# Unwanted medical care. Why should I pay? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 25, 2014, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unwanted-medical-care-why-should-i-pay/684556 "2014-03-25T21:58:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unwanted-medical-care-why-should-i-pay/684556/21 "2014-03-27T01:36:23Z")
Question – are you on any type of medication, or treatment for your seizures? ---
**Author:** ![randompattern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@randompattern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randompattern)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unwanted-medical-care-why-should-i-pay/684556/22 "2014-03-27T05:03:16Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Question – are you on any type of medication, or treatment for your seizures? Yes I’ve been on several. Tegretol, Kepra was bad I had more seizures on it than off. I’m allergic to Dilantin, and I’m now on an oldie but goodie Pheno-Barbitol. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unwanted-medical-care-why-should-i-pay/684556/23 "2014-03-27T19:14:10Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > I have to agree that as a layperson, witnessing a seizure is terrifying, even if the person has told you it might happen, you still feel you hold their life in your hands by not calling 911. Longest 2 minutes of my goddamn life (and it was a petite mal type seizure - frozen and slightly trembling.) > > If you want strangers to not call an ambulance when you have a seizure they have no way to evaluate, stop going out in public. You were wrong when you felt their lives were in your hands. Defending your own ignorance isn’t why we are on this board. Condemning someone to a life a solitude because others are ignorant is disgusting. If someone is told not to call an ambulance and they do anyways, I’d actually look into suing them, not the hospital. And, no, two mere minutes of terror in someone with a properly functioning brain isn’t going to change my opinion much. You have to have had a charmed life if you’ve never been terrified for two minutes. You still honor your commitments. I’ve witnessed a seizure first hand. They aren’t all that terrifying, either. Maybe if you didn’t know about them ahead of time, but you said you did. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unwanted-medical-care-why-should-i-pay/684556/24 "2014-03-27T23:30:31Z")
Eeeh, I have to disagree, they can indeed look scary to people who’ve never seen one. However, as long as you know what to do, a person should be all right. Basically you want to get the person on their side with their head slightly elevated, make sure there’s nothing in the way for the person to get hurt on, etc. And NEVER, EVER, stick your hand, or any other object in the person’s mouth. It’s physically impossible to swallow your tongue. You will, however, get bitten. (My mother learned that the hard way!) Now, if a seizure lasts more than five minutes, as **WhyNot** pointed out, THEN you call an ambulance. **randompattern** , I hope you get things straightened out. I’m on lamictal and zonegran, and it took awhile to get things controlled. Please know you’ve got my full empathy – seizures suck. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unwanted-medical-care-why-should-i-pay/684556/25 "2014-03-28T00:12:28Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > If someone is told not to call an ambulance and they do anyways, I’d actually look into suing them, not the hospital. Yeah, good luck with that. First of all, it’s a bad idea to sue random civilians – they’re very likely to be dirt poor. Second, judges & juries tend to look down on seemingly frivolous lawsuits against some poor schlub who was only trying to help. And even if you won, it would set an extremely bad precedent whereby people would be afraid of dialing 911 for fear of getting stuck with the hospital bill. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unwanted-medical-care-why-should-i-pay/684556.md?page=1)