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Memoirs of a Life Saving Mortician
Paramedics save lives. Morticians bury their mistakes.
A twenty-three-year veteran of emergency medical services, paramedic Matthew Sias took a detour in his career to pursue the death care business and found a complementarity between two seemingly divergent careers.
Silent Siren: Memoirs of a Life Saving Mortician, is the record of some of the more memorable calls he has responded to through the years.
Often intense, at times gruesome, and frequently humorous, this memoir takes you from the back seat of the medic unit racing to the hospital with a trauma patient, to the brightly lit embalming room of a funeral home, and everywhere in between. Having the ability to calmly assist a person in crisis is, perhaps, one of life’s most awesome privileges.
A twenty-three-year veteran of emergency medical services, paramedic Matthew Sias took a detour in his career to pursue the death care business and found a complementarity between two seemingly divergent careers.
Silent Siren: Memoirs of a Life Saving Mortician, is the record of some of the more memorable calls he has responded to through the years.
Often intense, at times gruesome, and frequently humorous, this memoir takes you from the back seat of the medic unit racing to the hospital with a trauma patient, to the brightly lit embalming room of a funeral home, and everywhere in between. Having the ability to calmly assist a person in crisis is, perhaps, one of life’s most awesome privileges.
340 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 2, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 102 reviews
June 25, 2020
Finished and rated 4 star, same as the author's other book, The Removalists. I've read quite a few books about the death industry. Most of them are about the business, impart facts generally with humour and memoirs. This one too, but has more than it's share of interesting aspects to share. Where this author really scores is his lack of pretension - he hasn't always done elevated jobs and doesn't refer them to them as less than his better ones - and his writing, he's very readable, very enjoyable. I look forward to another book, if he's got any more revelations or angles he hasn't covered yet.
____________________
In films when a man shoots himself in the head, he is found lying intact on the ground with blood oozing from the bullet hole. That really is poetic licence. This is what the body of a man who did that looked like:
Above the lower jaw, his skull is obliterated. Flaps of his scalp are splayed apart like bloody wings surrounded by chunks of skull and beige brain matter. Apart from his lower jaw, the only part of his face that remains is a single eyeball, still attached to its optic nerve and lolling from a mass of unidentifiable meat....High-velocity blood spatter mixed with tiny particles of gelatinous brain matter dot the ceiling... semi-coagulated blood drips slowly from a bare light bulb. And
...large chunks of tissue and skull from behind mattresses, in corners, and on top of furniture. It’s like some macabre game of hide and seek in which you are never pleased to find what you are looking for. Like clumps of washed-up jellyfish, brain matter jiggles in and threatens to strain through my latex-clad fingers. ...Behind a mattress I find the man’s disembodied nose, mustache, and upper lip.
Sadly I think that people committing suicide by shooting themselves in the head think it will be like the movies, fast, painless and just a body for the people left behind to clean up. I think that some of them at least would not subject their families to the kind of horror-movie scene like that if they knew that was the result.
____________________
In films when a man shoots himself in the head, he is found lying intact on the ground with blood oozing from the bullet hole. That really is poetic licence. This is what the body of a man who did that looked like:
Above the lower jaw, his skull is obliterated. Flaps of his scalp are splayed apart like bloody wings surrounded by chunks of skull and beige brain matter. Apart from his lower jaw, the only part of his face that remains is a single eyeball, still attached to its optic nerve and lolling from a mass of unidentifiable meat....High-velocity blood spatter mixed with tiny particles of gelatinous brain matter dot the ceiling... semi-coagulated blood drips slowly from a bare light bulb. And
...large chunks of tissue and skull from behind mattresses, in corners, and on top of furniture. It’s like some macabre game of hide and seek in which you are never pleased to find what you are looking for. Like clumps of washed-up jellyfish, brain matter jiggles in and threatens to strain through my latex-clad fingers. ...Behind a mattress I find the man’s disembodied nose, mustache, and upper lip.
