Diabetic Man Missing After Being Kicked Off Train

[Lucifer]

I do appreciate Alan, your explanation of the chain of command on board that is involved in contacting local authorities, but these actions appropriate or not, are based on the assessment of the conductor, and from my experience I'm suggesting a lack of ability of overworked conductors to make such drastic judgement calls.

 

[Lucifer]

It is way past time to put a lock on this, if not simply delete a lot of it outright and then lock the rest.
My father lived with diabetes for nearly 20 years with no real complaints other than some disscussion with those involved of the matter of fact necessities of dealing with it. I also had another relative by marriage that lived with it for quite a number of years, again without making big issues of things. I have also heard others carry on like their world had ended. News flash! We were not promised a trouble free existance. Life has problems. Deal with it.

I do not believe that anybody's disease is supposed to give them a free pass for either stupid and irrational behavior or whiney mouthing off about how pathetic they are and that the world should change its point of rotation so that it revolves around them. There are probably a lot of people out there traveling and trying to avoid being an imposition to others that are in much worse condition than the main complainer here.

I could say more, but I am trying to remain minimally polite here.

And minimally polite you've been indeed!

Your personal awarenes of two isolated cases of diabetics and their handling of this life threatening condition gives you authority enough to judge? My mother is diabetic and not able to easily handle her blood sugars and after working for 11 years as an ICU nurse where at any given moment approximately 1/3 to 1/2 of the patients have some degree of diabetes with complications like coronary artery disease, peripheral vascular disease that frequently leads to amputation, blindness, kidney disease, and stroke, I am quite familiar with the extreme range of different diabetics' bodies being able to tolerate or not tolerate varying levels of blood sugar. For some their sugars are easily managed with little to no variance, others can tolerate incredibly high or low blood sugars with no obvious distress, while others are not so lucky and slide into a coma with the same blood sugar level that other diabetics don't even call out sick from work over. Some diabetics are extremely sensitive to insulin treatment and oral medications and the same dose that barely effects one patient will sometimes kill another and for others their reactions are never the same twice.

I'm surviving reasonably well with AIDS that I contracted in 1979 when I was 17 years old before it was even identified, am quite self sufficient and not an imposition on anyone and am familiar with issues surrounding survival of a long term managable illness. Your post reminds me that prejudice, judgemental attitudes, and misinformation are ugly, unnecessary hurtles people like me and Mr Sims face. I don't ask for special treatment until it's absolutely warranted but I'll be damned if I'll be targeted to suffer uncalled for consequences BECAUSE of my diagnosis. Being thrown off a train for being accused of harassment for venturing away from a seat I was assigned to that forced me to walk past aggressive passengers who verbally insisted on trying to engage me in argument and eventually threatened me physically for ignoring their jabs, is alot harder on my body than the average person's. This hardship must be considered especially when I'm aware of other options that weren't even considered, and when there was plenty of support for my overall unoffensive demeanor from other passengers and even other Amtrak staff who'd travelled from Chicago with me that the new conductors refused to even hear! Although I tried, I wasn't even permitted to defend myself or express my legitimate fear after being threatened to be thrown down the stairs by a passenger who'd self appointed himself to dictate my seating, patrol my confinement to it, and threaten physical punishment on me if I were to leave it despite the conductor's reluctant brief agreement to allow me freedom to move about the train.

If Mr Sims was subjected to anything close to this I can understand how he panicked and was given no way to avoid trouble once the ball was rolling so I feel for the guy and know all too well how impossible it can be to even be given a fair shake with a conductor throwing around inflammatory accusations of drunkeness, harassment, & stench that a train full of strangers have only limited reason not to believe.

 

[caravanman]

I am often astonished at how much milage there is in some of these topics! Have any further hard facts come to light about the fate or condition of the athletic senior citizen who out ran "Chief Wiggum" ?

Ed B)

 

[George Harris]

We were not promised a trouble free existance. Life has problems. Deal with it.
I do not believe that anybody's disease is supposed to give them a free pass for either stupid and irrational behavior or whiney mouthing off about how pathetic they are and that the world should change its point of rotation so that it revolves around them.

And minimally polite you've been indeed!

Your personal awarenes of two isolated cases of diabetics and their handling of this life threatening condition gives you authority enough to judge?

Two examples of many, just for illustration purposes. So far as I am concerned, this conversation has ended.

GH

 

[Lucifer]

We were not promised a trouble free existance. Life has problems. Deal with it.
I do not believe that anybody's disease is supposed to give them a free pass for either stupid and irrational behavior or whiney mouthing off about how pathetic they are and that the world should change its point of rotation so that it revolves around them.

And minimally polite you've been indeed!

Your personal awarenes of two isolated cases of diabetics and their handling of this life threatening condition gives you authority enough to judge?

Two examples of many, just for illustration purposes. So far as I am concerned, this conversation has ended.

GH

And minimally polite you remain.

 

[had8ley]

I guess this deserves a new topic: article from local news
This article still seems to imply that Amtrak let the person off in the middle of the forest.......

I guess they would have preferred Beaumont, TX...???

 

[had8ley]

And even if it was drunkeness that caused Mr Sims disorientation, he was disoriented none the less, and for whatever the reason should not have been "almost" handed over from one authority with first aid training to the police, generally even less educated medically, at a desolate stop in the forest.

So then what's the answer? Keep the man on board for another 7 hours until the train reaches Victorville CA. (the next major stop that's not out in the forest) at 4:00 AM? All the while trying to guard him and keep him from jumping off the train if he is disorientated. Or falling down the stairs and breaking his leg. Or worse, becoming violent and hurting another passenger. The conductors can't devote that kind of time to one person for any reason.

And if he was having sugar problems, waiting until Victorville would delay getting him treatment for 7 hours.

Alan;

I had stayed out of this one as it was a no brainer no win situation. You hit the nail on the head with your reply. My only question about this whole affair is; why do these people unfold AFTER boarding. I've seen many drunks and psychos in my years on board but they seldom exhibit crazy behavior before boarding. My point being that perhaps Amtrak could weed out some of the people they wind up booting off before they get on. I realize the drunks usually don't start their tirade until they've had a few in the lounge car but some of the behavior by the general traveling public is outright crazy. Unfortunately, Amtrak does not hold the exclusive rights to obnoxious passengers. Just ask the airlines...