On December 28, 2018, a young man was exiting his vehicle when he was attacked by an unknown assailant. The young man didn’t realize it, but he had been stabbed in the left bicep. When onlookers noticed the bleeding a bystander called 911. The first to arrive was Denton police officer Logan Miller. Acting quickly, the officer placed a tourniquet on the victim’s left upper arm, stopping the bleeding. Soon, an ambulance arrived and transported the patient to Medical City Denton. It was discovered that the knife had pierced an artery and required prompt surgical repair.
Uncontrolled bleeding is one of the leading causes of preventable death after injury. A person can hemorrhage to death within 3 to 5 minutes after a major arterial injury. There is an increased movement to teach bystanders as well as first responders how stop traumatic bleeding until medical help is available. The officer’s prompt response helped increase the patient’s chance of survival while helping to shorten the patient’s length of stay in the hospital.