Stupid 911 ambulance calls... the bane of US healthcare.

[Faebinder]

Seriously...This is probably the worse expenditure of all US healthcare.... but that is because no one is ever denied service by the ER.

A tummy pain and cant afford a cab to the hospital... call 911?

Your child has a temperature and you don't have a car.... call 911!

You cut your hand bad and can't drive..... call 911?!

Each one of those ambulances is a $900 trip. Seriously at this point the government should establish a universal cab service and triage calls through a triage nurse.

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[kate_g]

Seriously...This is probably the worse expenditure of all US healthcare.... but that is because no one is ever denied service by the ER.

I'm wondering something related... There are many threads discussing superfluous tests which are ordered just because you'll get sued if you *didn't* test for something unlikely that turns out to be a problem. Like, everyone with a minor head laceration gets a CT just in case. If these patients are insured, the insurance covers the cost of the "diagnostic inflation" and spreads it around to all the other policyholders. But do uninsured/unlikely-to-pay patients get the same CYA treatment? I'm sure there are uninsured people out there who refuse to pay but wouldn't hesitate to sue over a missed diagnosis. If *everyone* gets all possible tests, then that must also be a huge burden on the taxpayers. If judgement calls are made on likelihood of getting paid, then you're open to a discrimination suit of some kind, I'm sure...

(In college I went to the ED thinking I'd just broken my toe, and I forgot to bring my insurance card. They didn't do an x-ray, saying the treatment would be the same whether it was really broken or not. I assumed it was actually because they were assuming I was uninsured and not going to pay. Provided the treatment for a broken toe and a bad contusion are really the same, I guess the chances of my successfully suing them were pretty small, but I was still surprised and kind of angry...)

 

[tx oms]

The western world, through socialism, communism, and humanism, has come to think everyone deserves a perfect, trouble-free, equal life. Ambulances 30 years ago would not transport the people mentioned above. Hell, 30 years ago people wouldn't have thought to call an ambulance for a fever.

Our culture tells people they deserve everything, that life should be fair. You deserve to be seen by a doctor, even if it means calling an ambulance. You deserve perfect healthcare, even if it means CTs for everyone. You deserve things you can't afford, even if it means hitting up your parents on taking out a second mortgage. Sue people who don't give you what you want. On and on.

Laws to live by: 1. You will die. It's no one's fault, so get ready.
2. Someone will always have more stuff than you, unless
you're the richest man in the world.
3. No one promised you perfection.

A patient I treat for charity, out of the goodness of my heart, can sue me for not living up to their expectations. Why can't I sue them for smoking after I tell them not to? Why can't I sue them for not taking their medicine? Come to think of it, why do I even want to be a doctor in this ungrateful society of pansy-men and whiners?

 

[zenman]

Seriously...This is probably the worse expenditure of all US healthcare.... but that is because no one is ever denied service by the ER.

A tummy pain and cant afford a cab to the hospital... call 911?

Your child has a temperature and you don't have a car.... call 911!

You cut your hand bad and can't drive..... call 911?!

Each one of those ambulances is a $900 trip. Seriously at this point the government should establish a universal cab service and triage calls through a triage nurse.

Yes, the paramedic, in conjunction with triage nurse or MD should just provide treatment and give them a voucher for a taxi if they have no money. Otherwise wrap them up and have them call a cab.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

Trust me, as a 10+ year veteran of EMS, there are far, FAR worse problems facing our healthcare system than this. It's just this is more glaringly obvious to those who use EMS as a way to gain patient exposure.

 

[beetlerum]

Trust me, as a 10+ year veteran of EMS, there are far, FAR worse problems facing our healthcare system than this. It's just this is more glaringly obvious to those who use EMS as a way to gain patient exposure.

Yeah, no kidding, sub as the terrible health care a good segment of our population receives.

Also, we do not have communism. We hate communism. We have a fairly capitalist system, we do not send the message that everyone must be equal, and believe me, for a great number of people, there's no question that life doesn't have to be perfect.

Oh, and all that stuff about things having changed or the past being better is bull****. Typically idealizing of the past.

 

[Faebinder]

Trust me, as a 10+ year veteran of EMS, there are far, FAR worse problems facing our healthcare system than this. It's just this is more glaringly obvious to those who use EMS as a way to gain patient exposure.

Well that's what's making it the worst of them all.. It's right there infront of everyone to see... "glaringly obvious" and yet ignored...

Sorta like having a big splat of blood in the trauma room and walking by everyday and no one has cleaned it up.

 

[lk2230]

LOL...This isn't directly related, since it doesn't involve an actual ambulance call. I read the funniest transcript of an actual 911 call in California (you may be able to find it on google). A woman called 911 because she was at the drive-through at a fast food restaurant (Burger King?) and ordered Western Woppers (burgers) for her kids. The people made the burgers wrong, and then refused to remedy the situation and offered her the money back. She persisted, and they ignored her. She called 911 hoping to get the police down there to force them to make her burger the way she wanted it.

The 911 operator was not pleased.

 

[Whodathunkit]

Cause if it's on there...it MUST be true!



Western BBQ Burger

 

[45408]

Yes, the paramedic, in conjunction with triage nurse or MD should just provide treatment and give them a voucher for a taxi if they have no money. Otherwise wrap them up and have them call a cab.

But the paramedic isn't a doctor. I had a 911 call with a patient with a severe headache. No big deal, right? He was even sent to triage by the nurse in the ER.

Yeah, well, he died on the operating table that afternoon while they tried to repair his brain aneurysm. Most people would think, "Headache? No, don't call 911!" which is certainly what I thought during the call. If we'd told him "It's no big deal, take some ibuprofen and take a nap," then his death would have been blamed on us, even if his death was inevitable.