It's not that it's bad, it's that I don't want to be $5000 in debt
this post was submitted on 15 Mar 2026
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In the civilized Europe ambulance rides are free or cost next to nothing.
In many countries they do in fact cost nothing at all.
That's fantastic! That also does not apply to my situation!
EMS can not force you to go to the hospital anywhere in the USA unless you've been arrested, are experiencing a mental health crisis where you're an imminent danger to yourself/others, or aren't oriented to "person, place, time, and event". There might be a few other situation (e.g. DUI investigation) I missed but they're very narrow and specific.
If you're none of the above you can tell whoever is saying "you have to go" to fuck off.
My wife has epilepsy. She has a medical alert bracelet for it. If she has a seizure in public, she doesn’t need an ambulance ride unless she hurts herself or is actively seizing for more than 5 minutes. But that won’t stop some well-intentioned bystander from saddling her with a $5000 ambulance bill while she’s unconscious. Because a seizure leaves you confused and disoriented for ~45-60 minutes afterwards.
So even if her seizure only lasts 2-3 minutes, she’ll be out of it for a while afterwards. And EMTs can 100% use her disorientation to justify throwing her in the back of the truck, even though she doesn’t need it and the hospital won’t do anything for her. But that won’t stop them from billing for the ambulance ride anyways.
It's unfortunately legally required to transport someone that's not A&Ox4.
We hate it too when we know someone really doesn't need to go, but if we don't we're facing losing our job/license, a lawsuit, or even being criminally charged.
The system is fucked because it was made by rich sociopaths and blood sucking lawyers.
How is an ambulance ride $5k though? Do EMTs make like $2500 p/h?
Lmao, EMTs make like $20 an hour, it's straight fucked.
Hahahahahaha no.
There's greed (particularly with overpriced private ambulances) but ambulance are legitimately expensive to operate in the USA. And as fucked up as it is: a good part of the bill is subsidizing the people that can't or won't pay.
There are areas that will subsidize most (or even all) of the cost, making it cheap or free -- we're one of them. But that money comes from taxes and in large parts in this country that's a four letter word.
We used to have that in Britain. It was called a pressgang and you’d wake up in the Royal Navy.
And there was a war about it, Americans never change
Oh, was that the one where we burned down the White House? It’s ok now though, right?
Nothing like a good ol' heal and dash.
BTW that's not normal in Europe. I mean some people are pretty aggressive towards emergency responders but that's usually not due to the price.
Okay, i'm curious. why is it?
Alcohol seems to be a big part of it:
https://www.sicherer-rettungsdienst.de/rettungswache/taetigkeiten/studie-gewalt-gegen-einsatzkraefte
Drugs, alcohol, hypoglycemia, being postictal from a seizure, mental health emergencies, etc.
All these things can make someone confused and/or violent, although to be clear MOST people in these categories aren't violent. If you're confused and all of a sudden there's strange people around you, fight or flight is going to kick in.
And some people are just assholes.
I work in EMS. I've been slapped, kicked, hit, groped, punched, pushed, and had people try to bite me. We have to be on our toes constantly, because you have no idea who is going to decide that today is their day to get violent. I've had a sweet little demented grandma who was just chilling suddenly make a fist and go "I just really want to punch you".
Meth
Ah. That would do it
Ever spent a night in a hospital involuntarily?
Not yet but I've heard some stories
Well imagine they don't have an armed possie that half of them are married to to chase you down.
Low Blood sugar is a factor too
THAT I have never heard of. Hold my beer, gonna go learn some shit.
Oh, it's hangry but an actual medical emergency. That's so crazy
Did I just watch someone learn something... On the internet?!
This is a good place to do it. There's a lot of chill/knowledgeable people on the fediverse who don't even talk down to you, they just give pure
"
"
Hold my beer, gonna go learn some shit.
May have to steal that one in the future lol
That was a bit of a garden path sentence for me, was expecting it to say something like: "when healthcare is so good patients start to run after ambulances because they want to be inside them once more"
I think you mean “Instead” of being inside an ambulance.
Schooling isn't exactly their strong point either...