Opinions - Overdose in your living room?

[Breedlove]

Hi Kids,

I've got a distrubing question to ask you heroin users...

What the moral thing to do when your friend dies in your living room and you're sure he's dead?

Calling the police is only going to get you arrested and ain't gonna bring your friend back.

Is it wrong to drag him to his/her car, drive it somewhere and leave him there? I mean, we all knew we were playing a deadly game shootin' dope and if The Bonehead was the one that was dead that's what he'd want his friends to do.

Let me know your thoughts....

Reputation Comments on this post:

Thanks this thread may someday save a life

[wespawloski]

I think the police, promptly, would be the best decision :/ If he is your friend, some respect should be paid.

Just tell the police you left to go get groceries, you came back, and your friend was like this?

[msmogadon]

What would you be arrested for? No need to say SWIY sold him the gear or shot him up eh?

[old hippie 56]

Do the right thing and call 911, first dispose of all evidence. Tell them he having a seizure.

[Pope Albacore]

Originally Posted by old hippie 56

Do the right thing and call 911, first dispose of all evidence. Tell them he having a seizure.

Correct! Contact help and have SWIY practice their Sergeant Schultz routine, "I know nothing....NOTHING!". If that fails, have SWIY's lawyer on speed dial...

-Pope Albacore

PS- NEVER admit to ANYTHING incriminating(especially if a corpse is involved).

[Esmerelda]

Not only would calling the police be the right and respectful thing to do, it's also the course of action least likely to get you into trouble.

If this were to happen and you were to take his body elsewhere, and ultimately be found out for doing so, suspicion would be aroused, and things would get far more complicated. And imagine the worry that you would be going through, waiting for the police to ring on the door and start asking questions. I can guarantee that you'd regret this course of action soon after having taken it.

If on the other hand you were to tell the police the complete truth, you'd be highly unlikely to get into any trouble. Blood tests would confirm the cause of death if need be.

If you were honest and open, you'd probably even be shown sympathy for your loss.

Reputation Comments on this post:

good response, moving a body is a crime (interfering with evidence)

[Spucky]

Swim think it like swioldhippie,
we don`t have to say something about Drugs to the Helpline,
it will be good to say it to the Doctor only!

In the US. People have only the Choice to call 911?
Because many Countrys in the EU. have a strict Line between Police and Emergency Help!

Also one Main-Reason why to call for Help
is the very low Heartbeat, it is very flat and maybe only a few slow beats in a min.!
Sometimes People are still alive when they get Bumped into a River, Fire, etc.!

[Solinari]

I don't care if someone is sure they are dead, phone for a fucking ambulance and start CPR, now i know there is some legal issue with allowing someone to inject or use illicit drugs in your own home but so what, do the right thing and if necessary say they went into the toilet and you had no idea what they were doing.

I don't know, make something so it appears there was no way to control what the person that OD'ed was doing in your home, but keep them breathing and wait for the ambulance and bite the fucking bullet (as Lance says).

I could be wrong here, so don't take this as fact but i think the main problem with overdose is breathing and not the heart simply stopping, it's usually that or they choke on their own vomit, so if someone is an injecting drug users get familiar with CPR!! ABC, Airway, Breathing, Circulation. If it were me i would do everything i could to save their life even if it appears they are definitely dead, i would start CPR and continue doing it till the ambulance came and i wouldn't care if it was some stranger or a friend i am sure i would do what i could.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Good, wise advice

[Esmerelda]

Originally Posted by Solinari

I could be wrong here, so don't take this as fact but i think the main problem with overdose is breathing and not the heart simply stopping, it's usually that or they choke on their own vomit, so if someone is an injecting drug users get familiar with CPR!! ABC, Airway, Breathing, Circulation. If it were me i would do everything i could to save their life even if it appears they are definitely dead, i would start CPR and continue doing it till the ambulance came and i wouldn't care if it was some stranger or a friend i am sure i would do what i could.

I was assuming this scenario was about someone who had been there a long time and was known to be dead, but you're completely right.

As Solinari thought, the heart only stops if the person has been not breathing for too long, so if there is a pulse full CPR is not necessary - just mouth to mouth.

Check the airway, check for breathing, check for a pulse (if you type 'pulse' into google images you can find pictures showing you how to do this properly). If there is no breathing but there is a pulse, perform mouth to mouth. If there is no pulse then perform full CPR.