Sadly I think that people committing suicide by shooting themselves in the head think it will be like the movies, fast, painless and just a body for the people left behind to clean up. I think that some of them at least would not subject their families to the kind of horror-movie scene like that if they knew that was the result.
January 16, 2020
I love those TV shows like Nightwatch that follow real-life medics, cops, and firefighters, so I did enjoy the way the author described different rescue scenarios--Sias spent most of his career as a paramedic.
There were a few things that made this memoir a little weaker than it needed to be. It reads like connected tales of a guy who bounces around jobs, becoming a mortician when one gig as a paramedic didn’t work out. Because there isn’t really a narrative structure—it’s written like here’s a story about a rescue and here’s another story about a rescue—without having the character arc or a specific direction that most books have. When he’s working as a mortician, he’ll describe in detail how to go about embalming someone, which is interesting, but it’s just another chapter among a bunch of random incidents compiled together. Another problem was that he uses clichés too often and, worse, often calls them out by using quotation marks around the cliché.
There were a few things that made this memoir a little weaker than it needed to be. It reads like connected tales of a guy who bounces around jobs, becoming a mortician when one gig as a paramedic didn’t work out. Because there isn’t really a narrative structure—it’s written like here’s a story about a rescue and here’s another story about a rescue—without having the character arc or a specific direction that most books have. When he’s working as a mortician, he’ll describe in detail how to go about embalming someone, which is interesting, but it’s just another chapter among a bunch of random incidents compiled together. Another problem was that he uses clichés too often and, worse, often calls them out by using quotation marks around the cliché.
September 6, 2019
Disgracefully judgmental, short tales
The author makes a point of talking about his level of compassion and kindness to patients and families. This is a great sentiment, but entirely contradicted by passages like this:
"A poorly maintained dirt driveway leads to a double-wide mobile home. A car parked outside is emblazoned with “In Loving Memory of Brandy Jackson” or some such name on its back window. I try not to be prejudiced, but such a decal is a dead giveaway to one’s social class. It tends to go along with mullet haircuts, wife-beater T-shirts, and “Singing Bass” plaques."
Yeah, you're prejudiced. Obese people factor heavily into the stories, with unkind things to say about every one of them, from one woman's watermelon shaped breasts to calling another a waste.
While I understand the dark humor needed to succeed at both jobs, the writing style is highly disrespectful of most patients, while extolling his own virtues. For someone relatively young, the writing feels like someone much older talking about how things were done back in the old days. It's an unsettling mix.
The stories themselves are brief chapters with often inconclusive endings - fair enough, considering that's as much of the story as the paramedic gets before they're off to their next call. There's a repetition after a while: heart attack, obese person, car accident, poor person, mix and match as needed.
I don't feel the need to read the second book in the series.
The author makes a point of talking about his level of compassion and kindness to patients and families. This is a great sentiment, but entirely contradicted by passages like this:
"A poorly maintained dirt driveway leads to a double-wide mobile home. A car parked outside is emblazoned with “In Loving Memory of Brandy Jackson” or some such name on its back window. I try not to be prejudiced, but such a decal is a dead giveaway to one’s social class. It tends to go along with mullet haircuts, wife-beater T-shirts, and “Singing Bass” plaques."
Yeah, you're prejudiced. Obese people factor heavily into the stories, with unkind things to say about every one of them, from one woman's watermelon shaped breasts to calling another a waste.
While I understand the dark humor needed to succeed at both jobs, the writing style is highly disrespectful of most patients, while extolling his own virtues. For someone relatively young, the writing feels like someone much older talking about how things were done back in the old days. It's an unsettling mix.
The stories themselves are brief chapters with often inconclusive endings - fair enough, considering that's as much of the story as the paramedic gets before they're off to their next call. There's a repetition after a while: heart attack, obese person, car accident, poor person, mix and match as needed.
I don't feel the need to read the second book in the series.
