911 call kills mother
Rachel Matecki
Issue date: 4/12/06 Section: Opinion
On Feb. 20, Robert Turner, now 6 years old, called 911 twice as his mother, Sherrill Turner, lay dying from complications from an enlarged heart that she did not survive.
According to USA Today, Detroit attorney Geoffrey Fieger voiced Sunday on the "Today" show he believes the 46-year-old Detroit woman would have lived had a 911 emergency dispatcher taken seriously a call for help from her then 5-year-old son.
Should these operators be fired? Yes. Will they be? Probably not. According to FOX News, in 2005 a 911 dispatcher was reprimanded for responding to a mother's plea for help with an unruly child with "OK. Would you like us to come over and shoot her?"
911 is here for our safety. Why are these "lifesavers" cracking jokes and disregarding calls?
Part of the problem could be the growing "911-abuse" problem. This far-reaching dilemma, as stated by the National Emergency Number Association, is causing needless overload and unnecessary deaths every day.
It was also stated the national 911 emergency call system receives 500,000 calls daily (183 million calls each year) and many of those calls are considered "abuse" or "misuse" calls.
Yes, the Detroit dispatcher should have sent police to the Turner house regardless. Yes, the dispatcher helping the overwhelmed mother acted irrationally by asking her if she wanted someone to come over and shoot her daughter. Better training for these workers is definitely needed in these cases. However, if you stop and think about it, we are partially to blame.
NENA reports 25 to 70 percent of all 911 calls are phantom calls. Phantom calls include automatic cell phone dialing, accidental "redial" and misdials. Can you believe people who accidentally bump their emergency numbers on cell phones, mistakenly hit redial after making a real 911 call or accidentally misdial an area code by pressing 911 make up to 70 percent of all 911 calls?
Maybe now we can understand why these dispatchers did what they did before we jump to the conclusion they are mindless and insensitive.
According to USA Today, Detroit attorney Geoffrey Fieger voiced Sunday on the "Today" show he believes the 46-year-old Detroit woman would have lived had a 911 emergency dispatcher taken seriously a call for help from her then 5-year-old son.
Should these operators be fired? Yes. Will they be? Probably not. According to FOX News, in 2005 a 911 dispatcher was reprimanded for responding to a mother's plea for help with an unruly child with "OK. Would you like us to come over and shoot her?"
911 is here for our safety. Why are these "lifesavers" cracking jokes and disregarding calls?
Part of the problem could be the growing "911-abuse" problem. This far-reaching dilemma, as stated by the National Emergency Number Association, is causing needless overload and unnecessary deaths every day.
It was also stated the national 911 emergency call system receives 500,000 calls daily (183 million calls each year) and many of those calls are considered "abuse" or "misuse" calls.
Yes, the Detroit dispatcher should have sent police to the Turner house regardless. Yes, the dispatcher helping the overwhelmed mother acted irrationally by asking her if she wanted someone to come over and shoot her daughter. Better training for these workers is definitely needed in these cases. However, if you stop and think about it, we are partially to blame.
NENA reports 25 to 70 percent of all 911 calls are phantom calls. Phantom calls include automatic cell phone dialing, accidental "redial" and misdials. Can you believe people who accidentally bump their emergency numbers on cell phones, mistakenly hit redial after making a real 911 call or accidentally misdial an area code by pressing 911 make up to 70 percent of all 911 calls?
Maybe now we can understand why these dispatchers did what they did before we jump to the conclusion they are mindless and insensitive.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Dale Lissner
posted 1/11/07 @ 12:37 AM CST
Your article on 911 calls and dispatcher behavior was very interesting to say the least. I noticed that our web site was read by someone who had seen your article. (Continued…)
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