I am a carpet cleaner and have a motor mount that is gas-powered in the work vehicle I drive. I started to work and what I thought were fire alarms started to go off. I tried to turn them off, but they wouldn’t. My boss was pressuring me to get it done fast so I could get to the next job. So I kept working and would just tell the front office that their fire alarm was broken. While I was working, I started to feel unwell. My head began to tingle and throw me. I became extremely dizzy, and I began to feel weak and move slowly. I started to throw up in the bathrooms in the vacant lot. I thought maybe I was just becoming heat exhausted, and I continued to drink as much water as I could. While this was happening, I was in contact with my boss twice. He was checking on my progress. I told him that I was not feeling right and was throwing up, and he said we had to get it done. As I finished the last room, I put my tool down and bent over to remove the solution line. As I stood up, I passed out and hit my head and shoulder. I managed to get myself back up after a bit of time. I went and turned the motor off. With the motor off, it is extremely loud. I was able to hear what I thought were fire alarms saying carbon monoxide was detected. I began throwing up heavily and tried to get ahold of my boss. I was not able to contact him, so I reached out to his wife. I told her that I thought I had carbon monoxide poisoning. I told her what happened and what symptoms I was experiencing. She tells me that she doesn’t think I have carbon monoxide poisoning and that I need to lay down and put my feet on the wall and breathe deeply so I can hurry up and feel better so that I can get to the next job. She said that she would check on me in 15 minutes. She called again, and I was only getting worse. I was becoming very confused and scared. I mentioned that I might just need to go to the hospital because I think that I have carbon monoxide poisoning. She said that I could afford an ambulance and that she had a migraine and had her kids, so she couldn’t come down. So she said I needed to just stay where I was so that when I was feeling better, there would be someone who could drive it. After that phone conversation, my boss, the business owner, called me. He stated that I left him waiting at a job because of all this and was upset that I didn’t get ahold of him. When I told him what had happened, he became enraged and told me that he “doesn’t buy it” and that all I had was heat exhaustion. I told him I was not OK and that I was only getting worse. He asked if this was going to be a normal thing and that this whole situation was ridiculous. While in this conversation, property management from the front office came out and said that I didn’t look good at all and that I needed to be in an ambulance going to the hospital. My boss told me to stay and wait for them—his wife and himself—to come up with a plan. In the past, he has brought it up to not only me but other employees that if anyone were to sue him, he would counter sue and he has more money than us, so he can afford the lawyers to win. So being in my current state of mind was scary, so I told them that I needed to stay and wait for them to figure this out. Because, according to them, it was only heat exhaustion and I was just overreacting because “I didn’t want to work”. The maintenance man of the property showed up after speaking to my boss showed up to look at the vacant home. I told him what happened and he said, dang near word for word, what my boss and his wife said, ” It is heat exhaustion. There is no way it could be carbon monoxide poisoning”. After laying there for an hour or so trying to collect my breath and figure out what I needed to do, my wife called. I did my best to tell her what happened. The carbon monoxide was still spreading because it wasn’t being treated the way it needed to be. She called a medical professional and was told that being in a house with that much carbon monoxide for 2 hours or so is vital to receiving pure oxygen and medical supervision. While waiting for my wife to arrive, my boss came to the job and told me to come to his truck and sit. He told me that he doesn’t believe me and that he thinks that I am lying about being this sick and having carbon monoxide poisoning. My wife showed up and he told me, after already being aware that I was going to seek medical attention, that he was disappointed. As well that he would be sure to make sure tomorrow I was scheduled for a job that had air conditioning. He also said to go home and rest. I told him I was not going home. I am going to be seen by a medical professional, and get oxygen because I have carbon monoxide poisoning!!!! I don’t care what you think it is, I need to make sure I am okay because I have a pregnant wife to provide for. He got upset that I was going in to be seen and diagnosed. I felt like everyone was more worried about covering their ass to not get sued than getting me medical care. I was scared, confused, mentally lost, and had carbon monoxide coursing through my veins.
I managed to make it to an ER. After 14 vials of blood, IV’s, and constant pure oxygen being forced into my body. I found out that the levels of carbon monoxide in my body were extremely elevated. Imagine the level all those hours before. Well, it turns out that if I were in that house 1 more hour, or if I wasn’t able to get myself up when I passed out, I would be dead. 72 hours later and my brain is still pretty foggy. I also have a difficult time talking and comprehending things. These things have never been an issue before. With all of that being said, I have not gotten a single apology that sounded at least a little genuine by my boss. I have started the workman’s comp process, and I am told that it will be a long time before I see any compensation. That is why I am reaching out for help. I have a 12-year-old and a wife that is pregnant. I definitely have to swallow my pride and ask for help.