July 28, 2023
While I love these types of books, the way he speaks about obese people is sickening. To say they are “a waste of breath”, called one woman a walrus, and just goes on and on about how huge they are, is disgusting and unneeded. Being a nurse myself, I know how hard it can be dealing with larger people. Having been a very over weight person at one time myself, I can tell you it’s not due to laziness. It is often due to mental health problems, health issues, pain, etc. This author sickens me with how rudely he spoke of obese people. He talks of God a couple of times. This is exactly why I don’t believe in religion. Because of arrogant, judgmental idiots like this.
September 9, 2023
This author clearly has a huge issue with people who are overweight, and once you notice it then it’s all you notice. Barely a few pages pass by without mention of ‘a man and his obese wife’ (who has no relevance to the anecdote), or ‘300lb humanity’ or someone who is ‘gelatinous’ etc etc etc. In fairness, sometimes the patient’s weight has a bearing on the story, but the terms used to describe them are deeply disrespectful. The thought that a family member could be written about like that by someone who is meant to be caring for them is mortifying and I sincerely hope enough details were changed so that nobody recognises their loved ones here. The author is at pains to point out how he runs, keeps fit, eats, states his weight at every opportunity.
This contrasts jarringly with books such as ‘Sorry for your loss: What working with the dead taught me about life’ by Kate Marshall, who is deeply respectful and compassionate about all ‘clients’, regardless of any characteristic.
There are also occasional racist overtones in parts, or a derogatory attitude to other cultures.
Some of the tales are quite interesting so I cannot give 0 stars, but it certainly made me glad I don’t live in America so myself and my family and friends are in no danger of ever being treated by this individual.
This contrasts jarringly with books such as ‘Sorry for your loss: What working with the dead taught me about life’ by Kate Marshall, who is deeply respectful and compassionate about all ‘clients’, regardless of any characteristic.
There are also occasional racist overtones in parts, or a derogatory attitude to other cultures.
Some of the tales are quite interesting so I cannot give 0 stars, but it certainly made me glad I don’t live in America so myself and my family and friends are in no danger of ever being treated by this individual.
February 2, 2023
I thought about giving up on this book several times, but thought I'd give it the benefit of the doubt, wish I hadn't...
It's written just a series of anecdotes, that don't really connect or flow, and with no overarching story. The thing that really spoilt it for me though is that the author just isn't a very nice person. He reminded me of someone you'd see in the comments section of a tabloid newspaper on social media. He has opinions on everything from fat people (he really really doesn't like fat people), to those with additional needs, the poor to nursing home workers, to ethnic minorities and the elderly. He maintains such an air of self righteousness throughout
If I ever needed a paramedic, I'd sincerely hope that he wasn't the one who attended.
It's written just a series of anecdotes, that don't really connect or flow, and with no overarching story. The thing that really spoilt it for me though is that the author just isn't a very nice person. He reminded me of someone you'd see in the comments section of a tabloid newspaper on social media. He has opinions on everything from fat people (he really really doesn't like fat people), to those with additional needs, the poor to nursing home workers, to ethnic minorities and the elderly. He maintains such an air of self righteousness throughout
If I ever needed a paramedic, I'd sincerely hope that he wasn't the one who attended.
September 2, 2019
Okay read
It seems like the author has a dislike of overweight people. Every other story starts the same, the age and weight. Didn’t think it was quite necessary.
It seems like the author has a dislike of overweight people. Every other story starts the same, the age and weight. Didn’t think it was quite necessary.
September 4, 2019
Interesting to a point
The topic interested me and I thought I'd learn more about the trade. While the book started out okay, I found myself having to force myself to finish the book. The author's growing distaste and irritation for his patients saddened me.
The topic interested me and I thought I'd learn more about the trade. While the book started out okay, I found myself having to force myself to finish the book. The author's growing distaste and irritation for his patients saddened me.
November 16, 2012
It was an interesting read and I still enjoyed the book, but the emphasis on the body size of the people described throughout was not really necessary.
July 4, 2019
Review to follow...
