On Doing The Right Thing

Dwelling on the past robs the present;

ignoring the past robs the future!

For most people: if you can't help, or don't want to risk your life for strangers, just call 911.

I've called 911 before, and I've fallen off a cliff in the ocean.  On Memorial Day's rescue mission I just did what had to be done.  Calling 911 was not registering as a solution at that moment.  They don't just send you a helicopter. It's also too easy to get spooked and fall off of a precipitous rock.  We had to ensure Michael was at least at a stable spot.   It was getting windier, and it was great we could have him secured on a rope.  Then maybe he could wait long enough, even tired and gripped by fear.  And sure my current disability insurance expressly excludes rock climbing; so be it!  Every act was through the prism of my personal experience, training, and ethical model.  There was no time for any of the following to consciously cross my mind. 

Tunitas Creek on my fantastic 1000km tour to Mexico, Christmas 2011

All three stories below are illustrated by this picture.
1) The cliff where I fell in the ocean in a rock fall in 2010
(the tall vertical face right above my rear tire, top rising to the horizon)
2) The bike trailer and lights that attracted the robbery I called 911 for
3) The beautiful bike frame that snapped in two that I just walked off

Legal issues

For the benefit of my non-American readers who don't understand the US legal system.

Anything you do to help puts you at risk of being sued.  Especially if someone doesn't die, but gets disabled.  And being disabled in the US is pretty expensive, so is disability insurance.

Here in Massachusetts the law requires you at least to call 911 and not walk away.  Even if the victim dies afterwards, you're legally not at fault.   In California one has no legal obligation to help, not even to call 911...  Whether you can sleep at night for not doing more is up to you.  In the current legal framework it's best if you get victims out unscratched, or leave them with no emotional damage - e.g. dead.

You always take responsibility - ethical, legal, and financial, both for your actions and inaction, whether someone dies or lives. Ethically you'd want to help if you can do better than the victim, but legally you can only help if you are officially trained.  I have only basic training in wilderness first aid.  Good Samaritan Laws allow me to legally provide help only to someone in medical emergency.  If conscious, he'd have to consent to my help after I state my level of training, i.e. I am not a doctor.  

Although last week Michael did ask for help, it could also be interpreted to call help, not to provide help.

Calling 911

Yes, I should have asked someone to call 911 to back us up.  Yet I don't know how more effective emergency response would have been; I couldn't call myself; and it takes time to persuade for help.

In our case, coaching Michael how to stay safely on the rock, and guiding him to a better spot, might have been enough till official help arrived.  We should have had them at least on standby.  If they were necessary they'd be too late.  It was a pretty windy day: my kiteboarding friends had a blast that afternoon.  I don't even know if helicopter rescuers would have been safe with their ropes flying all over.  Land or sea rescue may have been an option, and I didn't know whether his cove was connected.  Our beach is only reachable by a foot trail.

Yet at first I didn't see it as an emergency.  With the impression that he somehow climbed from our beach, it couldn't have been that hard to get back.  I believed I can reach his spot, so he should have been able to get out as well.  And I am not much of a climber, he ought to be better than me if he decided to climb that high, right…

Second, I'd needed to send someone else to explain where and what was happening.
Until I saw Eric on his phone I assumed there wasn't coverage here.   My cellphone didn't have coverage at the previous beach, so it was in my car half a mile hike away.  Its battery went dead as usual, so I didn't even know which beach I am at :)

And, third, we may have failed to show imminent danger to put our tax dollars to work to send a response team.

911 call Christmas Eve 

The only time I've called 911 was on my way back from a 1000km bike tour to Mexico.  On that call I was calmly explaining I was afraid I was getting bike/carjacked by a teenage gang, possibly with guns.   It took me longer to convince the girl on the other side to send the cops for cover, than took the two cruisers to report.  She was right - there was no emergency - I wasn't shot or robbed … yet.  

I had ridden late at night and just reunited with my car after a week of biking.  My helmet, bike and trailer were all flashing like a Christmas tree, and we had grabbed much attention that late Christmas Eve.  A car had followed me and dropped a kid in a hoodie and passed behind me.  The kid wasn't engaging in small talk and eye contact.  After he tried to open my car door, I asked in a commanding voice (the one for hollering at dogs) what is he trying to do.  He retorted "You don't understand, do you?" with hands sticking in his pockets.  

That had me put 911 on speakerphone in seconds on my backup cellphone.  My primary iPhone had been stolen that morning, so I had the spare within reach.  That theft and the the ride to Tijuana had helped jolt me back to reality after a blissful week biking thru California countryside.  Maybe I was too edgy?  The brawny officer who reported to the scene said that in that part of Ventura, he would have called the cops too...  

