Calling an ambulance versus being driven

[outlierrn]

Anyone remember the case of the drop off who died out in front of the hospital because they had a strict ‘staff doesn’t leave the building’ policy?

[AK84]

UPDATE

She presented with the same symptoms again today. Called an ambulance. Took 10 minutes.As I now have experience of both, God forbid if it happens a third time, I am driving.

[Kolak_of_Twilo]

@picunurse

…if you call 911 and they send you to the hospital by ambulance, it’s considered emergent. If your insurance says different, you fight them.

I live in Chicago and several years ago I had a medical situation that required calling 911. They came and decided to transport me by ambulance. My insurance did not pay. I fought them. I lost and had to pay the $500 bill.

So sorry, you are mistaken.

[LH75]

I realize that his is anecdotal and does not constitute medical advice…I woke up with chest pains on September 23rd. It took me about five minutes to realize that this was something serious. We can see the hospital from our living room window. It is about 8 blocks away, and the fire department that would be dispatching the ambulance is three blocks past the hospital. It did not even occur to me to call 911 and wait for the fire dept. My wife got me in the car and on the table in the ER within 20 minutes of my first chest pain.

I hope your grandmother is OK

[FrancisCastle]

At the hospital I work at; the ER, switchboard operator and security all have police scanners. It’s nice to have a heads up as to what’s going on out there.

[kittenblue]

A friend of mine lives two blocks from the hospital, and the fire department that would dispatch an ambulance is basically one block from their house. Her husband woke in the middle of the night, thought he was having a heart attack, got up, got dressed, went downstairs without waking his wife and found his keys, pulled the car out , and drove himself to the ER…and did NOT drive up to the door and honk desperately…he parked in the lot and walked in. Then he called his wife from the ER while they were treating him for what really was a heart attack. The hospital staff yelled at him, his poor wife yelled at him, half our church yelled at him…he was just concerned with waking up the whole neighborhood and figured since he was so close… Problem was, at any point in that short ride, he could have passed out. He had no one with him, and there were three other drivers available in his house that night. He could have been unable to get out of the car, or collapsed in the parking lot, which is not that busy a place that anyone might find him in time. He was very lucky.

I broke my toe earlier this year and drove myself to the ER. Almost had to call in to the emergency room to have someone come out and get me, because by the time I got there I could barely get out of the car or walk. Took me ten minutes to hobble in…it was only ten pm but there was no one else in that parking lot that could have helped.

Despite all the examples I had around me, when I thought I was having a heart attack earlier this year, I woke my daughter to take me to the ER…maybe because I really wasn’t convinced I was having one, maybe because the pain wasn’t that bad…maybe because I had already had one ambulance ride this year and was too embarassed…I don’t know. I do know if she had not been visiting I would have called the squad, and scared my elderly mother half to death…she worried so much when I broke the toe! As it turns out it wasn’t a heart attack, but I don’t want to take that chance again.

[Cartooniverse]

@picunurse

I know that in your county, if you call 911 and they send you to the hospital by ambulance, it’s considered emergent. If your insurance says different, you fight them.

No, he didn’t. Pre-hospital personel are medical experts. He was lucky.

To everyone who says driving is preferable, how much is a life worth? Even if your fire dept is one that charges for a trip, is risking the life of your loved one worth that risk? Yes, sometimes you get lucky.
Everyone who drives in a panic is putting many lives at risk; your loved one, yourself and multiple strangers. One red light can mean the difference between one patient and many.

Bolding mine.

Retired NYS EMT chiming in here. I cannot agree with picunurse strongly enough. Trained responders are an enormous asset over driving yourself for so many reasons. Here’s a few:

1. They are allowed to proceed with care at greater speeds.
2. They frequently carry Defibrillators and Ambu-Bags, and other devices that will assist in cardiac emergencies.
3. They are emotionally detached. Not to be cruel, but because we are professionals. We move with clarity and speed yet with focused care. The family member who thinks they are being cool and calm while blowing lights are proceeding in a car at high speed with the tunnel vision of someone frightened and not thinking clearly. You may well kill yourself, the ill loved one and/ or others.
4. Making a call and telling them Grandpa takes some meds is no match for modern in-transit telemetry from an ambulance. An ER/ ED staff will have been looking at EKG’s streaming in as the rig is driving to the ER. Precious time can be saved.

Lives can be saved. Please, please ignore the posts from people who said it took 2 hours for an ambulance to arrive 50 years ago. This is 2012. In many communities, the response time coupled with rapid drive time beats the drive time taken by a family member.

Don’t do it.