September 17, 2019
The author has been an EMT, a fireman, a paramedic, and a mortician, so he has seen life and death from all sides. "In the years since I first picked up a stethoscope, and later, a casket key, I have come to regard my two seemingly divergent vocations not as contradictory in purpose but as instead all service to my fellow man, different expressions of the same desire to bear witness and provide comfort to those I have been called to serve.". His litany of experiences really makes you respect first responders. He notes that paramedicine is at least 50% social work. "I set my paperwork aside and strip the latex gloves off my sweaty hands. Taking one of her frail old hands in both of mine, we were no longer patient and medical practitioner. I was just one human being caring for another. It didn’t matter that I couldn’t recite her medications by rote; they would be on her chart at the hospital. All that mattered was that I cared and comforted her in her time of crisis. Sometimes the human touch is our most powerful medicine.".
May 31, 2019
Liberating
Wonderful to read the memoirs of actual circumstances and cases that together make up the existence of an ordinary man doing extraordinary work. Truely the world should always be proud and grateful that people dedicate themselves to being on hand. How often the world does not credit these people enough. They are more important than any leader. God bless each and every one of them.
Wonderful to read the memoirs of actual circumstances and cases that together make up the existence of an ordinary man doing extraordinary work. Truely the world should always be proud and grateful that people dedicate themselves to being on hand. How often the world does not credit these people enough. They are more important than any leader. God bless each and every one of them.
August 17, 2024
A paramedic has lots of fascinating experiences. So does a mortician. A guy who's served in both capacities is a treasure trove of stories - tragic, funny, and sometimes just plain odd. Sias is a down-to-earth, likable fellow with a smooth, easy-to-read style of writing. He never gets bogged down in the medical details, but instead concentrates on the human interest aspects of his stories. The result is a wonderfully readable book.
It's also very educational. I know that his accounts of removing badly decomposed bodies from homes and apartments reminded me that a retiree who lives alone needs to have some sort of daily check system in place.
I now e-mail my sister at the same time every day. If she doesn't hear from me and can't reach me by phone, she will contact a neighbor to check on me. It might save my life. At very least it will make things a bit more pleasant for the emergency workers who have to deal with my body and relieve my family of worrying that I had a long, painful death.
So I guess you could say that this book changed my life in a small way and I'm grateful to this fine gentleman for taking the time to write it.
It's also very educational. I know that his accounts of removing badly decomposed bodies from homes and apartments reminded me that a retiree who lives alone needs to have some sort of daily check system in place.
I now e-mail my sister at the same time every day. If she doesn't hear from me and can't reach me by phone, she will contact a neighbor to check on me. It might save my life. At very least it will make things a bit more pleasant for the emergency workers who have to deal with my body and relieve my family of worrying that I had a long, painful death.
So I guess you could say that this book changed my life in a small way and I'm grateful to this fine gentleman for taking the time to write it.
February 20, 2014
I was absolutely blown away by this novel! The author goes into great detail of his life as an emergency responder and then life as mortician. One would not think that the two occupations go hand in hand.. but, they DO! I love when I can learn new things about a profession that I thought I had a solid layman's perception of already. I truly did learn many, MANY procedures that I had never heard of before. The author does not dumb the book down.. something that also kept me turning page after page!
If you're doing research into either profession for whatever reasons.. I can tell you that I will be recommending this book to many others who want to learn more!
Superbly written! Kudo's to the author! I look forward to reading much more from this young man in the future!
If you're doing research into either profession for whatever reasons.. I can tell you that I will be recommending this book to many others who want to learn more!
Superbly written! Kudo's to the author! I look forward to reading much more from this young man in the future!
July 20, 2013
I'll preface by saying this wasn't full of mistakes which was impressive. However, there wasn't any real substance to any of the stories. It's written like a lot of stories in a book as opposed to a whole book in and of itself which was what I'd expected. So he tended to repeat himself by saying he was with a department voluntarily a few times.....I'm guessing because he maybe wrote them all at separate times. No people mentioned were really fleshed out as each chapter only merited less than half a dozen pages. I never read short stories so packed this in as that's how it reads to me, unfortunately.
