Kingston resident David Murphy is grateful the paramedics who attended to him a few weeks ago didn’t listen to him.
If they had, he wouldn’t have had the chance to personally say thank you — for saving his life.
Scott Snider and his partner Eric Lepp were the paramedics who took the call that led them to Murphy’s home last October.
It was Murphy’s wife’s birthday and he was experiencing discomfort.
He didn’t think much of it, figuring he had just pulled a muscle. Then it got worse.
“I stood there and leaned on the counter and it was really hurting bad,” Murphy recalls.
Despite his protests, Murphy’s daughter and son-in-law called 911.
“I told my son-in-law, ‘Don’t call them, because it’s just a muscle,'” Murphy said.
Even after the two paramedics arrived and told Murphy he was having a heart attack, he still resisted.
“I was still stubborn — still wouldn’t listen to them,” he admits.
Snider says patients resisting paramedics’ assistance happens more often than most would think.
“That’s one of those things we run into a lot,” he said. “I think we’re all built that way — it’s hard to accept that something is wrong with you.”
Despite Murphy’s insistence he was fine, it didn’t take Snider and Lepp long to determine he had all the classic signs of a heart attack.
Snider says Murphy’s denial of having a serious health issue is actually one of the symptoms they look for in heart attack patients.
“That’s kind of one of those hallmark signs… in addition to everything else,” Snider said.
The paramedics note that nausea, heartburn, sweating, shortness of breath, and pain in your chest and arms are all common signs of heart attacks, and anyone experiencing such symptoms should seek immediate medical attention.