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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania —
A story out of the Philadelphia area is serving as a reminder of the devastation wrought by the opioid epidemic.

According to WPVI, two police officers were patrolling the Allegheny Station area in Kensington around 4 p.m. Monday.

A passerby alerted the officers to a pregnant female who was unconscious. They administered Narcan to the woman twice before she regained consciousness.

“At that time, the Philadelphia Fire Department came over to the location and she refused their services. She didn’t want to go to the hospital. She didn’t want any kind of medical treatment. She got up and left the area,” SEPTA Police Lt. Michael Fox said.

Less than one hour later, the officers spotted the woman again. She was laying unconscious on the sidewalk. The two picked her up and drove her to a nearby hospital.

SEPTA Transit Police Chief Thomas J. Nestel III shared the incident on Twitter, writing: “Woman, app 7mos pregnant, given Narcan by Transit Police for heroin OD. Refused transport to hospital. 40 minutes later she OD’d again.”

Many responded to the post with sadness, some with anger.

“In a situation like this can she be involuntarily committed to a hospital or facility that could help her?” one person asked.

Nestel replied: “That question has been bounced around among attorneys guiding 1st responders on whether invol [involuntary] treatment is permitted. Not looking promising.”

Fox said the incident was something that weighed heavily on the responding officers.

“It’s devastating, absolutely devastating. It’s heartbreaking to see this happen. I am a father, I can only think about my own children. [When] something like this happens, it’s a terrible issue,” Fox said.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Hospital employees have been removed from their post at the Naval Hospital Jacksonville after disturbing photos with newborns surfaced on social media Monday.

First Coast News was flooded with emails and messages sharing the Facebook post, which garnered more than 100,000 shares as of 11 p.m. Monday.

The viral post shared a photo from a Snapchat account, which showed the employee giving the middle finger to a newborn, followed by a caption that read “How I currently feel about these mini Satans.” The post also read the “navy nurse” and her friend made a baby dance to rap music.

Jeanne Casey, the Public Affairs Officer at Naval Hospital Jacksonville, released the following statement:

“We are aware of a video/ photo posted online. It’s outrageous, unacceptable, incredibly unprofessional, and cannot be tolerated. We have identified the staff members involved. They have been removed from patient care and they will be handled by the legal system and military justice. We’re in the process of notifying the patient”s parents.”

The statement was also posted on the Naval Hospital Jacksonville Facebook page:

A MENTAL health nurse tasked with helping alcohol and drug users has been struck off after panel found she ‘took crack cocaine and heroin’ with a patient.

Alison Lesley Fisher was sacked as a nurse with the harm minimisation service at Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust in March last year following allegations dating back to 2011.

Last month she was struck off by a Nursing and Midwifery Council panel.

The panel found the nurse took one or more of crack cocaine, heroin, diazepam, or methadone with the patient on one or more dates between February 2011 and February 2013.

The panel also found she gave Morphine, Diazepam and Temazepam to a male patient without a prescription.

It also found she asked the patient – who was in a relationship with her friend – to buy one or more of the drugs.

The hearing report revealed the panel saw a text message from Ms Fisher to the patient, which said: “ I got you a pressie from the doctors x.”

The panel did not accept her account that it related to the next message between the pair about pots and pans.

It concluded that the public would be ‘outraged’ by a case in which a substance misuse nurse would engage in the consumption of illicit drugs with a service user.

An investigation by Turning Point – which now runs the harm minimisation service in Rectory Road – and Oxford Health resulted in her dismissal on 14 March 2016.

She was struck off at an NMC hearing last month.

The North Carolina Highway Patrol says four people have been killed in the crash of a medical helicopter.

Patrol spokesman Master Trooper Christopher Knox said the Duke Life Flight helicopter went down around 11:45 a.m. Friday near the town of Belvidere, close to the Virginia border and about 160 miles east of Raleigh.

Knox said it’s not known where the helicopter was headed when it went down and authorities have no idea what caused the crash. He said the Federal Aviation Administration has been notified and state troopers are on the scene to secure the site.

The Duke Life Flight web page says its helicopters usually have two critical care providers and a pilot onboard and can only carry one patient at a time.

DENVER — Five nurses at Denver Health Medical Center were suspended for three weeks after opening a bag to inappropriately view a deceased patient’s genitals, a hospital spokesman said Tuesday.

The disciplined nurses admired the size of the deceased patient’s genitals, according to KMGH.

The incident was reported after a different nurse overheard one of the suspended nurses make a comment about it, according to a Denver Health spokesman.

“Multiple staff members viewed the victim while he was incapacitated, including after he was deceased,” a Denver Police report says.

The hospital said the employees involved were off the job for three weeks and have since returned.

