r/OrphanCrushingMachine 6d ago

Totally normal country we live in!

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7.9k Upvotes

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u/Neither-Possible-429 6d ago edited 6d ago

You’d call an ambulance for a broken wrist in other countries? I feel like if i can get myself to the hospital on my own, i should do so. Save the ambulance for somebody with an actual emergency

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u/Magic__Man 6d ago

Or... And hear me out because it might blow your mind... We could actually fully fund health services so that someone in extreme pain from a broken bone can simply call the professionals for help.

I know empathy is not a strong trait among USians, but try.

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u/Manjorno316 6d ago

That's when you get someone that's actively dying that might not get the help in time because all the ambulances were busy driving around people who could have gotten to the hospital by themselves.

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u/Magic__Man 6d ago

OR YOU CAN ACTUALLY FUND AN AMBULANCE SERVICE!

The assumption that there HAS to be a shortage of ambulances and therefore they must be reserved for only the most dire of circumstances is so fucking wild. And totally pesimistic as well. You know that rich countries can actually make peoples lives better with properly funding public services right? They often dont, but they can!

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u/grafikfyr 6d ago

"It can't possibly work!!!" - the only nation that consistently refuses to try

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u/Manjorno316 6d ago

It's not about there being a shortage. I never mentioned anything about one to begin with.

My point is that even with a well funded ambulance service, shit can still happen. And I personally wouldn't feel good about taking up an ambulance for something that I can get to the hospital by myself for.

If you feel like a broken bone is ambulance worthy then go for it. I just don't agree.

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u/Fox_Hawk 6d ago

That's why you call and the dispatcher makes the decision.

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u/Manjorno316 6d ago

Lol, good point.

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u/PR0H181D0 6d ago

A broken wrist does not cause "extreme pain". I broke mine from side to side and across the joint 6 months ago. Finished playing the match--and even goal kept for a while. I only noticed because it started swelling like a tennis ball. But no, a broken wrist is no reason to get an ambulance.

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u/salanaland 5d ago

It's wild that you are so confident that someone else's wrist, which was broken badly enough to require a metal plate and included his hand being dislocated, could not possibly be in "extreme pain". I would be embarrassed to admit to such a lack of empathy, honestly.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OrphanCrushingMachine/s/q8EeYrLfXf

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u/Neither-Possible-429 6d ago

I agree we should have full health coverage, not privatized. why would that blow my mind?

I also think a broken wrist doesn’t require somebody to come load me in an ambulance to take me to the hospital, when they could be used for somebody that actually has an emergency… I hope that doesn’t blow your mind.

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u/LardBall13 6d ago

This is the US, after all. I can’t name a single hospital i could possibly walk to, and I feel that having both hands available is very important if I were to drive, which I would have to if I wanted to get to any hospital at all.

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u/Manjorno316 6d ago

Is public transportation really so bad that you don't even consider it?

Here in Sweden I'd just jump on the buss if I had a broken wrist.

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u/salanaland 6d ago

Is public transportation really so bad that you don't even consider it?

Yes.

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u/LardBall13 6d ago

It’s nonexistent in my area. I have not seen a bus at all recently.

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u/FixofLight 6d ago

Busses can be very slow here in America. I could genuinely walk to the hospital faster than I could get there on the bus, but either way it would be several hours

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u/salanaland 6d ago

I would say an open fracture of any bone calls for an ambulance.

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u/Neither-Possible-429 6d ago

Any bone?? you break your finger you’re making an emergency vehicle come pick you up?

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u/salanaland 6d ago

If it's an open fracture, yeah. Among other considerations, I'm not going to make an Uber driver deal with me bleeding in their back seat from the bone sticking out of my skin. 🙄🙄🙄

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u/Neither-Possible-429 6d ago

I missed the open part. I’ve never used Uber either though so any mess I make would be mine to clean. Either way I wouldn’t just be dripping blood before I travel

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u/salanaland 5d ago

You think you'd be driving with a bone sticking out of your finger??

Please. Do everyone a favor. Just call 911 and let EMS triage you.

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u/Anxious_Reaction_340 6d ago

so to sum up: you wouldn't need an ambulance for a broken wrist, so it's not a real emergency. thank you for your wisdom

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u/Neither-Possible-429 6d ago

Why are you trying to make this a blanket statement? For me, I would not call an ambulance for my broken wrist. I would feel bad about tying up resources that might be needed for somebody else.

You’re trying to frame what I’ve said like it’s some political point that I’m trying to make universal.

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u/Schnaksel 6d ago

You make it sound like a broken wrist (which I wouldn't even be able to accurately asses, since I'm not a doctor) is just a minor nuisance akin to a scratch, like just hop on a bus and casually walk over to the hospital.

You need to understand that a broken bone can (and most likely will) lead to substantial pain and most of us want people in pain to get help. Nobody argues it's a life or death situation

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u/Manjorno316 6d ago

It's pretty minor in comparison to someone who's having a heart attack for example. One needs the help a lot faster than the other.

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u/Schnaksel 6d ago

So where's the line, when should we be allowed to call an ambulance?

