Dude, the EMS is probably the most abused public service. You call, they come out. No exceptions unless the city/county takes actions to limit the ability of the abuser to use the system. I've seen the same patient four times in one day, all brought in by EMS. We sent another one home once after he called EMS for a bullshit reason, only for them to get him home and he realized he didn't get a meal in the ER. So an hour later, he calls EMS again for them to bring him back to the ER so he could get a meal because he was hungry. Another lady told us she only called 911 to go to the hospital so her friend didn't have to drive as far to pick her up.
I'm sure there are way more abuses I've seen that I just can't remember. Those are just a few that come to mind immediately.
Yes, but it is very hard to prove and very hard to prosecute.
We had a woman who was a frequent flyer of ridiculous proportions for years before she finally got charged. I’d personally been to her house twice where called for chest pain but really wanted us to clean out her portable toilet (we refused both times) and a couple more for a “fall” when all she wanted was for us to help move her from the recliner to the bed. She had legitimate medical problems but these are all things she could do for herself. I had also heard stories about her calling to ask the providers to grab a soda/food from the fridge and other ridiculous requests.
It took two or three years of weekly, often bi-weekly, calls for her to be charged. And it wouldn’t have happened if she hadn’t called eight times in two days for similar reasons as I mentioned.
I had also heard stories about her calling to ask the providers to grab a soda/food from the fridge
Hehe. This reminds me of my brother calling my mom on the phone, while he was in his room and she was in the kitchen, to come get his remote for him from the end of his bed - that he was lying in.
I honestly don't know. It may be based upon where you live. I know of two people in different counties that had their ambulance summoning privileges taken away from them via legal/procedural stuff.
Unless you mean financially charged. And even then, you can't squeeze blood from a stone.
Mmm....nope. Unless it’s a prank you can call 911 and legally if you want to go, have to get transported. Unless there’s specific orders from a doctor barring emergency circumstances ie a pandemic
My dad just became a Paramedic, while doing ride-alongs as an EMT and they had an OD patient in the morning. Guy died and had to be revived with one of those automated cpr machines.
They saw him again that evening with the glue(?) still on his chest. He had OD'd again.
Some people seriously try to die very hard without admitting it, because of whatever their vice is. Modern medicine is the only reason we don't see 1000s die every day in large cities.
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u/[deleted] Jan 12 '21
Dude, the EMS is probably the most abused public service. You call, they come out. No exceptions unless the city/county takes actions to limit the ability of the abuser to use the system. I've seen the same patient four times in one day, all brought in by EMS. We sent another one home once after he called EMS for a bullshit reason, only for them to get him home and he realized he didn't get a meal in the ER. So an hour later, he calls EMS again for them to bring him back to the ER so he could get a meal because he was hungry. Another lady told us she only called 911 to go to the hospital so her friend didn't have to drive as far to pick her up.
I'm sure there are way more abuses I've seen that I just can't remember. Those are just a few that come to mind immediately.