Give two breaths then phone for an ambulance and then continue mouth to mouth or CPR.

The official recommendation is that if you don't know how to perform mouth to mouth or CPR then you put the person in the recovery position and call for an ambulance. However if the person has actually stopped breathing, then even m-to-m by someone who doesn't know what they're doing is going to do more good than nothing at all.

[Spucky]

Originally Posted by Esmerelda

Give two breaths then phone for an ambulance and then continue mouth to mouth or CPR.

In many Cases the palatoglossal Muscle
(that who control the tounge) relaxed and make it difficult to breath inside the Mouth,
it is much better to use Mouth to Nose!

Just a tiny advice!

[EscapeDummy]

Originally Posted by Spucky

In many Cases the palatoglossal Muscle
(that who control the tounge) relaxed and make it difficult to breath inside the Mouth,
it is much better to use Mouth to Nose!

Just a tiny advice!

Apparently this is disputed. Wikipedia, master of all objective knowledge, states that while those who are unconsious/having a seizure/etc may look as if they are choking on their tongue, but physiologically, it is actually very difficult to truly choke on one's tongue.

Anyone have a definitive answer on the issue? I would recommend against "Mouth to Nose", and recommend regular mouth to mouth CPR in general, only doing something else in the case of a known complication.

[Junkhead23]

Personally pacman wouldn't go anywhere near most junkys nose with his mouth blurgh

[xxdan123xx]

Happened to swims friend... Imaginary of coarce. His girlfriend oded and he flushed massive amounts of drugs and called the police. She didn't make it.. goddamn speedballs.

xxdan123xx added 2 Minutes and 51 Seconds later...

swim forgot to add that his friend got in no legal trouble for this

[chinpokomaster]

This is the saddest thread I've ever read. Surely SWIY would want to look back in the future and know that their friend's dignity meant more than a drug.

[Solinari]

Yea i suppose a situation could arise where two heroin users have injected their gear and nodded off, one has awoken an hour or so (longer even) to find his friend is dead, in that case the body might be cold to the touch and if it's been several hours then rigour mortise may have set in, there's no coming back from that. Even so phone the ambulance, cover your ass with a story (he was in the bathroom, i ddin't know) or just tell the truth, probably be better anyway. I really don't know the laws about it, i only heard that you can get charged for something by allowing someone to use drugs in your home when a death occurs, but what that is, i have no idea.

Again, i advise any injecting drug user, in fact i recommend everyone that reads this find out how to perform CPR on a person correctly, i have no doubt Google will have millions of pages on it and Youtube should have videos. I took a first aid course twice so i know how to do it properly, when giving mouth to mouth you have to tilt the head back and hold the nose, the amount of breaths to give i am usnure of, it may depend on whether the heart has stopped and chest compressions are required.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Sound advice. The entire human race should be able to perform CPR.

[dmtHELLA]

In our dorm room we had a plan in case of such an emergency. We would clear out all evidence and wait till we were no longer visibly inebriated then we would call 911 a bit down the road and play dumb. Any leftover materials would be "blamed" on the victim. We all agreed this is the most sensible thing to do. Fuck respect for the dead, when i die im not gonna be in my body or this world so i dont give a fuck ha

dmtHELLA added 2 Minutes and 10 Seconds later...

oh and if you supply the victim with the drugs and the police find out, well your friend got the easy way out and left U fucked cause bars are all your ever gonna see

dmtHELLA added 2 Minutes and 25 Seconds later...

Another things, for CPR they no longer require 2 breathes. Just the new way to do it. Guess the compressions automatically pumps air in and out of the lungs.

[SmokeNmirrors]

Yeah do the right thing and show respect for swiys friend and get rid of all the evidence and say swiy just got home from the store and found him like this. Dumping your friend somewhere just so swiy doesn't get in trouble which probably wont happen if everything is gone. Would probably haunt swiy for the rest of his life, swim could never just dump his friends lifeless body somewhere like a peice of trash. Call 911 and have the house cleaned up and the situation shouldnt be any worse then it is.

[yaba]

Due to swims work he can put someone in the recovery position and resuscitate, (CPR) etc.. But that would be done after or while phoning for an ambulance.

If it was a friend of swim he would stay till the end and if it was a stranger then he would wait for the ambulance and give them all the info and hoping the guy would be fine.