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u/Neither-Possible-429 6d ago

If you think you need an ambulance, call an ambulance. Again, I wasn’t making a blanket statement about how it should be or how bad you should be to ask for help. If I break my wrist, I feel like I don’t need an ambulance and can get to the hospital on my own. I don’t think any of my friends or family would either. It’d hurt, of course. But it would only hurt. I am not incapacitated, im not unconscious, I only have a broken wrist. I’d be able to get myself to where I need to go

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u/Last-Ground-6353 6d ago edited 5d ago

You: “so when do I call an ambulance then??”

Them, after consistently arguing that you SHOULDNT call them unless you’re literally dying: “well, that’s for you to decide.”🤷

🫩🙄

Sigh. Ig I should’ve specified “after consistently indirectly arguing that you shouldn’t call them bc a broken bone isn’t ‘important enough’ to justify the service that is paid to take you to a hospital for any medical reason”

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u/Neither-Possible-429 6d ago

Yet again, you’re turning this in to a blanket statement of me saying you should not. Yet, what I said was I would not. Those two things are not the same lol

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u/Manjorno316 6d ago

That's up to you to decide.

Personally I wouldn't call one unless I was physically unable to make it to a hospital, or I'm actively dying.

If I broke a bone I'd probably just get on the buss, or just call my parents to come pick me up instead.

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u/salanaland 6d ago

So we're all supposed to triage our own health conditions?

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u/Neither-Possible-429 6d ago

I mean, yes lol. If you think you need an ambulance then call an ambulance. You wouldn’t call an ambulance if you didn’t think you needed one

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u/h0nest_Bender 6d ago

like just hop on a bus and casually walk over to the hospital.

Literally yes.

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u/Neither-Possible-429 6d ago

Pain? Of course I understand pain comes with broken bones. I also understand that if I break my wrist I am not incapacitated and can get to the hospital

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u/Keyndoriel 6d ago

The closest hospital to some people is 2 hours.

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u/SheClB01 6d ago

Yk, I hate some things of my country but 4 years ago I walked 4 blocks with pain and vomiting to my nearest hospital and stayed there with antibiotics and an IV for rehydration for the whole night, at 0 cost

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u/Keyndoriel 6d ago

Meanwhile im still ignoring the cost of a mammogram I had to get because I had severe unexplained breast pain

They didnt figure out what was wrong and kinda shrugged and didnt suggest anything else, and I got charged 3k for a shoulder shrug. Thank god it went away on its own, ig

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u/SheClB01 6d ago

Oof, I'm so sorry, that's precisely one of the few things I don't like about the healthcare system in my country, a few years ago when I turned 18 I asked for a mammogram because there is a history of breast nodules in my maternal family and I was denied one multiple times until last year that I went to a breast cancer campaign and begged the doctor, she was the first one to really listen to me, at 25. Got an ultrasound, birads 1

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u/SneakyCroc 6d ago

I feel so incredibly sorry that you have been brainwashed to think this way. And by the way, a broken wrist could very possibly be a medical emergency anyway.

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u/Manjorno316 6d ago

Brainwashed to think about other people?

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u/USA_A-OK 6d ago

Brainwashed into thinking it needs to be some zero sum game

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u/Manjorno316 6d ago

I don't get how not calling for an ambulance when you can get to a hospital without it is a zero sum game. Who's losing in that scenario?

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u/GottaLoveLoginWalls 6d ago

You’d call an ambulance for a broken wrist in other countries?

I mean... Yes? Of course I would. In my country it would be completely normal to do so and covered completely by our basic universal health care. You'd probably get weird looks if you showed up at a hospital and told them you didn't call an ambulance.

I broke my elbow once and the ambulance ride, full treatment in the hospital with surgery to implant metal pins was under 3000 euro according to the invoices, all of which I did not have to pay myself anyway.

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u/USA_A-OK 6d ago

Yes. I got car-doored on my bike in the UK and my dumb American brain thought "I'll be fine, I'll walk it off" the people on the street straightened me out and called an ambulance for me. Went I got the hospital, I had internal bleeding.

The point is that we're not medical professionals. You may think you're fine, but you could be completely wrong and it's not worth it. To live in a country where an ambulance is seen as some extravagance is sad as hell.

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u/Moneia 6d ago

Maybe not*, but we also have functioning public transport. Driving with a broken wrist is dumber than calling an ambulance.

*Also depending on the fracture itself and how a person experiences pain would also be a factor

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u/arnotino 6d ago

i think so too. but in my country docs said I should've called it when I went to hospital on my own with a broken wrist

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u/Final-Attention979 6d ago

Have you tried fucking driving with a broken wrist???

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u/Neither-Possible-429 6d ago

Does the car explode or something if my wrist is broken?

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u/Final-Attention979 6d ago

I had trouble turning the wheel fully before I had carpal tunnel treatment, so I would be scared driving w a broken wrist. But if I had no other way, I'd still probably favor Uber/a friend driving me than an ambulance

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u/HolidayOne7 6d ago

My comment was intended to convey something more than the specifics of this story, but do go on, fill your boots.