As a former medical first responder, I strongly disagree with this article. The dispatcher should share every single piece of info they get and I’ll decide what matters after I’m on scene and gather my own additional info. It also helps me know what to expect before arrival.

I was almost killed because a 9-1-1 operator made a couple of wrong choices like this. First, he relayed to us that the call went out as a reported broken ankle. What he did not include, is that it occurred as a result of a fight between two men at the house.

Immediately upon entering the home, I called for police on scene with an emergency response code. The dispatcher decided it probably wasn’t warranted and refused to dispatch until he quizzed me about why I thought I needed backup. What he didn’t know, and I couldn’t say, is that I was looking down the barrel of a shotgun and the guy was listening to him on the radio. I was too far in to back out of the house.

I was waiting for the gunshot for a tense 2-3 minutes while repeating the code over and over to the dispatcher, with the shotgun holder guy staring me in the eye. It was horrible.

The dispatcher was reamed over this by his commander and felt horrible afterward, but his regret wouldn’t have saved me if that guy had pulled the trigger.

Always enter everything the caller says. Please. Had I known there was a physical fight causing the injury, I would have had a heads up.