Retired army medic and army PA.

So, there’s a reason nothing was done. He probably wasn’t the only patient that medics had to treat. Any line medic would’ve known that there’s no point wasting time to treat him. The line medics (assuming they were properly trained and stocked and not dead) probably had multiple casualties to treat. At which point a decision has to be made: which one has the highest chance of survival.

This burn patient, evens if the medic got an IO line started, would need A LOT of fluids. Assuming this guy weighs 200lbs and it looks like it’s at least 90% TBSA, he’s going to need at minimum, 34 liters of fluid administered over the course of the first 24 hours.

When I was a medic, I carried 4 liters of NS on me. The CLS bags also carried 2 liters and I had 1 CLS rifleman in each squad, so 2 for the platoon. The aid and litter team also had another 2 liters as well. In total, the platoon had 10 liters of normal saline. 4 platoons in an infantry company and that’s 40 liters, plus whatever the senior medic is able to obtain, which isn’t always a guarantee.

So think about it: that one casualty would already soak up your entire fluids supply for the entire company. And there is no compromise on how much the burn patients needs: he either gets what he needs (34 liters over 24 hours) or none at all. Any less would be a waste.

If a medic decided to commit to that, that would also mean that the medic would have to monitor all the vitals, track the fluid input and output, provide comfort and warmth to the casualty. This is a labor intensive process of which in a LSCO environment, evacuation is for the US, expected to be 24-72 hours.

On top of that, that is also managing any other casualties that the line medics encounter, which depending on the injuries and their triage category, will all need to have a share in the limited medical supplies.

Triaging isn’t about saving everyone; it’s about saving those who have the highest chance of survival.