April 5, 2021
Penpal Reading Challenge: Dewey Decimal Social Sciences
Heads up for: death, violent death, abuse, suicide, gore, fat shaming...
Weirdly unlikeable book. He really, really, really doesn't like fat women. It's not that I expected a cheerful book, but this is just a series of anecdotes - some racist, classist, and many fat-shaming - with very little reflection on the broader issues. He does express frustration with the American health care system, but if I'm gonna hang with all the maggot tales, I need something more.
Heads up for: death, violent death, abuse, suicide, gore, fat shaming...
Weirdly unlikeable book. He really, really, really doesn't like fat women. It's not that I expected a cheerful book, but this is just a series of anecdotes - some racist, classist, and many fat-shaming - with very little reflection on the broader issues. He does express frustration with the American health care system, but if I'm gonna hang with all the maggot tales, I need something more.
August 26, 2021
I don’t really know what to make of this book. A firefighter, ambulance technician, paramedic and mortician all rolled into one made for some interesting tales, but I was uncomfortable with his descriptions of mainly obese patients, one of whom he described as a waste of oxygen… yes, there was compassion, but that seemed to be reserved for middle-class people of average weight. I wondered why most of his patients seemed to sit on overstuffed couches, and longed for him to find a few more adjectives. I rated it 4 because it did hold my interest, but I won’t be reading the sequel.
December 11, 2023
Parts are very good, others…
There were some sections of this book that I really enjoyed. I also found it convenient to read on my phone whenever I had a spare moment as each chapter is a self-contained story.
But this author has a problem with women, especially overweight ones. The disdain he feels for his obese patients just drops off the page. I found it very off-putting. In some stories, he literally couldn’t refer to the patient without some derogatory description of her weight. It is pretty offensive.
There were some sections of this book that I really enjoyed. I also found it convenient to read on my phone whenever I had a spare moment as each chapter is a self-contained story.
But this author has a problem with women, especially overweight ones. The disdain he feels for his obese patients just drops off the page. I found it very off-putting. In some stories, he literally couldn’t refer to the patient without some derogatory description of her weight. It is pretty offensive.
January 5, 2017
"Compassionemia"
Thanks to author Matthew Sias I have a new word to add to my repertoire.
This is an engaging well-written book packed with stories about responding to calls as a firefighter, EMT, paramedic, and mortician.
Thank you to all first-responders for the work you do. I would faint on my first call.
Thanks to author Matthew Sias I have a new word to add to my repertoire.
This is an engaging well-written book packed with stories about responding to calls as a firefighter, EMT, paramedic, and mortician.
Thank you to all first-responders for the work you do. I would faint on my first call.
June 2, 2023
Disgusting attitude
The author regularly makes rude and judgemental remarks about his patients and deceased clients particularly about their weights, living situation and level of education.
He makes out that he is compassionate and humble, but comes across as judgemental and prejudiced. Not someone I would want attending my family living or dead.
The author regularly makes rude and judgemental remarks about his patients and deceased clients particularly about their weights, living situation and level of education.
He makes out that he is compassionate and humble, but comes across as judgemental and prejudiced. Not someone I would want attending my family living or dead.
April 23, 2019
Silent Siren
Throughly enjoyed reading this true account of an ems & mortery assistant. Could be a bit gory for some. It certainly gives you a different perspective on life. Thank you
Throughly enjoyed reading this true account of an ems & mortery assistant. Could be a bit gory for some. It certainly gives you a different perspective on life. Thank you
April 6, 2020
I really have no idea why I chose to read this and once reading it no idea why I carried on? Except perhaps morbid curiosity? It was like a diary written by someone who doesn’t really like what he does, frequently changed jobs and doesn’t like the people he ‘cared for’ either alive or dead?
December 1, 2012
Very interesting to learn of many of the aspects of being a first responder, then to go into being a mortician!
June 11, 2020
Dry
I was expecting more from this. There were a few funny entries, but overall it was dry and boring. Not enough interesting stories. I would not recommend.
