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MineralMan

(146,116 posts)
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 03:26 PM Jun 2014

Staten Island cops save dying woman with shot of Naloxone

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/theshack/spray-saviors-staten-island-cops-save-dying-woman-shot-naloxone-blog-entry-1.1839304

Two Staten Island cops armed with a Naloxone sprayer gave a young woman a new lease on life after providing her with the heroin overdose antidote, authorities said Saturday.

NYPD Sgt. Magliente and Police Officer Tucker of the 121st Precinct were on patrol at about 1 a.m. Friday when they received a 911 call to the New Dakota Diner on Richmond Ave. in Graniteville.

Once they arrived, witnesses rushed them to the ladies room, where a 25-year-old woman was found barely breathing with a hyperdermic needle sticking out of her arm.

Realizing that the woman was suffering a heroin overdose, the officers administered Naloxone, which reverses a heroin or opioid overdose and allows the victim to breathe again. Paramedics rushed the woman to Richmond University Medical Center, where she is expected to survive.
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dilby

(2,273 posts)
3. Here in Oregon they can't arrest you if you go to the hospital after an OD.
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 03:33 PM
Jun 2014

It's part of a no questions asked system we have to help prevent death by OD, a lot of people don't get high by themselves and this encourages other users to call if one of them is ODing and no one gets in trouble. But it does require the person who OD'd to go to the hospital.

MineralMan

(146,116 posts)
4. The article said that the person was taken to the hospital.
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 03:38 PM
Jun 2014

I don't know the laws in New York. One thing's sure, though: the person is alive due to this naloxone program. I say Bravo!

 

Bluenorthwest

(45,319 posts)
5. It took years of activism to get PD's onboard with using his or other harm reduction methods
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 03:40 PM
Jun 2014

So yes, it works, as activists tried to tell authorities for years. Being NY, they probably arrested her after.

MineralMan

(146,116 posts)
6. Yes, it did. And now, it's being implemented in many places.
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 03:42 PM
Jun 2014

As for her being arrested, I have no information at all about that. She's alive, though. That's a plus, by my count.

 

Bluenorthwest

(45,319 posts)
7. So this is an 'activism is good because Police are deadly resistent to any change or mercy' thread
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 03:47 PM
Jun 2014

Police groups were opposed to this as they are to needle exchange or any other form of reform or harm reduction, pretending otherwise is a dangerous game.

 

La Lioness Priyanka

(53,866 posts)
9. so true. police and other conservatives tend to be very against harm reduction
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 03:50 PM
Jun 2014

its a very sad mentality.

harm reduction saves lives.

get the red out

(13,456 posts)
12. I think harm reduction
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 04:17 PM
Jun 2014

is something that can really help individuals and society as a whole. I hope the hateful groups don't stop the idea from spreading.

get the red out

(13,456 posts)
10. This is wonderful
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 04:14 PM
Jun 2014

I am so glad that this drug exists and that there are people in law enforcement who believe people's lives are worth saving, whether they are addicted to a substance or not. There are people who believe addicts should simply suffer their deaths as a consequence of their actions, but I don't know how they expect to teach a lesson to a dead person.

MineralMan

(146,116 posts)
11. That's what I thought, too. It may have taken longer to get naloxone in
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 04:17 PM
Jun 2014

the hands of first responders, but I'm sure glad it was available to this woman.

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