Living with Diabetes

Tough call

Written by

kathleen

in

Having been trained as a police officer — this is a really tough call.

First, let’s be honest, the police officers and other responders do have the right to make it through their shift uninjured.

I’m not sure what their options are.  Are the responders comfortable with waiting until the woman passes out and then treat her?  A review and perhaps policy change is in order.

The woman, who went into diabetic shock and lost control in her home Saturday night, claims police used excessive force when an officer used a stun gun to make her stop struggling. She said she is afraid to call 911 again.

Source: KATU – Portland, Oregon

Of course, the best solution is to find a way to keep the hypoglymicia from happening.  Easy for to say when I’m a Type 2 and I have been able to prevent this sort of thing from happening.

Comments

4 responses to “Tough call”

  1. cassandra Avatar
    cassandra

    preventing lows from ever happening is pretty difficult. but, what i wonder about are these symptoms! i have never become violent before… i didn’t know that SOME diabetics DO become violent during a low! i thought for a second perhaps it wasn’t her being violent, but convulsions… but that doesn’t sound like what they are describing.
    i have certainly been a pain in the ass from time to time, but becoming violent… the article makes it sound like this is a normal reaction diabetics have to hypoglycemia. but some of us are just pathetic and panic stricken. not kicking punching and pushing. freaky.

    Reply
  2. cassandra Avatar
    cassandra

    preventing lows from ever happening is pretty difficult. but, what i wonder about are these symptoms! i have never become violent before… i didn’t know that SOME diabetics DO become violent during a low! i thought for a second perhaps it wasn’t her being violent, but convulsions… but that doesn’t sound like what they are describing.
    i have certainly been a pain in the ass from time to time, but becoming violent… the article makes it sound like this is a normal reaction diabetics have to hypoglycemia. but some of us are just pathetic and panic stricken. not kicking punching and pushing. freaky.

    Reply
  3. Lori Rode Avatar
    Lori Rode

    I looked at the Portland Police Bureau site, and they have advisory committees for mental health groups, and for ethnic groups (african americans, arab americans, etc). I don’t think PWDs need their own advisory groups, but why group us under mental health? KATU now has user comments up on their site about this story. The best one I found was from a diabetic who has been a police officer for 10 years. Very balanced response. It’s a tough call.

    Reply
  4. Lori Rode Avatar
    Lori Rode

    I looked at the Portland Police Bureau site, and they have advisory committees for mental health groups, and for ethnic groups (african americans, arab americans, etc). I don’t think PWDs need their own advisory groups, but why group us under mental health? KATU now has user comments up on their site about this story. The best one I found was from a diabetic who has been a police officer for 10 years. Very balanced response. It’s a tough call.

    Reply

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