I really should avoid travel on holidays - I always get in trouble ;)

Rock Fall

Back to this Memorial Day - Michael wasn't showing that raw fear I saw later.  If I went over to 'give him a hand' things could have turned pretty disastrous.   Once fear and panic set in he'd clutch on me sending us both down.  I know how easily the rocks of California beaches crumble by slightest movements. 

It's happened to me too - once I got so jittery by a rock fall that I fell in the ocean.  

It was on one of many occasions of me doing stupid stuff.  A couple of years ago at Tunitas Creek Beach, my intense curiosity led me to "just see the next cove around the cliff".  At least I had someone keeping an eye on me.  I saw rock piles on the ground, so I tiptoed cautiously(?!) watching for rock fall.  I heard rocks crumbling high up that started falling on my earlier path.  I instinctively looked up and leaned into the rock.  That took my weight off my feet so I slid off the ledge.  

Good I regained my usual calm in the cold 55F (12C) water.  I was back with a few strong strokes before the current took me too far out.  And I pulled myself up before the next wave splattered my stupid brains on the rocks.  I only had to pay a fine for my water damaged Bulgarian driver license.  Though I told my parents the partial truth about my wallet getting wet at a beach ;)

Obviously I get dumb bumming at a beach.  Good I usually just cross it to get in the water - regularly swimming a mile out, kiteboarding on windy days, surfing on rainy ones, or freediving even when there is hail.  Which takes us to the final consideration.

Disability Insurance

So, what about my own safety, trying to rescue someone on unstable cliffs?
I have a will, so I only worry about getting disabled.   Hopefully I am just wasting my money on disability insurance.   I'd rather never get any return on this investment.  Yet, my current insurance has a lot of exceptions, e.g. rock climbing accidents are not covered.   I almost got through the phone pre-screen when I applied for the insurance (while telling the truth the whole time).

"Do you do any scuba diving?"  No.  (Scuba is too dangerous, I used to be certified.  The only diving I do now is freediving.  It's much safer anyways - no gear fear, just sound body and mind needed.   I can hold my breath for 6 minutes.  But requires a buddy, just in case you blackout...  )

"Do you do any mountaineering?"  No.  Well, I've hiked three 4000+ m peaks but nothing technical.    I simply ran barefoot on the summit of Mt Whitney (4421m) and solo hiked 69km to Mauna Loa (4169m).
"Climbing mountains?  Rock climbing you said, with ropes and stuff?"  Oh, no - I really don't trust my life on gear.  I always need multiple backups.  I am an engineer.

(If my insurance agent is reading this,  I was technically just doing scrambling on Monday…  That's not rock climbing, you see…  I wasn't even secured by a rope. )

"Do you do any motorcycling racing?"  No.  Just cycling.  Everyone rides a bike, right?  (Sure, I do some cycling events, but I am not racing - I am happy to finish - as an average Ironman.  You can't go fast after riding all day.  Really, I never go more than 45mph on the downhills.  If I pass cars on long steep downhills it's because it is safer than overheating my brakes...   And I've only had two bikes fall apart in my hands - I just walked off unscratched in a crash.  While motorcycles fall on top and crush you, bicycles are definitely safer. )

"Do you do any martial arts?"  Uh.  Yes.  It's hard to explain they got me for my safest and sanest recreation.  We mostly work on technique, while contact with a partner is always controlled and stylized.  The attacker announces his attack for a block to be ready.  He must always be able to stop before impact.  We rarely get anyone injured. 

"Is there fighting?"  No - it's a very boring style of karate.  (The few staged fights tried against cajoled masters comprised of just one block instantly accompanied by a deadly punch slowed down to a mere knockout.  Who'd want to watch such quick fights?)

Anyways, I failed the last question, so I had to fill a detailed exclusion form.  I admitted to all above avocations.  Even though they weren't asking :)  

It was best to ensure my application will hold up if I ever have to file a claim.   The more pedestrian injuries and illnesses are statistically much more probable.  Sport accidents are just a minor source of disabilities, even if we double the expected risks, due to my impaired self-preservation and magnetism for trouble.   

I hope my readers would still feel safe going on trips with me ;)

Now the insurance exclusion doesn't mean I'd not do what needs to be done, or stop doing what I love.  It just means I have to commit to be fully responsible for my own safety.  

Overall I think up to getting Michael tied on the rope he couldn't have had better luck.  I have to ponder more about the rest of that day.  Could we or others have extricated him unscratched?