I was expecting more from this. There were a few funny entries, but overall it was dry and boring. Not enough interesting stories. I would not recommend.
October 17, 2019
I was really looking forward to this book. The subject matter may be a bit dark and macabre for some, but there are some fascinating insights into life as not just a mortician, but as a paramedic and volunteer firefighter too. Throughout this book, we are given snippets of backstory from several situations that the author has attended during his career. These vary in factors of gore but usually have a darkly comic twist in the narrative (driving off with a 2 day old corpse playing 'Staying Alive' on the CD) etc...
This will not be for everyone. At times the author can come across as judgemental and unfeeling towards his site visits (assessing a trailer park or attending the overweight patients seem particularly prevalent for this). This is strange as other passages contrast sharply with this and the author seems genuinely caring and concerned, maybe misplaced humour coming across as insincere and flippant?
Some chapters also feel slightly incomplete. There will be a patient who has been taken to hospital with certain issues, stabilised and then no more is mentioned. This obviously can't be logged completely from start to finish, but certain cases seem to end abruptly, where a follow up as to the outcome would have been nice to know. There develops a feeling of repetition towards the end of the book, and certain procedures are explained in more depth later than earlier in the book, where this would have made more sense. The drugs administered and the effects of these do not need to be repeated so often either, sometimes there are back to back chapters on cardiac issues with the same procedures mentioned. The writer's narrative style suggests that he is older than he actually is (I was amazed when I read his real age), although this is just an observation rather than a criticism.
This aside, this IS an informative and fun glimpse into this profession and the steps it took to get there and is a worthy read for people with an interest in this subject.
3.5 stars.
This will not be for everyone. At times the author can come across as judgemental and unfeeling towards his site visits (assessing a trailer park or attending the overweight patients seem particularly prevalent for this). This is strange as other passages contrast sharply with this and the author seems genuinely caring and concerned, maybe misplaced humour coming across as insincere and flippant?
Some chapters also feel slightly incomplete. There will be a patient who has been taken to hospital with certain issues, stabilised and then no more is mentioned. This obviously can't be logged completely from start to finish, but certain cases seem to end abruptly, where a follow up as to the outcome would have been nice to know. There develops a feeling of repetition towards the end of the book, and certain procedures are explained in more depth later than earlier in the book, where this would have made more sense. The drugs administered and the effects of these do not need to be repeated so often either, sometimes there are back to back chapters on cardiac issues with the same procedures mentioned. The writer's narrative style suggests that he is older than he actually is (I was amazed when I read his real age), although this is just an observation rather than a criticism.
This aside, this IS an informative and fun glimpse into this profession and the steps it took to get there and is a worthy read for people with an interest in this subject.
3.5 stars.
April 2, 2021
Very, Very interesting book. Ok, let's admit it; even the most squeamish of us is curious as to what happens after we die. We see all the gruesome scenes on the news of the shootings, car and train wrecks, earthquakes, but afterwards; who knows.
This author brings it all to life. Just when you start thinking; "I don't think I want to know this", he'll throw in something amusing to lighten the mood. I'm already voting this guy is working in the funeral home when I go there.
I was going to give it only 4 stars because he had a horrible proof-reader. For example; the use of the word "wear" when he should have written "where". But if you can get by those errors; this is a really informative book to read; even if sad in spots. At least you know this paramedic and funeral home employee CARES. That means a lot when you are going through this sort of thing. Well, maybe not in the funeral home cause you won't know or be able to appreciate him. But, DEFINITELY, on an ambulance call. He's the guy you want.
I heartily suggest you read this. I won't soon forget it.
This author brings it all to life. Just when you start thinking; "I don't think I want to know this", he'll throw in something amusing to lighten the mood. I'm already voting this guy is working in the funeral home when I go there.
I was going to give it only 4 stars because he had a horrible proof-reader. For example; the use of the word "wear" when he should have written "where". But if you can get by those errors; this is a really informative book to read; even if sad in spots. At least you know this paramedic and funeral home employee CARES. That means a lot when you are going through this sort of thing. Well, maybe not in the funeral home cause you won't know or be able to appreciate him. But, DEFINITELY, on an ambulance call. He's the guy you want.
