Since April, D.C. medics responding to emergencies have administered blood transfusions to scores of trauma victims, pulling them back from the brink of death.
–The Washington Post – September 25, 2024 at 8:15 a.m. EDT —
The shooting victim lay unconscious, with blood pressure so low that D.C. Fire and EMS paramedic Sgt. Daniel Lottes believed his patient was at the “crest of death.”
For 17 years, Lottes has treated dozens of patients with rapidly failing vital signs and grim chances of survival. But during the April incident, the EMS supervisor who works in Anacostia employed a new tool in the back of his SUV — a pint of whole blood.
Rescuers applied pressure to stanch the blood flow from the wounded abdomen and hooked the victim up to a ventilator.
Then medics found a vein, set up an IV and administered medication before pumping blood into the victim, 10 milliliters at a time. Within three minutes, the patient revived.