[sandoz1943]

This very question is why SWIM and her man stopped doing meth. After one of our friends shot up he started foaming at the mouth and flailing around like a fish and them he stopped. We went out on the porch to ask who knew CPR and everyone started grabbing thier things and leaving. We started to go back in to attempt CPR from what we had seen on TV and they guy came walking out like nothing had happened. We promptly quit doing meth and I took a CPR class. I wish I knew where to find they guy so I could thank him. These were two of the best decisions I ever made.

[old hippie 56]

Originally Posted by sandoz1943

This very question is why SWIM and her man stopped doing meth. After one of our friends shot up he started foaming at the mouth and flailing around like a fish and them he stopped. We went out on the porch to ask who knew CPR and everyone started grabbing thier things and leaving. We started to go back in to attempt CPR from what we had seen on TV and they guy came walking out like nothing had happened. We promptly quit doing meth and I took a CPR class. I wish I knew where to find they guy so I could thank him. These were two of the best decisions I ever made.

This is one of the best ways to clear a house of tweakers! Seen my share of ODs, and CPR is the best knowledge to have during one. Separate the friends from friendly acquaintances really quick.

[Breedlove]

Yeah...folks, thanks.....alot of good but disturbing answers to a very disturbing question. The question came up during a 'therapy group' and someone brought up the whole thing about when Belushi OD'ed and they tried to nail the chick that was with him for manslaughter or something. I think two of the most valid thing in your answers were knowing how to do CPR and the part about whether the person was really dead.
The bonehead was involved in this kind of situation a long long time ago and old Artie was deader than a doornail and stiff as a board. It was one of the most gruesome experiences the bonehead ever went through.

Thanks for sharing....

[pinksox]

Calling an ambulance/911 is obviously the "moral" thing to to. To SWIM, "obviously dead" includes clinical signs like signs of rigor or lividity in addition to being apneic(not breathing) and pulseless--and she wouldn't start CPR on such a person. But if someone doesn't have such training calling EMS is the best thing to do. If the person is really, truly, "dead-dead" chances are EMS will do their evaluation and stop care on-scene.

Personally, SWIM would NOT do mouth-to-mouth on any non-family member she didn't know the infective status of--especially an IV drug user--unless she had a pocket barrier device on-hand(SWIM has them on all her keyrings). One's first obligation is always their own personal safety. A good percentage of CPR patients "puke" because the pyloric sphincter that holds in stomach contents releases because of decreased tone and due to increased pressure from chest compressions. Also, a goodly number of opiate OD patients are already exuding pulmonary fluid from their mouths and noses because pulmonary function slows/stops well before the heart does. This causes the lungs to fill with fluid and then "overflow."

That being said. Providing a person with adequate chest compressions is better than no CPR at all.

Dumping a "dead-dead" person IS going to result in a police investigation. If SWIY is identified they can bet their bottom dollar they will be subjected with some harsh scrutiny and MINIMALLY charged with abuse of a corpse...if not much, much worse.

Barrier devices can be easily found and purchased by anyone at many, many places online. Just google "Keychain barrier device" or "CPR barrier device."

Reputation Comments on this post:

The Keychain barrier advice get my full points

[Jatelka]

Originally Posted by pinksox

That being said. Providing a person with adequate chest compressions is better than no CPR at all.

Quite, where the flamingo is "compression only CPR" is an accepted technique for first responders who cannot (for whatever reason) perform artificial breathing

In terms of learning CPR, I suggest a basic first responders type course. It's not something that can be learned off the internet!

For adults, the correct ration of compressions to breaths is 30:2 (Pausing compressions to allow for the breaths)

[BastardoFatsquardo]

SWIMs friend was over years ago, and he did his first shot of 5cc and was blue/purple when SWIM found him in the living room. SWIM tried everything he could to resuscitate him, but it didnt work. Called ambulance and only the ambulance showed up. SWIM claimed not having a clue at all, they gave him Narcan and tried to take him to hospital, but he wouldnt go by the time he was awake. Was the scariest shit SWIM has ever been through considering that was Basically SWIMs only friend at the time.
The difference in the UK is that if you call the ambulance the police dont show up with them, like they do in the US!

[msmogadon]

In SWIM's experience the police will show up if OD is mentioned, however they are really only there for the paramedics safety.
When this happened to SWIM (twice last year ) they asked a couple of questions such as how much did the person take and where did they get the stuff. SWIM just played dumb and that was the end of it.