Hooner

I had a extremely weird experience last night that I would like to share, and ask for your perspectives.
Last night, I was with a bunch of my friends and a school director. This director has a known history of heart conditions, and lately had been talking about his left arm hurting. At one point of the conversation he left without explanation, and returned to his room in the dorms. We follow him and ask if he's alright. He came out of his room looking completely exhausted and sort of grabbing his chest. He said he was fine, but he was just upset by a particular topic. So he returns back to the lobby and talks it out with us. He has a very strange gait and seems to have no energy (even if it's 2 in the morning, it was odd behavior).
He goes to bed, and I consider more and more whether or not he might have had a minor heart attack (or is about to have one). I have had two family members experience heart attacks and he was showing the same signs, such as extreme fatigue, his gait, his left arm...
At about 3 in the morning I decide that perhaps, safe is better than sorry so I round up my roommate and we head downstairs to check on him. His door is open, the lights are all on. We call his name for 2 minutes. I decided to enter the room and my roommate went to call 911. I knew this was bad protocol but I was taught that when there is the possibility for life-threatening danger it's better to shoot first, ask questions later. So I enter his room and he is on his bed. I call his name, and shake him for what amounted to 5 minutes. He just wouldn't wake up. Eventually, he did but he was so unresponsive.
By the time the ambulance came, he had woken up and was berating me for doing this. He refuses treatment from the ambulance workers, and makes me and my roommate sit down for 3 hours and...drags us through either insanity or multiple insecurities.
He kept asking me: Who do you think you are? You are so wrong. This is so rude, what you have done. I don't even know what to say, etc. I explained to him that his symptoms resembled that of a heart attack and he admitted to having had one thursday. But he was not all there; as soon as he would admit his health problems, he would attack me in so many ways. He repeated the questions over and over and eventually, I just decided to shut my mouth and take it as he was not listening to either of us.
I understand that I may have overreacted, but he managed to dump all of his life's insecurities unto me and my roommate in 3 hours: he's worried that people make fun of him because he's had a stroke (which is news to us, as that would explain the right arm phenomenon), he's feeling alone, he's vulnerable about his health, about student affairs.
He said some unforgivable things. He said that he felt like a rape victim. This greatly upset my roommate as her friend was a rape victim. He also attacked us on our political and religious stances; he even managed to explain why Halloween was evil. But the worst thing he said, to me, was that if a student ever was violently ill, he'd not take them to the hospital by his car, because of this incident.
It was at that point I snapped out of this nightmare and realized he was insecurity dumping. At that point, I got my roommate out of there and we excused ourselves for bed.
Would I have done it again? You bet. I was concerned about his health, and the fact that he had recently had a heart attack has me even more concerned. I was taught that as far as severe health problems go, waiting is the worst idea. I don't really care what happens to me from this point, he said something about legal charges and I'm not entirely sure where his case would be...I think what I'll do is just continue to have fun at my college and be apologetic every time I see him. It was just unbelievably bizarre.
So if you have any thoughts please feel free to do so. If you're of the opposite opinion, feel free to state so. I just sat through an interrogation process that could rival FBI and Al Queda for peep's sake.

Jozrael

Props on making the right decision.

Next time cut him off sooner.

I dunno why you sat through that shit for three hours.

Hooner

Honest to God, he would not let us leave! I tried to get my roommate out of there so many times, but he said "she's not in control of you, you do what you want (roommate's name)" But when she tried to leave he said "You can't leave, sit down". I decided that being scapegoat was best, and got him to focus his anger on me. I figured that talking through this was crazy as there was no real conclusion in sight. He wouldn't let me leave as I put myself in the position of offender. Me and roomy were paralyzed...we were sincerely scared of his behavior and weren't ever clear about what he was thinking. It made it harder to leave. But when he started calling my face terrible I knew this was turning into bullshit so I used that as leverage to leave with roomy, as his previous remark about not taking sick kids to the hospital had disgusted me.

inBOIL

What Joz said.

It sounds like he holds some position of authority over you. If so, his actions were inappropriate and you should report him; he'll be directed to mental health services if he needs them, otherwise he'll be disciplined. And if he turns out to be of sound mind, it's probably best to leave him alone shoud something like this happen again.

__________________
And you believe Bush and the liberals and divorced parents and gays and blacks and the Christian right and fossil fuels and Xbox are all to blame, meanwhile you yourselves create an ad where your kid hits you in the head with a baseball and you don't understand the message that the problem is you.

Hyacinthe

As a health worker who regularly deals with heart attacks you did the right thing! I'll repeat that - YOU DID THE RIGHT THING

He was displaying all the classic signs of a heart attack. If I had been in your situation I would have also called the ambulance as soon as he was non-responsive.

The jerk should be happy that you actually cared if he lived or died.

In your current situation I would be going over his head and reporting him - especially considering that he made comments on your political and religious views as well as on your physical appearance. If he ever speaks to you about ti again just say something simple - along the lines of "Ok next time I think you're dying I'll just leave you to it"

__________________
"I want to be remembered as the girl who always smiles even when her heart is broken... and the one that could brighten up your day even if she couldnt brighten her own"

"Her emotions were clear waters. You could see the scarring and pockmarks at the bottom of the pool, but it was just a part of her landscape – the consequences of others’ actions in which she claimed no part."

lotsofmagnets

agree with hyacinthe except i think you should have reacted earlier as it seems you really waited til the last minute even seeing several symptoms. i suspect he may have had a heart attack or a mild stroke and his brain wasn´t in the best shape hence his weird response to you. i suspect in a fit state he may be a different person. but yes, you did do the right thing...eventually.

