Let him drown or YOU'RE FIRED!

From the article:

The victim had already been pulled out of the water when Lopez arrived.
So I'm on the fence here, but leaning heavily toward the company was in the wrong for firing him.
He was right for leaving his post thinking he was going to be making a water rescue. But once he arrived and saw the person already on the beach, and that first aid could be administered by an off-duty nurse, how much longer did he really need to stay?

If Lopez had pulled the drowning person out of the water. thus saving his/her life and gotten fired I'd say put the person who fired him in a straitjacket, tie some ankle weights to the person, and put that person in the water 1000 feet outside of the protected zone and see if any lifeguard risks his/her job to save the supervisor's life.

 

I think that's just the mentality of first responders. You see an emergency situation you are trained to deal with, you stay on hand until the situation is resolved. I would expect the same of a police officer, EMT or firefighter.

 

I think in this case, that "rule" should be broken.

Kudos to the lifeguard for found what was right in this instance.

 

A plot twist: Six others fired for saying they would do the same thing.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/fired-florida-lifeguards-coworkers-exit/t/story?id=16711655

 

And now, shock of shocks, the company is backpedaling after the public outcry:

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/fl-lifeguard-follow-20120704,0,4887768.story

This story doesn't mention other firings but says two lifeguards quit in protest.

Murky waters in the home office!!

 

Also, from the excerpt, it doesn't say whether any of those people had training, whereas Lopez told the outlet that the man had water in his lungs, suggesting (at least to me) that maybe he was the first responder with proper CPR / medical training.

 

Looky here, that private lifeguard company was paid to guard lives on a specific beach. If the other part of the beach wanted lives guarded they should have hired the company to do so and compensated them generously for it. They're in the lifeguarding business to make money. If they're saving lives for free they ain't making money.

 

I may be reading too much into it, but I wouldn't be surprised to find out that someone in the Ellis family didn't much care for Mr. Lopez before this incident took place. Not unusual in family owned businesses.

 

It was a city beach and the city wsa too cheap to have the whole thing guarded, so they just put up signs saying "swim at your own risk" in the unguarded areas.

 

Exactly. You no pay, you drown.

 

Beaches overseen by publicly paid-for lifeguards: Right or entitlement? Discuss ...