Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by phinzup911 on October 23, 2007 at 9:50am

I feel your pain!! It seems most of what we run definately falls in the BS category. A few years back we had a pt at about 3 AM who called us because she had a toothache. I was so PO'd, and stupid enough to ask her "You mean to tell me you called us at 3 am because you have a toothache?!"
She said "Yes I did.", complete with the headshake and attitude. I told her to walk out to the truck and lets go.
In our service we cannot refuse transport to anyone who wants to go. I live for the day I can tell them that we can't take them by ambulance for something so STUPID!!!

Permalink Reply by Ruck on October 23, 2007 at 8:39pm

We too cannot refuse to transport someone that wants to go. HOWEVER, I like to make it as hard on them as possible. I too make them walk out to the rig, and I inform them that this is going to be the most expensive taxi ride they have ever taken!! LOL, that doen't seem to work either. I guess we can always hope that these people figure it out. Please keep sharing the stories.

Ruck

Permalink Reply by phinzup911 on October 23, 2007 at 11:17pm

LOL!! I feel your pain! My partner and I do the same thing. I refuse to carry them any further than neccesary! And if they are in a BS fender bender and want to be transported (insurancitis!), they get FULLY immobilized!! We try to tell them it's gonna be expensive too, but most of them have Medicaid and then I hear MY wallet screaming in pain!!

Permalink Reply by Ruck on October 31, 2007 at 9:24am

LMAO!! Wow, that goes to show that we are all one big family!! Just yesterday I ran a BS fender bender, of the rear end type, where the guy was complaining of check pain----I mean neck pain, he of coarse got the works, but refused the IV. While my partner was working on him, I went to check the occupant of the other vehicle. She couldn't decide if she was hurt or not, and I'm thinkin' "lady you'd know it if you were hurt," then of coarse seeing that this other guy is getting boarded she is now getting dizzy. My partner suggested that she was watching her insurance rate go through the roof and that is what made her dizzy. I tend to agree with him. LOL!! Well the Pt's didn't want to go to the smae facility, so we had to call another unit in to transport that Pt. So we tie up two units on a call that should have not usede any. Then just a few hours later we get another rear ender where the call comes in as no ijuries, (and it one of our own units that call this one in, but they were already loaded enroute to the hospital).......until Law enforcement gets there (which is a whole other discussion for the future,) and we get called to the scene to "check out the Pt's." There isn't even any damage to either vehicle!!!! This one was different though because the Pt wanted to go to the hospital herself to get checked out instead of tying up an ambulance. We were like "that is fine with us, just sign here." (we have to get refusals of tx and txp if we don't take a Pt). Anyway back to the "one big family" thing, it is like no matter where we are, we all think the same!! LOL! Stay safe out there!!

Permalink Reply by Joe Casper on November 9, 2007 at 2:28am

thats awsome i work for a paid ambulance about 2 months ago i got a call for a female diabetic with blurry vision... when we arrived we found a female walking around bumping into things we went through the normal question what happened how long... checked her sugar it was fine then asked her "is there anything else that could be making your eyes blurry?".....she replied "ohh well i did have eye surgery done today and i cant see where i put the medicine they gave me" "could that be making your vision blurry?"... "ohh i dont think so" she replied

Permalink Reply by Sarah Bice on November 9, 2007 at 2:58am

ok it cant be as bad as getting called the military base for s soldier that had a little cut on his had from a fight and when we go there, there was no bleeding we were called out to a injury from a fight possible stabing.....major BS well anyways he told us in front of the MPs that the ony reason that he wanted us there was so that we could transport in to the hospital so that he could get a blood test....come on now isnt that what POVs are for?

Permalink Reply by Bill Anderson on July 29, 2008 at 12:00am

I love the MVA's where the dust is scraped off the bumper and everone in the car wants to go. Had one rear ended by a bus,low speed, just the dust scrape, nothing else, and he had neck pain and tingling. Welllll, one KED, forgot to loosen the leg straps, IMMOBILIZED 0n the backboard, and he wants to know how long he has to lay like this. "Dude, they're busy today, might be awhile before the doc sees ya."

Permalink Reply by Jennica Stout on August 4, 2008 at 8:50pm

What we do with those is take them straight to the waiting room, drop the cot and tell them to grab a seat. If they say they're "passing out," they get fully immobilized, especially when you know they're lying...and for the fake seizures and fake unonscious? Amonia capsules work really well, lol...

Permalink Reply by don koerner on August 8, 2008 at 5:23pm

our medical director has told us sick enough for ambulance sick enough for an iv and we start them on every pt some time s the pt get pissed but i say it protocol says you get one lol and for bs mva we had 5 cars slide into each other at a stop light police call for multi victim mva we roll all three rigs calling in back up staff when all was said and done no transports lol

Permalink Reply by Michael Slupski on August 13, 2008 at 8:35am

Here is one for you. We were called to a home for stomach cramps. we arrived to find the PT in the kitchen. I asked what her last oral intake was and she pointed to a box of Twinkies. I then asked how many, and she said all of them. Well after I told her that if she would not have eaten the last one her belly might not be hurting. We ended up taking her in, and she said well maby if there was a warning on the box...

Permalink Reply by Brittany on August 17, 2008 at 12:38pm

Here's my latest and greatest... I work on a Private Service, and we were called out the other day to "mutual aid" a local volunteer dept. The call came in as a "swollen hand reference a bee sting yesterday," so we were already prepared for a non-emergency emergency call. When we arrived, we found a older female pt sitting in her living room, with minimal swelling to her right hand. When asked what the problem was today, the pt replied, "well, I was stung on the ring finger yesterday, and today my hand has swelled up and I can't get my rings off." My next question was "you would like to be transported to the Emergency Room for this?" She promptly replied "of course." Mind you, this is minimal swelling, circulation is intact, and I really had to bite my tongue to keep from offering some pertinent advice: take some benadryl, ice the finger, and WAIT!!! The swelling WILL come down!! My basic partner climbed in back, and we took her into the ER. Thankfully, they weren't swamped, or we really would have gotten a few dirty looks! It takes all kinds of calls. Nice lady, but really dumb call.

Permalink Reply by Katie Moon on August 17, 2008 at 5:21pm

Once we had an 0200 call for diaper rash. Baby definitely had some redness and irritation. I explained to her mom that keeping baby dry and applying cornstarch (since it was on the counter) would be helpful. Mom then was more irritated than baby and demanded a ride to the hospital. When we arrived, she walked past triage and out the front door...her mama lived across the street.
BS is part of the job. Of course, we can't refuse anyone!