missbhavens: trinilikesalt: factsandchicks: In America you...

missbhavens:

trinilikesalt:

factsandchicks:

In America you have to pay hundreds of dollars if you need an ambulance.

source

Why is this noteworthy, one might ask? Well - apart from the sheer lunacy of getting charged hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars if you need to be transported to a hospital - it’s noteworthy because this doesn’t happen in other (civilized) countries.

America! Fuck yeah!

(For real, though - how is there not a law against this? That’s unconscionable.)

Ah, yes. Ambulances. Free taxi service, you mean? Because they’re wildly abused and that money has to come from somewhere. When I say that EMS brings people into my unit with complaints like “I had a contraction.” and “I haven’t pooped in two days.” and “I had so much pain last Thursday” upwards of three times per shift I am not exaggerating. I can’t remember the last time an ambulance actually brought me a patient who needed an ambulance.

Metro New Orleans is mega poor and mega uneducated and if you can’t get someone to take you to the hospital because it’s cold out and you’d rather not make the trip to your doctor’s office what do you do?

Call an ambulance. And what’s worse, here they take you TO THE HOSPITAL OF YOUR CHOICE and not the closest hospital, which is commonly the law elsewhere (and is an awesome non-pooping pregnant woman deterrent.)

I was raised to believe that one doesn’t call an ambulance unless they’re having a heart attack, cannot breathe or are bleeding from the ears. It makes me livid.

During my brief stint working in some ER’s around town… there were noteworthy ambulance and helicopter patients. But that’s the ER. I worked at Level II hospitals that dealt with the typical levels of medical (non-trauma) patients and medical problems that were diverted from Level I centers and some obviously not Level I trauma.

I’d say that 30% of the medical “emergencies” that came in an ambulance were not emergencies in any way.

20% transport from up from nursing homes, other smaller/regional/rural hospitals, etc. (Does that even count?)

20% legitimate moderate to severe medical emergencies that were diverted en route to Level I ERs who were too busy.

30% legitimate medical/trauma emergencies.

Yeah, so a whole lotta taxi service for idiots, people with the flu, and people trying to get admitted to get drugs.

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