One nurse no longer works at the hospital – but was not terminated because of the incident. The names or medical unit of the suspended nurses were not made public.

As if assaulting a nurse simply doing her job wasn’t despicable enough, additional body cam footage shows Salt Lake City Detective Jeff Payne telling other officers he’ll “bring them [the hospital] all the transients and take good patients elsewhere.”

The footage, obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune, was recorded after Payne attacked and arrested University of Utah Hospital nurse Alex Wubbels on July 26 because she refused to allow the detective, who also is a paramedic, to draw blood from an unconscious patient. That patient was the victim of a head–on collision following a police chase of another driver. Police are not allowed to draw blood from the hospitalized victim without a warrant or consent.

According to the Tribune, Payne works a second job as a paramedic for Gold Cross Ambulance.

The body camera footage provides interesting insight into the types of internal conversations that happen between police officers when something like this occurs. In the recorded conversation, Payne makes the already awful situation worse, which likely will raise further questions about his conduct in an ongoing internal police investigation. Now, he also faces an internal investigation at Gold Cross, the company’s president Mike Moffitt told the newspaper.

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In the recording, another officer is heard questioning whether Wubbels committed obstruction of justice, and whether her arrest will stick.

Before making his peevish comment about “transients,” a word often used to disparage homeless people, Payne rightfully expresses concern about his employment as a paramedic.

“Wonder how this will affect my Gold Cross job,” he said.

Payne and a second, unidentified officer were placed on paid administrative leave after the video of Wubbels’ arrest went viral, the Salt Lake City police department said on Friday.

A Pennsylvania couple said they saw a religious sign in their baby’s sonogram just days before giving birth.

Zac Smith and his fiancée, Alicia Zeek, went in for an ultrasound ahead of the birth of their baby girl and what they saw in the sonogram was unbelievable.

I blinked a lot, to kinda make sure I was really seeing it,” Zeek said.

“This is distinct. I mean, there’s another face looking at my daughter!” said Smith.

The expecting parents said while they aren’t very religious, they saw a man dressed in a robe with a crown of thorns looking at their baby.

“It almost brought tears to my eyes,” Smith said. “I was speechless, I just couldn’t believe it, I really didn’t believe what I was seeing.”

A Pennsylvania college student died last week from altitude sickness during a hiking trip in the Rocky Mountains, according to relatives.

Susanna DeForest, of Collegeville, was hiking with friends late Thursday when she fell ill trying to reach the Conundrum Hot Springs in Colorado, the Times Herald reported.

The group had planned to spend the night at the hot springs, but stopped to set up camp when the 20-year-old started vomiting on the Conundrum Creek Trailhead.

Two friends left to get help, while a third stayed with DeForest on the trail, which begins at 8,765 ft. and reaches an elevation more than 11,000 ft.

Emergency dispatchers were contacted around 10:45 p.m., but were unable to land the rescue helicopter at her location.

Authorities said that the Pennsylvania College of Art & Design student had already died by when they finally reached her at 5 a.m. Friday.

Her mom Kate DeForest said that her daughter died from “acute altitude sickness” in a Facebook post.

“Her friends who were with her did all they could to get help to her in time,” DeForest wrote. “We have made a trip to Colorado to see her one last time and visit a place she loved here.”

A memorial service will be held Sunday for the 20-year-old.

A mother who had just given birth to her third daughter was reportedly cut in half at a Spanish hospital Sunday when her stretcher became stuck between floors inside an elevator.

Rocio Cortes Nunez, 26, was being transported between the second and third floors of Our Lady of Valme Hospital in Seville when the incident occurred, according to news.com.au.

“I’m a total wreck,” Nunez’s husband, Jose Gaspar, told ABC Sevilla. “This cannot continue. Today it has been Rocio, but tomorrow it could be another person.”

David Gaspar, Nunez’s brother-in-law, told Europa Press the family was “devastated,” and Nunez’s mom said she only found out her daughter had died when she heard there was an accident at the hospital and approached a staff member.

“I went to the information desk,” Carmen Nunez said. “They told me that a girl had died, and then they confirmed that she was my daughter. What a cruel death she suffered.”

Nunez had given birth to her daughter, Triana, via Caesarean section and was on her way to a maternity ward at the time of the incident, The Sun reported.

Nunez’s stretcher was pushed on to the elevator — which suddenly moved upwards before the stretcher was fully inside, trapping Nunez, whose head was reportedly stuck between the roof and the elevator frame.

Firefighters needed about two hours to reach Nunez’s body, according to local reports.

Aside from Triana, Nunez leaves behind daughters Carmen, 5, and Rocio, 4, The Telegraph reported.