of scissors. And yet, you can barely see the burn.

[Cookieman]

Want professional advice?

Go to my post.

 

 

[Arthur]

Your local hospital has seen it ALL before! They will usually see through any attempted excuse. However if you need to go to hospital then you really NEED to go, there is the possibility of permanent damage if wounds are not attended to soon enough.

 

If you want to keep out of hospital then do your hobby safely, and wear suitable protective clothing. Have a nomex boiler suit, flash hood and gloves, and wear them with helmet and visor.

[kaizoku]

Actually, the best thing to do is for lost limbs, put it in milk, this helps preserve the lost limb a lot longer than regular ice would.

 

It is actually better and i know it sounds disgusting to put the amputated finger/thumb/hand in your mouth because your saliva has the ability to kill bacteria and if it does kill the bacteria then

it will likely get infected then when you put it in nutritious substances like milk, because bacteria will grow there faster and it won't die. Also milk has a lower temperature then the body

which is 37 degrees Celsius and that is much better than the temperature that milk would have because when the temperature is higher the slower the bacteria will grow. When the amputated part

is in your mouth then do not suck the blood out of it there may be some oxygen in the blood that will preserve it also longer and it is warmer. And to create more saliva move and press with your tongue down in lowest

mouth part that will improve the production of it, while having the amputated part in your mouth so the saliva will reach the amputated part also do not try to bite it or cause more harm that will lessen your chance

that the surgeons will be able to sew it back and if they are able to sew it back it's functions will decrease because the nerves won't grow like it would have without the harm. I appreciate it if anyone who would like to improve

this post.

 

[dagabu]

EWWWWWWWW!

[Cookieman]

I just finished a course last weekend on First aid and CPR and the best way to treat a lost limb is to,

 

a) try to stop the bleeding.

Call for an ambulance (paramedic)

c) Pack the severed limb in ice.

d) Calm the casualty down and assure them help is on the way.

[Arthur]

Thanks Cookieman, a sensible post here from someone who has actually done a first aid course.

 

I drive an ambulance for a living, and anyone in the firework (etc) hobby group should do a first aid course, In the UK it's usual to do a government approved "First Aid at Work" course and get the certificate. I suspect that the USA has something very similar, designed for first aiders in the workplace.

 

We all spend a lot of time with fireworks which can go wrong, so firstly we need to find and use best practise to minimise the risk of accidents, then we need to use appropriate PPE (personal protective equipment in UK parlance) overalls gloves etc to minimise the damage caused by an accident, then we need to be able to cope with the immediate effects of an accident ie do the first aid.

 

The one thing that may be very different is medical response time, In urban UK areas you should have an ambulance at the scene in eight minutes, rural areas that could be 20 minutes. I suspect that in some of the wilder parts of the USA a response time measured in hours would be more likely, so better first aid treatment may be necessary.

 

BTW UK best practise is to wrap the severed part in bandage then put it in a cold place or in a pack of ice/frozen peas for immediate transfer to hospital, however it must NOT get frozen. The cold slows the rate of death of the part, BUT freezing it severely impairs it's ability to recover, if re-attached.

[dagabu]

Arthur, good to meet another EMT!

 

I was licensed 20 years ago when I lived in Va Beach Va, we had a digitus secundus manus or digitus annuláris amputated every month or so due to stupid kids and crotch rockets. No, not the driver, always the girl on the back. Break hard, hand under fender, slide forward to the seat mount, POP goes the finger!

 

Or guys (always guys) that tripped, slipped or fell and got their ring finger caught on something. One guy (before cell phones were smaller then a briefcase) screamed for two hours until a neighbor got pissed off enough to investigate and found this guy hanging by his wedding band from the garage rafters where he was putting up some nails to hold shovels and the like. His finger was dark purple and about 1" across.

 

When fire and rescue got him down, the paramedic asked him why he didnt just grab the rafters with his other hand and pull himself off the nail. This was the look he gave him

 

He lost his finger, it had died, other fingers (probably 8-10 over two years) were all successfully reattached if cooled. We used simple chemical cold packs after putting the finger into a finger cot.

 

Still, holding an amputated finger in my mouth.... EWWWWWWW!

[Cookieman]

This course I took was a definite eye opener for me and I would suggest it to all. It covered burns, fractures, lacerations,diabetes,ashma, high blood pressure, cardiac, such as heart attacks and strokes,choking,internal bleeding, and making your own sling to stabilize a broken limb. We were in groups of three with about ten groups. Each group had a different emergency scenario and had to do a presentation to the class on how they would treat the casualty.This course is a prerequisite for Police,firefighter,and lifeguard.I'm hoping it opens some doors for me.