Submitted âšâš23â© âšhoursâ© agoâ© by âšdiffaldo@lemmy.dbzer0.comâ© to âšmemes@sopuli.xyzâ©
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EMS can not force you to go to the hospital anywhere in the USA unless youâve been arrested, are suicidal, a danger to others, or arenât oriented to âperson, place, time, and eventâ.
If youâre none of the above you can tell whoever is saying âyou have to goâ to fuck off.
My wife has epilepsy. She has a medical alert bracelet for it. If she has a seizure in public, she doesnât need an ambulance ride unless she hurts herself or is actively seizing for more than 5 minutes. But that wonât stop some well-intentioned bystander from saddling her with a $5000 ambulance bill while sheâs unconscious. Because a seizure leaves you confused and disoriented for ~45-60 minutes afterwards.
So even if her seizure only lasts 2-3 minutes, sheâll be out of it for a while afterwards. And EMTs can 100% use her disorientation to justify throwing her in the back of the truck, even though she doesnât need it and the hospital wonât do anything for her. But that wonât stop them from billing for the ambulance ride anyways.
Itâs unfortunately legally required to transport someone thatâs not A&Ox4.
Itâs annoying when we know someone really doesnât need to go, but if we donât the responders are looking at losing their job, license, a lawsuit, or even being criminally charged.
Nothing like a good olâ heal and dash.
BTW thatâs not normal in Europe. I mean some people are pretty aggressive towards emergency responders but thatâs usually not due to the price.
Okay, iâm curious. why is it?
Alcohol seems to be a big part of it:
Drugs, alcohol, hypoglycemia, being postictal from a seizure, mental health emergencies, etc.
All these things can make someone confused and/or violent, although to be clear MOST people in these categories arenât violent. If youâre confused and all of a sudden thereâs strange people around you, fight or flight is going to kick in.
And some people are just assholes.
I work in EMS. Iâve been slapped, kicked, hit, groped, punched, pushed, and had people try to bite me. We have to be on our toes constantly, because you have no idea who is going to decide that today is their day to get violent. Iâve had a sweet little demented grandma who was just chilling suddenly make a fist and go âI just really want to punch youâ.
Ever spent a night in a hospital involuntarily?
Low Blood sugar is a factor too
That was a bit of a garden path sentence for me, was expecting it to say something like: âwhen healthcare is so good patients start to run after ambulances because they want to be inside them once moreâ
I think you mean âInsteadâ of being inside an ambulance.
Schooling isnât exactly their strong point eitherâŠ
StarvingMartist@sh.itjust.works âš20â© âšhoursâ© ago
Itâs not that itâs bad, itâs that I donât want to be $5000 in debt
FrostyPolicy@suppo.fi âš16â© âšhoursâ© ago
In the civilized Europe ambulance rides are free or cost next to nothing.
uienia@lemmy.world âš16â© âšhoursâ© ago
In many countries they do in fact cost nothing at all.
StarvingMartist@sh.itjust.works âš10â© âšhoursâ© ago
Thatâs fantastic! That also does not apply to my situation!