__________________
mother nature made the aeroplane, and the submarine sandwich, with the steady hands and dead eye of a remarkable sculptor.
she shed her mountain turning training wheels, for the convenience of the moving sidewalk, that delivers the magnetic monkey children through the mouth of impossible calendar clock, into the devil's manhole cauldron.
physics of a bicycle, isn't it remarkable?

Hooner

I think that not thinking it through earlier was my honest mistake. I either wanted to believe he was alright, or that I wasn't in a position to judge when someone was having a heart attack. It wasn't until I reflected on past heart attacks and realized the symptoms were the same and decided that it'd be better to take full blame for waiting but still get him medical attention. And although I would want to say "next time I won't call an ambulance" to him, it's really not true and I'd stick to what I had said earlier, "I would have gone through this all over again". I don't know how the law works where I am, as I am currently in Japan. He is THE highest position at our satellite Japanese language school. There is no one to go over his head to report about this incident.

jewels

I wouldn't bother reporting him. He's got what I might see as a false sense of pride, but it could be cultural. He's been taught to be strong and he has to take what he gets, perhaps?

You did the right thing. Do it again if it happens. Just be prepared to hear some shit, but nothing says you have to listen to it.

__________________
We are always more anxious to be distinguished for a talent which we do not possess, than to be praised for the fifteen which we do possess.
Mark Twain

little_tippler

I think that guy owes you a major apology. You did the right thing. Next time, let the asshole die.

__________________
Whether we write or speak or do but look
We are ever unapparent. What we are
Cannot be transfused into word or book.
Our soul from us is infinitely far.
However much we give our thoughts the will
To be our soul and gesture it abroad,
Our hearts are incommunicable still.
In what we show ourselves we are ignored.
The abyss from soul to soul cannot be bridged
By any skill of thought or trick of seeming.
Unto our very selves we are abridged
When we would utter to our thought our being.
We are our dreams of ourselves, souls by gleams,
And each to each other dreams of others' dreams.

Fernando Pessoa, 1918

ngdawg

His rant may be related to the previous stroke. Strokes are brain injuring attacks and can really screw a person's mental health. It may even be possible that he'd have no recollection of going off on you.
Let it be. You did the right thing.

dksuddeth

First off, you absolutely did the right thing by calling the ambulance.

Secondly, the ones in here taking the bad road and saying to just let him die next time need to back off and think before saying such stupid and selfish shit.

Having married and lived with someone who has had serious health issues the entire time we've been together, I understand a bit of whats going on, at least more than the hardass types in this topic.

Your friend, having had a stroke, could indeed by having mental process issues through no fault of his own. He could also be having serious emotional security issues. By the sounds of it, he is youngish and probably is very insecure about his health and his life at this point which could prompt him to be totally illogical and irrational about how to deal with further life threatening health issues.

You have two ways of dealing with your friends current state and that's either to follow the advice of those who say to leave him alone and let him die next time, or you can support him emotionally by letting him vent a bit, then letting him understand that you'll do what's necessary to keep him alive. After that, it's his choice to make.

__________________
"no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything. You cannot conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him."

skizziks

You were completely correct in everything you did. When he started berating you, you should have stood up, said "sorry" and just walked out, no matter how much he said "you cant leave." yes, you can. dont take the berating personally though, just let it go. sounds like you saved a life, which makes you a hero.

Hooner

Update: It turns out that he did have a minor stroke of some sort, and doesn't even remember berating us that night. That aside, he apologized and thanked us for our concern and now he's going to get checked out. As far as I'm concerned this event is over, and have already put it past me.
-----Added 28/10/2008 at 04 : 47 : 15-----
P.S: thank you for sharing your thoughts - it really helped me see how others viewed this situation.

clavus

Last time I got a concussion, I was a total ass when I regained consciousness. I was angry and insecure. I denied being knocked out, even though I knew I was.

Now my wife and I have an agreement. If she says I have a concussion, I am to shut up and do what she says.

My point? This happens to people when they get brain trauma.

__________________
Ass, gas or grass. Nobody rides for free.

3GPositive

Hooner - you definitly did the right thing there. What was he doing out and about on the Friday if he'd had a heart attack on the Tuesday? Sounds like he was in denial or something. Hopefuly he will get it sorted but do make sure he isn't driving the school bus anywhere.

genuinegirly

Glad to hear that he apologized for his actions, and that he sought the help he required.

__________________
"Sometimes I have to remember that things are brought to me for a reason, either for my own lessons or for the benefit of others." Cynthetiq

"violence is no more or less real than non-violence." roachboy

Poppinjay

I have a similar agreement with my wife, except for the concussion part.

__________________
I think the Apocalypse is happening all around us. We go on eating desserts and watching TV. I know I do. I wish we were more capable of sustained passion and sustained resistance. We should be screaming and what we do is gossip. -Lydia Millet