I heartily suggest you read this. I won't soon forget it.
November 3, 2022
There is more to Sias's books than just a few funny memories from the past. "Silent Siren" and 'The Removalist" are not only stories about people who needed first aid or have passed away but also about the struggles Sias ended up as he tried switch between emergency services.
Sias started his career on a medic unit and the first few stories are light weight stories. However, eventually Sias's stories move towards explaining how his feelings change when medical units start to be considered as a 'taxi ride' to the hospital and he realizes that assisting morticians is something he feels like doing as well.
Sias doesn't shy away showing stupid things people did and I laughed a lot.
At first, I thought this book was a line of brawny 'What Happened To Me' -stories but Silent Siren and it's sequel The Removalist is far from that. Fast paced (sometimes a bit too fast), Sias touches on the dialy events of a paramedic and the mortician as if we are looking over his shoulders. I wished though that a little more detail would have been added.
Sias started his career on a medic unit and the first few stories are light weight stories. However, eventually Sias's stories move towards explaining how his feelings change when medical units start to be considered as a 'taxi ride' to the hospital and he realizes that assisting morticians is something he feels like doing as well.
Sias doesn't shy away showing stupid things people did and I laughed a lot.
At first, I thought this book was a line of brawny 'What Happened To Me' -stories but Silent Siren and it's sequel The Removalist is far from that. Fast paced (sometimes a bit too fast), Sias touches on the dialy events of a paramedic and the mortician as if we are looking over his shoulders. I wished though that a little more detail would have been added.
March 21, 2023
It's OK. The stories are interesting, but the organization is messy even with the section breaks. I think he said it was mostly chronological, so maybe it's a reflection of his career path, but it made it hard to follow. It also made me think this guy only ever worked, and not because he needed to, but just because?
Also, he seems to have a real problem with fat people. It was very unfriendly toward anyone heavier than he deemed appropriate, full of unkind adjectives repeatedly revolving around their weight. Like yes, obesity can have many negative effects on one's health, but it was clear that he is the very typical physician/medical assessor that sees weight and immediately blames everything on it.
Also, he seems to have a real problem with fat people. It was very unfriendly toward anyone heavier than he deemed appropriate, full of unkind adjectives repeatedly revolving around their weight. Like yes, obesity can have many negative effects on one's health, but it was clear that he is the very typical physician/medical assessor that sees weight and immediately blames everything on it.
February 17, 2024
Having worked in rural EMS, I was very interested in his take on urban EMS. The book is very choppy in the way it is put together, and doesn’t really flow. While I found some things interesting, it was greatly overshadowed by the authors disdain for overweight and obese patients, particularly women, and even fellow volunteers. As someone who spent twenty years in healthcare and now has a destroyed spine due to it, I know how hard it is to move them, and how difficult their care can be, but to describe a patient as a walrus, especially in print where their families might see, is unacceptable. To speak of smothering that person because they are a waste of oxygen really contradicts the compassionate person he claims to be.
September 1, 2019
Don’t be afraid of the title or subject of this book. The blending of an EMT and a mortician in an individual offering community service and social support is wonderful, and Matt Sia’s anecdotes from his professions lead me to better appreciate both professions. Not gory at all, and well written.
At one point, I thought the book would have ended with the chapter on his colleague (an emotional section), but I can see why Matt added the final chapters that follow.
I mostly read at night, and this book would not put off anyone from a restful sleep. It’s more like a satisfying feeling that people are always on call, doing their job, when they are needed. Thanks, Matt Sia.
At one point, I thought the book would have ended with the chapter on his colleague (an emotional section), but I can see why Matt added the final chapters that follow.
I mostly read at night, and this book would not put off anyone from a restful sleep. It’s more like a satisfying feeling that people are always on call, doing their job, when they are needed. Thanks, Matt Sia.
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